Issue being addressed Australian cotton farmers have achieved substantial reductions in insecticide use from their adoption of GM technology to control Helicoverpa spp. However they now face problems associated with a wider range of insect pests that were once incidentally controlled, such as green mirid, cotton aphid and white fly. These pests have few insecticide options available for their control, forcing ongoing use of older, broad-spectrum insecticides that are likely to face increased regulatory scrutiny. Reliance on limited insecticide options can also create other problems by destroying beneficial insects and causing pests to become resistant over time. Thus, there is an urgent need to investigate and develop new alternatives such as pesticides derived from natural materials (biopesticides) and chemicals that mediate interactions between organisms (semiochemicals).