Human Capacity Assessment and Benchmarking project funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation through the Human Capacity program has resulted in the development and delivery of the Cotton Industry Skills Benchmarking system. This is a web based system that allows participants to carry out a self assessment in a wide range of skills relevant to cotton production which are categorised into 21 Skill Areas. These skills are all based in Units of Competence from the Agriculture, Horticulture and Conservation Training Package (Agrifood Skills Australia, 2011) as a tool to carry out an audit of skills and knowledge and give a broad picture of human capacity in the industry and therefore align to what is considered to be current industry best practice. Please see agskills.com.au The Cotton Industry Skills Benchmarking system is a ‘self serve’ online package which allows cotton farmers to create an account for their business and identify and segregate different farm skills within the enterprise if needed. They can subsequently identify and segregate all of the staff employed on different farms. Each enterprise owner or manager participating in Cotton Industry Skills Benchmarking system registers their business and all of their staff members to commence the process. Once workers have completed the assessment process the manager can view a report for all of their staff presented in a graph format. A farm manager will only have access to data about staff working on that farm. This information can by used by management for a range of purposes including:

• Recruitment
• Development of training and personal development plans
• Allocation of duties on the farm

The system is also structured to provide industry-wide information on skills. This information collected at the individual and enterprise level can be aggregated and analysed on an industry-wide basis to develop a picture of the skills profile of the industry. This will identify any areas of skills gaps which may be addressed with new training programs. All data collected by the system used to generate industry-wide information will be made anonymous so the privacy of individuals and businesses are completely protected.