CRDC engaged strategy and foresight consulting group, Emergent Futures, in August 2009 to facilitate a project, Cotton Industry Vision 2029, for the development of a shared industry vision. The project commenced in September 2009 and concluded in March 2010.

The Vision 2029 project was a collaboration between CRDC, Cotton Australia and the Australian Cotton Industry Council, with representatives from these organisations forming a Reference Group for the project. The project scope covered the whole of the Australian cotton industry from input suppliers through to marketers.

This project funded a series of workshops in January 2017, four soil nitrate and cotton nutrition workshops were conducted by CottonInfo in conjunction with Dr Chris Dowling of Back Paddock. These workshops, held in the Upper and Lower Namoi Valley were designed to be informal, encourage networking, discussion and aid in key decisions occurring at the crops current growth stage. Acknowledging that the wet winter reduced opportunities to have seedbeds prepared and key nutrients added to the fields prior to planting, many growers are required to carefully monitor crop nutrition to ensure yields are maximised.

The Agricultural Engineering Research Unit, based at Trangie ARC, undertook a research program to ensure an even and adequate (but not excessive) supply of NH3 to the crop in conditions which allow full utilisation by the crop. By so doing, this would either reduce or eliminate the presence of &quote;striping&quote; in cotton. The research program was initiated in 1989 to (i) determine the level and cause of variability in NH3 flow and distribution from the outlets of rigs, and (ii) modify the NH3 application systems to ensure even flow and distribution.

This course has given me skills to continue in my role as workforce co-ordinator for Cotton Australia. It has also been useful in my role of overviewing the HR module of BMP and allowing me to help cotton producers ensure they are meeting their HR requirements. It has also been useful when reviewing People in Ag.

The purpose of the workshop was to inform growers and advisors of Government energy incentives, extend advances in renewable technology and to promote energy efficient irrigation practices. This venture was undertaken by a committed group of industry and government bodies; CottonInfo, NSW Government Office of Environment and Heritage, Cotton Australia, Ergon Energy and NSW/Q'ld Farmers. The need to implement such practices would also create opportunities for competitive advantage amongst cotton growers and offer co-benefits to the environment due to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The workshops were held at Darlington Point, Narrabri, Bonshaw, Hillston, Cecil Plains, North Star, Boomi and Emerald.

This report contains event details and feedback from attendees, which has been formulated into graphs. The following points were drawn from the evaluation of the workshop by attendees;

• The seminars were attended by a total of 277 people. This included growers, agronomists, installation suppliers, bankers and industry representatives.

• Attendees gained knowledge in a variety of areas. This encompassed reducing greenhouse gas emissions, renewable energy applications and energy efficiency.

• Survey results showed attendees believe that there are real benefits that can be achieved by utilising sustainable practices such as renewable energy and becoming energy efficient.

• Additionally, understanding of funding options and government incentives available for implementing energy efficient practices and renewable energy increased overall.

• There were also areas that many attendees felt more information needed to be provided; government incentives related to energy, solar/diesel/grid hybrid systems, project management and choosing a supplier, optimising irrigation pumps, electricity tariffs and pricing.

• Overall, survey results showed all attendees found the seminar useful.

The Herbicide Resistance Management Strategy (HRMS) is designed as a tool for weed management in irrigated and dryland farming systems incorporating herbicide tolerant (HT) cotton, to delay glyphosate resistance.

René van der Sluijs and Geoff Naylor travelled to New Zealand in April 2009 on the invitation of the Textile Institute to present papers on the Australian Cotton Industry. The year 2009, has been declared by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization as the International Year of Natural Fibres. In response to this the Textile Institute of New Zealand and the Textile Institute branch of New South Wales combined to host the conference on ‘Natural Fibres in Australasia’ which was held at the Otago University in Dunedin in New Zealand.The conference was held over three days. The three daily themes were Protein Fibres, Cellulose Fibres and Natural Fibres in cultural artefacts. The conference was attended by 87 delegates. Presenters were mainly from New Zealand and Australia; however a wider international interest was evidenced by papers from Iran, Croatia and The Czech Republic.Rene van der Sluijs and Geoff Naylor were the only two delegates that presented papers on cotton. Rene’s paper was entitled ‘Australia’s position in the global cotton industry’ and Geoff Naylor presented a paper on ‘The Measurement of cotton fibre linear density and maturity and its potential value to textile processing’. Both papers were well received with a number of questions raised during the question and discussion period.

This project brought together information on farm dam management with recent research on

evaporation mitigation, new case studies and improved an online calculator to estimate costs with

evaporation control methods. Activities were organised to make this information available to people

and organisations through different methods.

Overall this project has improved the quality and availability of information on farm dam

management.

The target audience for the project was agricultural advisors and consultants, Catchment

Management Authorities and Natural Resource Management Boards and farm managers.

Information was disseminated through workshops, field days, media, conference displays and direct

contact with the target audience. Over 240 people attended eight events held in Victoria and New

South Wales.

A key part of the project was to provide training to irrigation and agricultural advisors who can then

provide this information to farm dam managers. Advisors made up about half of the audience at

workshops and field days.

The economic calculator "Ready Reckoner" available at the website has been updated and improved

with three case studies and a tutorial.

Media coverage was generated through radio, newspaper and industry magazines after events and

helped to promote the information. Radio interviews were broadcast in central, southern and

western New South Wales, north-west and central Victoria and eastern and central South Australia.

A website has been developed where information on farm dam management and the online

calculator is hosted. Fact sheets, links, reports, posters and case studies. The website will be

managed by National Centre for Engineering in Agriculture when the Cooperative Research Centre

for Irrigation Futures finishes in June 2010.

Case studies and brochures were developed on dam evaporation and seepage management and

biodiversity. Brochures on the website and especially biodiversity will be made available at farm

walks in Victoria in late 2010.

Thielaviopsis basicola is a hemibiotroph fungus that causes black root rot disease in diverse plants with significant impact on cotton production in Australia. To elucidate how T. basicola growth and the proteome are influenced by interactions with natural sources, this fungus was cultured in the presence of root extracts from non-host (wheat, hairy vetch) and susceptible host (cotton, lupin) plants. We found that T. basicola growth was significantly favored in the presence of host extracts while hierarchical clustering analysis of two-dimensional electrophoresis protein profiles of T. basicola shows a dependency towards the plant rather than the host/non-host status. Analysis by LC-MS/MS of unique and differentially expressed spots and identification using tandem MS, cross-species similarity searching and de novo sequencing allowed successful identification of 41 spots. The identified proteins were principally involved in primary metabolism with smaller numbers implicated in other diverse functions. Identification of several “morpho” proteins suggested morphological differences that were further microscopically investigated. Identification of several highly expressed spots suggested that vitamin B6 is important in the T. basicola response to components present in hairy vetch extract, and finally, three spots, induced in the presence of lupin extract, may correspond to malic enzyme and be involved in lipid accumulation.

Future Australian and international policy directions may require industries to account for their

resource use and emissions. Rural primary industries utilise several types of resources and produce

various emissions. Of particular importance within the Australian context is the use of water and

energy resources, and generation of greenhouse gas emissions.

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is a method to analyse resource issues across the life cycle of a product.

It can systematically identify key areas to improve environmental and economic performance, and can

be applied to agricultural systems. A standardised LCA methodology for primary industries will help

practitioners undertake LCA studies and greatly increase their value by providing results that are

comparable between sectors and industries.

The LCA methodology proposed by URS in this report builds on lessons from a previous literature

review within the same project and a workshop that presented a draft version of the methodology. The

methodology focuses on energy and water use, and greenhouse gas emissions. It is intended to be

consistent with recently developed the LCA standards ISO14040:2006 and ISO14044:2006. The

methods for energy and greenhouse gas emission accounting generally follow established techniques,

such as those of the Australian Greenhouse Office and the International Panel on Climate change.

However, there are no established methods for water use accounting in LCA and the water impact

categories may need refinement and further development.

The success of LCA is dependent on good quality data and will be greatly aided by co-operation across

agricultural sectors, and sharing of data. There is likely to be further effort needed to obtain the

necessary data on water resources and usage rates.

The project was funded by RIRDC, CRDC, Dairy Australia,

Sugar Research and Development Corporation, Australian Pork Limited, RIRDC Chicken Meat

Program and Meat and Livestock Australia.

This report, an addition to RIRDC's diverse range of over 1800 research publications, forms part of

our Global Competitiveness R&D program, which aims to identify the impediments to the

development of a globalIy competitive Australian agricultural sector and supports research investments

on options and strategies for removing these impediments.