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.

The 2008–09 year has seen extensive development of the online portal to support myBMP, the web-based version of the industry’s environmental management system, Best Management Practices. myBMP is designed to enable cotton growers to self-assess their performance and practices against industry agreed standards. It will enable growers to access streamlined information packages and tools as they seek to improve practices and their business. The web-based system also provides a pathway for delivering R&D knowledge, providing targeted support for adoption and evaluating the impact of R&D on practice change. The role of FarmPlus was to deliver a knowledge resource far broader than the information contained within the myBMP site. The intention was for accreditation candidates to access broad topical information associated with a particular module. CRDC investments and personnel were central to a pilot project designed to shorten the time and reduce the complexity involved in discovering up-to-date information on cotton R&D. This was developed for the 14th Australian Cotton Conference in August 2008. Organisers provided all delegates with a USB memory stick that allowed them to upload conference presentations, video of many presentations and the papers from presenters. After the event all available information, including videos of most presentations, remained available to delegates on the Conference website. The aim of making the 14th Conference a ‘paperless’ event is being extended through a new project, managed by FarmPlus Info. This system aggregates on-line content from all cotton industry information websites and make it available inside the industry’s online BMP system. It will also provide access to the content contained in the industry’s pilot e-Learning project and provide the framework for social networking. FarmPlus is based around aggregation of industry specific information by experts with industry know-how and knowledge. It presents an opportunity to consolidate both national and international research findings to better inform primary producers, regional communities, policy makers and researchers. Upon the merge of ACGRA with Cotton Australia in 2008, CA supported the myBMP framework as industry’s knowledge system and the FarmPlus Pilot project being developed was to be tested in that environment rather than the Cotton Conference Knowledge System (see Attachment 1). FarmPlus project implementation was put on hold while Cotton Australia finalised and validated all content to be contained in the my BMP portal. Therefore FarmPlus’ system has been effectively ‘parked’ until such time as the whole system is made live and tested with the myBMP reference group of growers. The FarmPlus /my BMP project cannot progress until this is enacted. The FarmPlus /myBMP site has been developed and is parked on the FarmPlus server as a staging site until activated in myBMP.

The Australian Cotton Industry has always been held in high regard by the

Australian and World Agricultural sectors due to its innate ability to focus on and

overcome the challenges it faces. This has continually been achieved due to the

industry’s commitment to researchers and the ability to effectively and efficiently

disseminate this information to growers and their consultants via the current

extension method. This has been demonstrated in the Lower Balonne with the CRC

implementation of this project.

The information contained in this project provides many positive examples of the

need for such a method to deliver and extend research outcomes and best farming

practices to the industry. Most importantly feedback from growers indicates that the

project has the support of the greater majority of the farmers in the St George,

Dirranbandi and Thallon region. Their continual support, participation and

attendance at the activities such as workshops, field walks, meetings and grower

tours only further substantiates this.

This project has shown that there is an opportunity to exploit the existing network of

private consultants so as to deliver tangible outcomes for the whole of industry.

Reductions in both insecticide usage for whitefly and mirids and a dramatic

decrease in the incidence of 2,4‐D damage is further justification of the successful

nature of this partnership between the Cotton CRC and cotton consultants.

I believe the Extension Team provides an invaluable service to the whole of industry

and have seen first hand the exchange of ideas and knowledge that occurs when

growers, consultants, researchers and industry staff are bought together, thus

ensuring that we as an industry are progressing towards a sustainable future.

The objectives of the project were to (i) develop techniques for evaluating insecticide efficacy against solenopsis mealybug, and (ii) evaluate the efficacy of a range of insecticides that have potential to provide effective control of solenopsis mealybug in cotton and (iii) consider the place of potential insecticide options in the context of existing IPM and IRMS strategies.Nine insecticides were evaluated. Whilst all the products have registration in cotton, none currently have registration for mealybug. In addition, some of the products were provided by the companies on a commercial-in-confidence basis. Hence this summary provides an overview of the outcomes without Glasshouse bioassays have been completed and a range of insecticides for control of solenopsis mealybug successfully evaluated. The results show that there is value in pursuing a number of options that will cause minimal disruption to key natural enemy species, particularly the ladybird Cryptolaemus montrouzieri and lacewings. The addition of organosilicone adjuvents increased the efficacy of some products significantly. the products directly.

Field evaluation of the promising options now need to be undertaken to determine whether the levels of control that they can achieve is, in practice, sufficient to manage a mealybug outbreak. Importantly, this work must be conducted in the field where the contribution of natural enemies will be an important component of the outcome. Factoring in the contribution of natural enemies will be critical to developing sustainable management strategies for this pest.Techniques for maintaining mealybug colonies in the glasshouse were developed, methodology for establishing infestations on trial plants were refined and a bioassay protocol for assessing insecticide efficacy against solenopsis mealybug in controlled glasshouse conditions was successfully implemented. The experience we have gained in conducting these trials has equipped both scientists and technical staff in the DEEDI Field Crops Entomology group with the skills necessary to conduct similar evaluations in the field. The bioassay techniques are now available for the controlled screening of biopesticide or other candidate control options.Management of neonicotinoid resistance, particularly in cotton aphid, is a significant consideration in potentially introducing additional uses for this group of insecticides. Also worthy of consideration is the implication of pursuing more than one consecutive application of promising products.

Climatic variability, typified by erratic heavy-rainfall events can cause soil waterlogging and yield losses in irrigated cotton. This project investigated the physiological mechanisms of waterlogging damage to cotton crops and suggested strategies for increasing waterlogging tolerance. Field and glasshouse studies were conducted to study the interactive effects of waterlogging and shade on growth and yield of cotton crops. The data indicated that both waterlogging and shade can significantly damage cotton growth and yield. In addition, low incident light can exacerbate yield losses in moderately WL cotton crops but had limited effect on a severely WL crop. Cotton plants maintained growth and photosynthesis of the upper canopy leaves by re-mobilising nutrients from lower canopy leaves. Thus, yield reductions in WL crops were associated with the loss of young fruits from the lowest sympodial fruiting branches. To overcome this waterlogging-induced fruit abscission, an anti-ethylene agent aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) was tested under glasshouse and field conditions. The data suggested that 125 g [ai] ha-1 of AVG applied at the early reproductive phase of cotton can significantly increase lint yield of WL and NWL cotton crops. The role of ethylene and AVG in regulating cotton yield was further explored in a series of glasshouse studies. These experiments indicated that accelerated ethylene production and photosynthetic inhibition as the major reasons for yield losses in WL cotton and the damage can be minimised by regulating ethylene and carbon metabolisms.