The 6th World Cotton Conference was held in May 2016 in Goiania, Brazil. The conference is held every four years and was attended by 400 people from 40 countries. The conference was held over five days and had eleven scientific themes. Nine Australian researchers presented during the conference.

A wide range of topics were discussed although it was not possible to attend all sessions. Some snippets of interest include;

 there were no irrigation water use efficiency presentations, although occasional questions to speakers,

 One researcher suggested the establishment on an international cotton research centre like CGIAR.

 Several presentations on extension challenges ranging from modern countries like Australia to India/Africa with vast numbers of poor farmers.

 Paper on the variability of fibre quality in the plant and how HVI does not explain all the variance.

 Couple of interesting studies on the role of women in cotton farming and sustainable fibres eg South America FAO study.

 Excellent paper on motes and cotton seed linters and how much extra value could be unlocked here.

 Considerable discussion around resistance management for transgenic crops and the global variance. Knowledge gaps such as VIP3A efficacy, planting windows, non host crops.

 A former Cotton CRC PhD student now working in Argentina presented research on radiation impacts on flowering.

 Cotton Inc – Global LCA research would be of interest to people in this discipline. There appears to be no LCA research on man made fibres. Social LCA is a growing science.

 The rise of China and challenges it faces. China has 47 measures of sustainability and a target of zero growth in fertiliser and pesticide use. A lot of use of transplanting and plastic films. Growing “home invented” mechanisation. Growth in multidisciplinary sciences.

 There were a heap of papers on cotton genetics and breeding

 Soil changes over time. eg Impact of high summer temperatures on bare fallows on soil biology.

 Cotton Cultivated website of Cotton Inc. Webcasts. Plant Management links.

The conference tour was to the nearby Embrapa Research Station. Embrapa appears to have had a very significant impact on Brazilian agriculture. It has 47 research centres. The main cotton research centre was nowhere near the major cotton producing regions as the regional distribution of cotton in Brazil has changed over time. The centre we visited was a major soybean facility, but had some rice and cotton experiments. There seem to be a strong desire to integrate cotton into the soybean facility and farming system. This is definitely an R&D provider worth monitoring. https://www.embrapa.br/en/international.