IrrigationIQ: The Future of Farm Water Management in Australian Cotton
By CSD with CRDC and Goanna Ag
Australian cotton growers are gaining a powerful new tool in their mission to maximise water efficiency and sustainability: IrrigationIQ (formerly called the water dashboard).
Developed through a collaboration between Goanna Ag, Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), IrrigationIQ is a digital platform designed to deliver real-time visibility into on-farm water resources, giving growers an experience akin to checking a bank account online.
What is IrrigationIQ?
IrrigationIQ is a user-friendly, software interface that aggregates water data from multiple sources—including nominated government allocations, storage sensors, and soil moisture probes—into a single, accessible view. Think of it as a fuel gauge or an online banking app, but for your farm’s water supply.
The tool integrates data on the following.
- Water Account: Reflects the grower-generated balance of seasonal allocations.
- Storage: Captured using automated sensors that monitor dam, bore, and channel levels.
- Linked Fields: Derived from soil moisture probes, providing insight into water held in the soil across sensor-equipped and estimated fields.
Why it matters
Water scarcity, climate variability and regulatory changes are placing immense pressure on Australian agriculture, especially cotton. Until now, managing on-farm water has been a patchwork of estimates and manual tracking, making strategic planning difficult.
Until now, it’s been hard for growers to gain an accurate picture without relying on estimated or sometimes inaccurate figures, making it very difficult to make management decisions. IrrigationIQ changes that by offering a live, accurate, and dynamic view of available water, enabling more informed, efficient, and profitable farming.
How it works
The dashboard is powered by an integrated suite of data sources.
- Government water accounts: Updated data fed in from the growers feeds into the platform, showing allocation and use.
- Automated sensors: Measure water levels in storages and distribution infrastructure across all company sensors
- Soil moisture probes: Monitor water content in soil, helping to guide whole farm water management decisions.
The interface has been engineered to be sensor-agnostic, though initial versions are focused on Goanna Ag technology. This allows for streamlined testing, with plans to broaden compatibility in later releases or iterations.
Benefits and features
- Real-time water monitoring: Growers see exactly how much water they have and where it’s located—whether in storage, in the soil, or allocated.
- Informed irrigation decisions: By knowing exactly how much water is available, growers can irrigate based on actual needs rather than guesswork.
- Planning and forecasting: The dashboard can help estimate water availability for the remainder of the season, assisting in crop planning and infrastructure decisions.
- Traceability and “origin of water”: Track water from source to field, offering insights into water movement and usage across the property.
- Benchmarking: Potential to standardise water-use metrics across different farms and regions.
Development and impact
The project is being rolled out under the Richard Williams Commercial Research Initiative, with Goanna Ag leading the technical development. The pilot phase involved 10 farms across New South Wales and Queensland, and the dashboard is expected to reach many growers in the 2025/26 cotton season. Goanna Ag are offering 100 growers a free subscription (for one water management unit) with simple T&Cs.
IrrigationIQ is a great example of turning raw data into real, tangible, beneficial decision-making information for growers.
Beyond cotton, the dashboard has the potential to scale across other agricultural sectors such as grains and horticulture, supporting broader goals of water efficiency and sustainability.
Future outlook
While the current focus is on accurate, sensor-based water accounting the roadmap for IrrigationIQ includes features like infrastructure optimization, advanced analytics, and integration with irrigation management. These systems can drive strategic decision-making, like redirecting water to the highest-yielding fields based on real-time data.
As Australia cotton growers strive to make further water use efficiency gains and the industry continues to face pressure on water resources, tools like IrrigationIQ represent a transformative step forward—putting precise, actionable data in the hands of those who need it most: the growers.
This project is a joint initiative supported by Goanna Ag, Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD), and the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) under the Richard Williams Commercial Research Initiative.
Figures 1 and 2: Graphs highlighting how IrrigationIQ will assist farm managers understanding the water available from various sources in their water management units.
One graph highlights how it can assist with pre-season planning, while the other shows how IrrigationIQ is updated daily to track in-season water use and the remaining balance represent in green.
