Developing the cotton industry digital strategy and now the data platform has been one of the biggest and most important undertakings by CRDC and the steering committee in recent years, as it has the potential to add value to every aspect of cotton growing, ginning, warehousing and shipping.
“Bringing our industry data platform into being is very exciting, as it has been a coordinated effort over several years to address the growing demand for transparency and improved data management,” says CRDC General Manager of Innovation, Dr Merry Conaty, who oversees the initiative.
“This new industry infrastructure will streamline data collection, sharing, integration, and management across the supply chain to deliver value back to growers, consultants, gins, merchants, and brands through data analysis and aggregation, as well as ensuring long term market access for Australian cotton into markets requiring detailed information about the cotton they import.”
With consumers and retailers increasingly seeking detailed information about the origins, sustainability, and environmental impact of cotton production, CRDC’s digital strategy aims to position the industry for future success by enhancing its data capabilities. Its goal is to make the industry more competitive and innovative in the global market by improving how data is collected, managed, and shared across the supply chain. The data platform is the path to achieve this.
Steering committee and strategic alignment
Since 2020, a steering committee led by CRDC has guided the strategy’s progress. Key achievements include a data and capacity audit of the industry, business cases for data sharing across the industry, a comprehensive strategy document, a governance framework, a draft data-sharing agreement and significant plans for the delivery of the strategy. This involved engagement with growers, ginners, shippers, merchants, classers, researchers, brands and retailers.
In 2022, the steering committee endorsed the proposal to build a central data platform and nominated CRDC to lead and drive the project. This was then integrated into CRDC’s Strategic RD&E Plan for 2023–28, Clever Cotton, and the Strategic Roadmap for the Australian Cotton Industry, being developed by Cotton Australia, CRDC and the Australian Cotton Shippers Association, with data one of the five core pillars identified as crucial for cotton’s future success.
Cotton Australia’s Adam Kay says alignment between the data platform project and the Roadmap will ensure the platform will deliver a number of important outcomes.
“These include efficiency gains at the farm level, the ability to report sustainability data at the industry level, integration with myBMP, and to provide farm-level impact data if required in the future,” Adam said.
How will it work?
The cotton industry data platform is being built to aggregate any on-farm or supply chain data that a grower or business in the Australian cotton industry wants to aggregate. Should, for example, a grower wish to combine their data or share it between the farm, the gin or their merchant they could give permission for it to be shared and combined automatically with their other data.
While the infrastructure to make this happen is complex, each user will only see their own data. Ownership of the data will remain with each user, and control will remain with them. The platform will simply facilitate the sharing of this data and the combining of data from many sources into one place.
What are the benefits to growers?
Once the platform is built, it will be up to growers whether they give permission or not to share their data. They’ll also be informed of what the data would be used for. This permission can be given or taken away at the discretion of the grower.
What growers will get in return is drastic time saving through the automated aggregation and analysis of their data, a far simpler and more straightforward way to share data with a gin or to comply with data requests from merchants and retailers, and the knowledge that their cotton will be able to be sold into any market in the world instead of being shut out of markets that require information to accompany each bale of cotton before it can be sold.
What’s the difference between using an industry platform or my own?
Creating and maintaining a data platform like this is a costly exercise. Knowing what the future holds, growers will need to employ a data aggregator and a data analyst, or contract someone to perform these services for them. By doing this collectively as an industry we can reduce the cost through doing it at scale, and ensure that growers of every size can benefit from the opportunities data sharing will bring.
Will my data be safe?
The steering committee has already addressed key issues raised by the industry, including data governance and management. To ensure that data is handled responsibly, the platform will comply with the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) Farm Data Code developed in conjunction with the cotton industry and others.
To manage data at a grower level, work has focused on farm and field identification and understanding how to automate this through the supply chain. Discussions have included the potential impact on growers and the need for a consensus among industry stakeholders.
“An ID system will sit in the background of all the data collection points growers currently have, improving communications between points on the supply chain, and saving time on data quality control,” Merry said.
“This is an essential step in connecting the industry and the platform.”
Next steps
CRDC aims to beta test the platform for the 2025–26 cotton season, with the platform build partner set to be announced in the coming months. Recruitment is currently underway for a project manager for the build and implementation phases and to lead engagement with growers and other stakeholders.
This article originally appeared in the Autumn 2025 edition of CRDC's Spotlight magazine. You can read this edition online here, and subscribe for future editions here.
For more information, fact sheet, timeline and detailed FAQs, visit the CRDC data platform page.
