In 1996, a set of guidelines called the “Australian Cotton Industry Best Management Program”, or Cotton BMP for short was developed. This program is a voluntary, self regulated approach to the protection of resources, associated with cotton production and environmental management. Cotton BMP is a cornerstone model for the industry and during it’s evolution, it has lead the way for other industries in terns of assessing environmental risk. Cotton BMP accreditation is awarded to the property not the individual. This lack of recognition for the individual within the BMP accreditation process has lead to the development of this project.

This project is a strategic step towards building on this successful model for Queensland cotton producers. The project investigates how the Cotton BMP Assessment manual aligns to competencies within the Australian Training Framework. The results clearly showed alignment at various levels to 19 training competencies from the Business Management, Rural Production and Land Conservation training packages.

A skills mapping report was produced and ten units of competencies from this report were selected to form a Diploma of Agriculture. The Diploma of Agriculture has given rise to the concept of a Certified BMP Farm Manager. To the Cotton Industry, this title represents acknowledgement for an individual’s skill set developed by successfully achieving BMP accreditation for their farm.

A series of assessment sheets were then developed for the purpose of conducting ‘Recognition of Prior Learning’ (RPL) interviews on BMP accredited properties. Four pilot properties were tested with all four participants being awarded the Diploma of Agriculture within the BMP context. This was completed under stringent selection criteria which showed proof of skills and was conducted by an external Registered Training Organisation (RTO). The second stage of the project was to investigate ways to use this information to build a training framework around the Cotton BMP program. Discussions with industry have commenced and the industry endorsement of the certified BMP Farm manager is the first step being investigated.

Overall this ‘Targeted Industry Initiative’ project has developed strategic information that will assist industry in developing both a training culture and increased adoption of RPL assessments. Both aspects will benefit farm managers and owners in Queensland and the rest of the cotton industry.

Key Outcomes

1. The project has made significant steps towards the industry developing a national training framework

2. It has developed a linkage between the cotton BMP document and the national training competencies which paves the way for future training to be aligned to both the industry’s environmental stewardship guidelines and units of competencies that are formal qualifications. That is, all courses in the future that are developed from the BMP documentation now have a mapped link to national training packages.

3. Value adds to BMP by potentially rewarding the individual and offering another incentive to undertake BMP accreditation

4. Creates an opportunity for recognition of prior learning to be adopted within the industry.