The Australian cotton industry is at the dawn of a new age in cotton production: an age where most, if not all, of the cultivars in use will carry the products of gene technology. The expected release of INGARD cotton this season is specially satisfying to us as the beginning to the early promises of genetic engineering for cotton improvement. While the task is nowhere near completed, the first commercial release of a transgenic cotton plant represents a concerted effort on the part of the industry's researchers, research collaborators, seed producers, consultants and growers to provide the industry with a new product that will significantly reduce chemical pesticide usage. INGARD cotton should be followed in rapid succession by a variety of new cultivars with enhanced production attributes that together will revolutionise the way you grow cotton.