Economic and social concerns are driving an increased focus on water use in irrigated dairying in south east Australia. Engineering improvements in irrigation supply infrastructure have substantially increased the ability of irrigators to control both the timing and amount of water delivered to crops, and industry water saving options are focused on improving the ability of farmers to match irrigation water use to plant water requirements.

This project combines recent and forecast weather data with satellite imagery to provide local, web based crop and location specific measures of reference evapotranspiration (ETref) and crop coefficient (Kc) for use in irrigation scheduling. The project uses the recently developed satellite/weather based irrigation information system (SBIIS) which can determine crop water requirement at paddock scale over large areas and successfully demonstrates its ability to provide reliable and affordable automated irrigation scheduling on dairy farms in Victoria.

Irrigators require simple and affective scheduling tools that allow them to capitalise on the farm and regional irrigation infrastructure investments enabling the minimisation of water use and attendant labour and energy costs. The project was designed to provide irrigation information that affordably matches on-farm irrigation supply with crop water demand over large production areas and negates the need for irrigators to independently acquire the technical skills needed for precision irrigation practices.

The objectives of this project have been:

1. To develop SBIIS irrigation performance pilots to be implemented on commercial dairy farms.

2. To implement and demonstrate to irrigators and irrigation service providers automation of irrigation events triggered by SBIIS.

3. To deliver SBIIS based web service that is available to irrigation industries.

The 2018 Australian Cotton Production Manual is a critical reference tool for cotton growers: a one-stop-shop of on-farm cotton production information.

This project supported growers to see a different irrigation solutions being implemented on farm. Growers reluctance to adopt new technologies could be overcome by visiting early adopters and listening to their first hand practical experience.

Often irrigation systems are showcased in other regions, limiting Central Queensland exposure to opportunities. The project aimed to broaden grower perspectives on irrigation tools, whilst providing networking opportunities peer support and mentoring for growers who have implemented new technologies. This project also provided exposure to accredited myBMP farms.

CRDC's Annual Operational Plan for 2018-19 (AOP): the first annual operational plan under the CRDC's Strategic RD&E Plan 2018-23.

Crop nutrition is the biggest portfolio of CRDC-supported research, and a new version of NUTRIpak has been released in August 2018 to reflect this. The publication is designed to provide growers and consultants with the latest science in the field of cotton nutrition. It has been developed to help identify crop nutritional problems and develop management plans to meet crop demand and long-term sustainability.

The CRDC 2013-18 Investment. Innovation. Impact report provides a summary of CRDC's investments and impact under the 2013-18 CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan. CRDC invested $95.6 million into 862 RD&E projects during this time, in collaboration with 205 research partners across five priority areas – farmers, industry, customers, people and performance – achieving real impacts for growers. This report highlights these impacts, along with key investments and innovations.

CottonInfo was formed in 2012, and 2018 marked the end of its first Strategic Plan. This fact sheet outlines the impact of CottonInfo during its first six years.

Insecticide resistance results in reduced product efficacy and represents a major cost to agricultural production in terms of economic, environmental and social consequences. The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera is notoriously difficult to manage because of its capacity to develop resistance to a wide range of insecticides. Resistance risk in H. armigera is a major concern in mixed production systems that provide a range of hosts for this pest, and is a key stewardship issue shared by the cotton and grains industries. The Helicoverpa spp. insecticide resistance surveillance program has implemented highly efficient and sensitive methodologies to deliver scientifically measurable outcomes for supporting industry sustainability by reducing resistance risk associated with insecticide use.

Resistance surveillance and associated research underpins strategic response to emerging resistance issues. Outcomes from this project have been essential for informing a broader process of formulating the Insecticide Resistance Management Strategy (IRMS) used primarily by the cotton industry. This is a key industry pathway for delivering information and recommendations incorporating all pest species and all registered products. However, since the expansion of the pulse industry in eastern Australia in the early 2000’s, the grains industry has become a major user of Helicoverpa insecticides, and the cotton IRMS may not be sufficiently effective for managing resistance risk in insecticides utilized to target H. armigera across multiple commodities. Moreover, risk is elevated due to ecological factors unique to northern populations which will also favour resistance selection. This could have important implications for long-term sustainability of these products in cotton and highlights the need for a cross-industry approach that promotes stewardship of key Helicoverpa insecticides.

To support resistance management in grains, a resistance management strategy (RMS) for H. armigera specifically designed for grains crops was released in April 2018. A key aspect of its development was industry-wide consultation with leading growers and advisors in the cotton and grains industries which highlighted regional concerns about resistance risk due to product overuse in pulse crops. However, there is little value in industry adoption of an RMS without an ongoing monitoring program to support the strategy. Therefore project expansion involving targeted surveillance in northern grains regions provided regionally-specific information for quantifying resistance frequency with benefits to the cotton industry through improved preparedness.

While the cotton and grains RMS’s are critical for pre-emptive management of risk factors at the field level, characterisation of the causal factors underlying resistance is also an important predictive tool for future-proofing Helicoverpa insecticides and has been a key focus of this project. For example, the isolation and quantitative genetic analysis of indoxacarb resistance in H. armigera has been a key outcome from this project and was also central for developing collaborations resulting in elucidation of a putative molecular mechanism of resistance to this insecticidal class.

Importantly, while molecular technologies in resistance diagnostics will continue to improve, field-based surveillance by bioassay is currently the mainstay of resistance programs because it provides a direct measure of resistance frequency regardless of the molecular basis of resistance. This is important because the limit of detection of new or novel mechanisms from field-based bioassay is high, even if these mechanisms have not been previously identified and/or characterised. Therefore, continued surveillance and research to increase our understanding of emerging field resistance mechanisms will be critical to ensuring that industries retain efficacy of as many rotational options as possible.

For more information please contact: lisa.bird@dpi.nsw.gov.au

The Australian cotton industry has invested heavily in developing strategies to bolster its competitive position, particularly in terms of quality and best practice in on-farm management as reflected in myBMP.

One of the key trends influencing farm practices is the growing awareness by consumer that when they buy a cotton product at any stage of the supply chain, they are buying the sustainability performance of the product and process before and after them. This is resulting in a plethora of tools being used by upstream consumers to assess the credentials of their suppliers. The CRDC has stated that it aims to better understand and respond to domestic and international market and consumer requirements and to improve the flow of such information through the whole supply chain, including to consumers. This is supported by the National Research Priorities which, particularly appropriate to this research, include:

1. Identifying changes in national and international market and consumer requirements (including social and environmental concerns) regarding the integrity and safety of food and other products.

2. Providing appropriate stages of the supply chain with timely and accurate information on market demands and consumer requirements.

3. Effectively servicing the information needs of consumers.

Roth (2010) identifies a number of issues with current information collection practices and technologies for the Australian cotton industry that inhibit the ability of both cotton farmers and the industry as a whole to leverage sustainability practices or to effectively monitor the espoused 'best practices'.

A key challenge for the Australian cotton industry now is how to enhance current sustainability based information, modify current practices to support accreditation opportunities and understand possible post farm gate use of this information in order to as to sustain access to current markets and profitably access new ones.

CRDC monitors progress towards - and achievement of - the outcomes of the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan 2018-23 via this Monitoring and Evaluation Framework. It provides a coordinated approach for measuring, monitoring, evaluating and reporting performance, to inform continuous improvement of CRDC.