Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC)

The Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) delivers outcomes in cotton research, development and extension (RD&E) for the Australian cotton industry.

A partnership between the Commonwealth Government and cotton growers, CRDC invests in world-leading RD&E to benefit Australia’s dynamic cotton industry, and the wider community. We invest in innovation and transformative technologies to deliver impact, and as an organisation we are ambitious, agile, and adaptive.

Cotton is a major contributor to the economic, environmental and social fabric of rural Australia. The industry’s national exports generate an average of $1.9 billion in annual revenue, and the industry is a major employer in rural and regional communities. The industry continues to go through a period of geographic growth: in recent years, cotton has expanded from its predominate growing base in NSW and QLD to VIC, and commercial trials are also underway in the NT and WA.

Our aim is to create $2 billion in additional gross value of cotton production by 2023. To help achieve this, Australian cotton growers and the Commonwealth Government will co-invest $18.7 million through CRDC into cotton RD&E during 2020-21, across approximately 300 projects and in collaboration with around 100 research partners. Read more about our investments here.

We are based in Narrabri NSW (one of the major centres of cotton growing in Australia), and have satellite offices in Emerald, Toowoomba and Brisbane.