CRDC Cotton Course 3: Advanced Cotton Production for Decision Makers
Overview
Successful cotton production is not simply about understanding agronomy. It is about making sound decisions in complex production systems where opportunities, constraints, risks and uncertainty must be constantly balanced. This course moves beyond individual agronomic practices and technical recommendations to explore how decisions influence the entire cotton production system.
The course provides a unique opportunity for participants through hybrid learning involving online content that is followed by an intensive and immersive 3-day program in Narrabri with a combination of presentations, field walks and facilitated group activities.
With broad industry participation, it provides a unique opportunity to build professional relationships through networking with peers, presenters and representatives of key organisations within the Australian cotton industry.
What you'll learn
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- Display a detailed understanding of advanced soil and cotton crop nutrition, cotton pest management, irrigation of cotton and advanced cotton agronomy to realise the crop’s economic potential
- Identify and articulate a current constraint to their cotton production system
- Analyse the cause(s) of the identified constraint and develop and/or challenge their suggested management strategy to overcome this constraint
- Understand and apply the principles of people management in cotton
- Understand the application of the ESG framework in cotton production systems
Aims
This course is designed to enable participants to build the strategic agronomic thinking needed to make better decisions in complex cotton production systems and will provide participants with:
- A thorough knowledge of advanced soil and cotton crop nutrition, cotton pest management, cotton irrigation and advanced cotton agronomy to realise the crop’s economic potential,
- The ability to identify and articulate key constraint(s) to their cotton production system, and
- The ability to develop and/or challenge management strategies to overcome this/these constraints to optimise their cotton production system,
- A good understanding of people management in cotton production systems, and
- A good understanding of applying ESG pillars to cotton production systems
A core objective for this microcredential is to provide opportunities for networking with experienced peers who may have similar constraints in their production systems and/or have taken decisions to successfully overcome these constraints.
Course overview
The course content will be delivered in thematic sessions:
- Advanced Soil and Crop Nutrition
- Varietal and Crop Characteristics
- Integrated Management of Insects, Diseases and Pests
- Irrigation Management
- Advanced Crop Agronomy
- People Management in Cotton
- Cotton Management for ESG’s
A key feature of the course is the opportunity to bring your own production challenge or agronomic question. Participants will work with fellow growers, agronomists, consultants, researchers, and industry leaders to analyse real-world constraints, test ideas, challenge assumptions and explore practical solutions.
There will also be networking sessions with expert presenters and representatives of key organisations with the Australian cotton industry, enabling the development of professional relationships.
For course enquiries contact cotton.course@sydney.edu.au.
Course partners
This course is designed for growers, farm managers, agronomists, and consultants who have developed a foundation in cotton production and are looking to strengthen their strategic agronomic decision-making capability.
A core objective for this microcredential is to provide opportunities for networking with experienced peers who may have similar constraints in their production system and/or have taken decisions to successfully overcome these constraints.
By combining expert knowledge with peer-to-peer learning, participants gain exposure to a wide range of perspectives and approaches that can be applied within their own businesses and production systems.
This hybrid learning (online/in-person) experience will be based at the University’s International Crop and Digital Ag Research Building at the IA Watson Grains Research Centre at Narrabri and will consist of a number of presentations/webinars, group workshops/discussions and field walks/visits to cotton growing properties in the Narrabri district during the 3-day intensive school.
The presentations, workshops and field walks will be delivered/facilitated by USyd academics and leading industry professionals. Prior to the three-day intensive, participants will be provided with online webinars, links to other useful background reading and links to a targeted suite of CottonInfo YouTube videos related to the microcredential content.
Participants will be asked to submit their production constraint/challenge prior to the intensive school so content may be tailored to suit the questions posed by the participants.
Networking opportunities will be provided at the end of each of the first two days of the microcredential to give enrolees the opportunity to learn more from industry experts, academics and their peers.
Standard enrolments:
- New enrolments: $950
Early bird enrolments (enrol on of before 1st February 2026):
- New enrolments: $855
There is no assumed knowledge for this microcredential, although it is expected that participants will have been growing cotton, or consulting to cotton growers, for an extended period of time, or have a very strong working knowledge of cotton production systems.
Materials
All course materials are provided electronically through our Learning Management System (LMS) called Canvas 2. After enrolment, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the LMS. If you have been enrolled in Canvas 2 before, log in using the email address you enrolled with.
Software
We recommend using a desktop computer or laptop. Ensure compatibility by accessing Canvas on the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Edge, or Safari.
Viewing on a mobile device? If you're using the Canvas app, please download the latest version and adjust your app settings to access all images and videos on the site.
Learners will be assessed based on the completion of online quizzes that require them to respond to questions that relate specifically to the content of the preceding seminar. Further assessment involves the completion of submitted work defining their production constraint and the decisions to overcome the production constraint.
Learners are able to use their own notes or observations to answer the questions. No collusion will be permitted between learners and no AI will be permitted. Submitted work will be specific to each learner’s own production system – while AI is permitted, it is unlikely to be of benefit for such bespoke scenarios. Feedback will be given to all learners post-submission.
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Dr Tim Weaver
Tim is a Senior Lecturer in Farming Systems Agronomy at the University, based at the Narrabri Campus. Over the last 25 years, Tim has been involved in research investigating long-term cotton-based farming systems under various rotations (legume, cereal and corn crops), tillage (maximum and minimum tillage), stubble management and irrigation scheduling. The long-term farming systems focus was soil organic carbon and sequestration, with study sites ranging from central Queensland to southern NSW. This research was funded by the CRDC.
Associate Professor Guy Roth
is the Director Northern Region Agriculture at The University of Sydney’s Narrabri Campus. He has worked for 25 years as a scientist, research manager and educator in agriculture. Guy was formerly the Chief Executive Officer of the Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre and in 2016 Guy was awarded the Cotton Industry’s Researcher of the Year Award. Guy championed the UNE cotton course for many years and has considerable skill in providing a safe learning environment for adult learners.
Professor Stephen Cattle
has taught soil science and agricultural science for more than 25 years and has a long history of teaching about cotton-growing Vertosols around Narrabri. Stephen has served as the Associate Head (Education) in the School of Life and Environmental Sciences, and oversees activities on all of the Faculty-managed farms of the University.
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James Quinn
Has been involved in the Australian cotton industry since 1996. This includes working with the Cotton CRC’s Farming Systems project and as an Industry Development Officer. He worked for several years as a farm manager and joined CSD in 2005 as an Extension and Development Agronomist based in the Gwydir valley and now holds the General Manager role.
James and his team have been highly focused on addressing variety development, grower needs and directly answering their infield questions. He also works collaboratively with the industry’s private companies and government institutions. James is passionate about providing research-based information so cotton growers can make good choices/decisions about what they do.
Dr Michael Bange
is an internationally recognised expert in Cotton cropping systems, having been the recipient of the 2023 ICAC International Cotton Researcher of the Year. Currently Dr Bange provides support in delivering research investment into grower facing issues for the industry and supports CSD and industry personnel engaged in research projects across the breadth of the industry. His depth of knowledge of cotton production across the value chain and continued drive to share and impart this to those either embarking or embedded in the industry will be capitalised on for both the development and delivery of the proposed microcredential. In addition to his previous experience as a lecturer at UQ, he has been delivering lectures on various topics across a number of universities for over 30 yrs.
Peter White
has an association with the cotton industry that spans decades and represents a unique insight into agronomic, pesticide and systems changes and challenges that the industry has faced and responded to. Mr White’s knowledge of data streams in both the production system and supply chain will provide real world value to this microcredential.
CRDC and CottonInfo
This microcredential will also draw on expert speakers from CRDC and CottonInfo. CRDC delivers outcomes in cotton research, development and extension (RD&E) for the Australian cotton industry. CottonInfo is the industry’s extension program, connecting growers with RD&E via the support of its partners: CRDC, Cotton Australia and CSD.
All courses must be paid in advance of commencing your course. We accept the following payment methods:
- Mastercard
- Visa
- American Express (only available for enrolments made through the Sydney Short Courses website)
- Electronic Funds Transfer (for company invoices only)
- Journal Transfer (for University of Sydney Staff only)
Please see our Payment Options for further information.
I have enrolled in a Sydney Short Courses course, what happens now?
Once your enrolment has been processed, you will receive the following emails:
- Enrolment confirmation: you will receive this immediately after your enrolment has been processed.
- Tax invoice: the payer of your enrolment will receive this immediately after your enrolment has been processed.
For some courses, you may also receive the following:
- Course reminders: you will receive emails from Sydney Short Courses in the lead up to the course starting. These include information about the course and, if required, the schedule for online or face-to-face sessions.
- Course materials: if you are enrolled in a course that provides reading or other downloadable materials, you will get access to these materials prior to the class commencing.
- Online session links: you will receive reminder emails the day before and the day of each live session containing the meeting link and meeting ID.
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Upcoming classes
IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri
| When | Time | Where | Session Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tue 2 Feb 2027 | 8:30am - 5pm (UTC+11:00) | IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri - IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri | |
| Wed 3 Feb 2027 | 8:30am - 5pm (UTC+11:00) | IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri - IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri | |
| Thu 4 Feb 2027 | 8:30am - 5pm (UTC+11:00) | IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri - IA Watson Grains Research Centre Narrabri |