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.

CRDC undertakes an annual survey of cotton growers to gather information about farming practices and growers’ views on research, development and extension. This information helps to inform CRDC about the benefits of the research it invests in. Change in industry practice can be quantified by comparing information across the surveys conducted over the past 20 years. CRDC has published the results of this survey in two formats: a PDF of the survey report; and an interactive online digital dashboard, available at: www.crdc.com.au/publications/growersurvey

Vision: “Australian cotton, carefully grown, naturally world’s best”

By 2029 the Australian cotton industry will be:

• Differentiated - world leading supplier of an elite quality cotton that is highly sought in premium market segments

• Responsible - producer and supplier of the most environmentally and socially responsible cotton on the globe

• Tough - resilient and equipped for future challenges

• Successful - exciting new levels of performance that transform productivity and profitability of every sector of the industry

• Respected - an industry recognised and valued by the wider community for its contribution to fibre and food needs of the world

• Capable - an industry t hat retains, attracts and develops highly capable people

Under CRDC's Funding Agreement with the Commonwealth Department of Agriculture and Water Resources, CRDC is required to commission an independent review of its performance. The inaugural independent review was conducted by Forest Hill Consulting in May 2018. A typical review conducted by Forest Hill categorises recommendations as: critical (should be implemented as a matter of urgency in order for CRDC to meet its legal and regulatory obligations); important (actions that are expected to deliver significant benefits to the company and industry) or best practice (expected to deliver incremental performance improvements). The Independent Performance Review was completed in October 2018 and made 8 recommendations in total: no critical recommendations; two important recommendations; and six best practice recommendations.

International Collaborations between Australia and the United States in Cotton Disease Management: Comparison of isolation methods and media for quantifying Verticillium dahliae populations in soil.

This international travel scholarship enabled a researcher from the United States who had been working collaboratively with an Australian researcher to visit Australia and attend the 2018 FUSCOM Conference , the Australasian Soilborne Diseases Symposium and visit a number of industry sites in Australia. At the Australasian Soilborne Diseases Symposium, the visiting researcher presented a poster highlighting the findings from our collaborative study on Verticillium dahliae inoculum levels and detection methods.

The funding enabled a networking opportunity for Australian researchers to engage with current research findings from cotton growing areas in the USA adn established a firm collaborative relationship for future research publications.

The CRDC Board responded to Forest Hill's Independent Performance Review Report in January 2019, welcoming the overall findings as an endorsement of CRDC’s high level of organisational performance and valuing the recommendations as important guidance on areas for continuous improvement.