Research being conducted as part of project DAQ1401 – “Strengthening the Central Highlands Cotton Production System” has identified an opportunity for reducing peak summer climatic risks associated with either heatwaves or cloudy wet weather through the investigation of tactics for bringing forward boll setting through earlier crop sowing. Typically cotton is sown on the Central Highlands from September onwards as the risk of cool weather recedes rapidly. August is generally considered to be too cool to reliably plant, however an analysis of historical temperature records suggest that if temperatures could be raised by 2-3oC, planting may be reliable and allow earlier crop establishment.

During the 2013/14 season we began examining the potential to use biodegradable plastic films to raise soil temperatures and allow cotton establishment during August. The preliminary results from this research demonstrated that clear films raised soil temperatures by 2-4°C and enabled more rapid germination and early season crop development. However, these films were laid by hand which significantly curtailed the ability to manage treatment plots to best exploit these benefits.

It became clear after the first season that the only way to test the potential of biodegradable films for cotton production would be to increase the scale of deployment. This would require equipment to lay film post sowing, and the manufacturing of a film to suit the machine and cotton hills, which included slots that enabled cotton seedling emergence through the film upon germination.

A capital request was made to build and purchase a 3 point linkage film layer designed to lay film on cotton hills.

The objective of this capital project was to purchase a plastic film layer that was customised to lay biodegradable film upon cotton hills for to enable commercial scale trials for DAQ1401C. After some modification, the film layer has proven to be a useful capital item, not only for DAQ1401, but also for biodegradable film studies in other locations, including Darlington Point for use by Heath McWhirter (Elders) to conduct similar trial work during September 2014, and Moree by Michael Braunack (CSIRO) during October 2014.

A review is currently being undertaken by the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC of the BMP program so that it focuses on a more whole of farm business rather than on cotton alone. The vision is for every element of the program to make practical business sense to cotton growers.

This report forms the qualitative analysis of the BMP Trial Evaluation Project. Half-day workshops were run with key stakeholders of growers (8 workshops involving approximately 80 growers in total) and RD&E personnel (5 workshops with a total of approximately 50 people in total) to gain their feedback on the BMP program. RD&E staff attended meetings where the new BMP program was demonstrated.

Workshop/RD&E attendees were asked to fill out individual feedback forms (surveys) – capturing both quantitative and qualitative data. Group discussions to be held also present an opportunity to collect input – although no tool has been developed yet.

A 4 month scientific exchange to the University of Guelph in Canada; and

DuPont and Waterborne Environmental Inc. in the USA enabled work with

world leaders in the area of ecological risk assessment of agrochemicals.

Under the supervision of world leading toxicologists, Prof. Keith Solomon

and Prof. Mark Hanson, a toxicity experiment was conducted that

investigated the potential recovery of two species of Duckweed (Lemna gibba

and L. minor) following exposure to the herbicide Diuron at the University of

Guelph, Canada. When the macrophytes were exposed to a range of

concentrations, Diuron was found to reduce the population growth rate

(widely considered a significant toxicology endpoint for aquatic macrophytes

and algae), which is not new, however, following exposure the macrophytes

were found to recover to a point that is not significantly different to the

population growth rate of the control cultures. The results of this experiment

may highlight questions about whether standard toxicity data adequately

represent exposure scenarios that are commonly observed in catchments.

At DuPont and Waterborne environmental experience was gained in the

development of and running a spatial exposure model developed by these

organisations. Under the supervision of Dr. Aldos Barefoot and Dr. Gerco

Hoogeweg I was able to participate in the simulation modelling and data

gathering processes. It is hoped that I will be able to use these same models to

predict spatial environmental fate and exposure in the Gwydir River

catchment. Further to this, testing a number of management scenarios will

also be used to investigate the impact that they may have on the fate of

chemicals.

This project aimed to examine the possible impact of tobacco streak virus (TSV) on the

Australian cotton industry. TSV is transmitted by thrips and causes a newly emerging disease which has had a significant impact on grain crops, especially sunflower and mungbean, in Central Queensland since ca. 2004.

This one year scoping study has established that cotton is susceptible to field infection

with TSV within the Emerald cotton production area, with infected plants being found at

several locations. Results from field surveys indicated that TSV did not cause significant

disease or losses in CQ cotton in the 2007/2008 season, with most field crops inspected

having less than 1% of plants affected by mild symptoms, often only consisting of single,

diffuse necrotic lesions on one leaf of infected plants.

More severe symptoms were occasionally observed in field infected plants which

included dark purple necrotic, spreading lesions on leaves, sometimes forming numerous diffuse ring spots. On plants with numerous necrotic lesions the upper leaves sometimes also displayed chlorotic mottle and deformed, down-curled leaves. Higher levels of infection were only observed in volunteer cotton plants near parthenium infestations.

A total of 13 cotton varieties/lines have been screened for resistance/susceptibility to

TSV in glasshouse tests. Results indicate that all lines are susceptible to TSV, with all

displaying mild symptoms on inoculated leaves. However, almost all lines tested had

apparently healthy growth after the initial localised symptoms.

Parthenium is suspected to be the key alternative host of TSV in central Queensland and results from this study have shown that TSV infected parthenium is present at several locations throughout the Emerald cotton production area. Crop hygiene with effective control of flowering parthenium in and around crops (particularly when crops are young) is likely to be a key control method to minimise the risk of TSV entering crops.

While results from this scoping study indicate that TSV may not cause significant

disease or losses in central Queensland cotton crops, the study was conducted during an unseasonally wet cropping cycle and many questions remain unanswered about what factors cause systemic infection, what insect vectors are involved in transmission and the extent of disease damage during a “normal” season.

Australia’s primary industries share common risks relating to declining community trust. Decreasing trust can lead to increased regulation, limited market access, disincentives to invest in infrastructure, and reduced industry productivity, profitability, and sustainability. Australia’s Regional Development Corporation's(RDC) have identified community trust as an essential area for collective investment and research capacity building.

This Background Literature Review outlines the evidence that formed the basis of the Research Program Investment Plan. Researchers undertook an extensive review of Australian and relevant international scholarly and industry literature on the food and fibre industries to assess existing knowledge about building and maintaining community trust. Researchers identified significant research gaps that must be addressed before effective intervention strategies can be developed.

The Review found existing research on community trust in Australia’s primary industries to be surprisingly limited and remarkably siloed. Existing research focuses disproportionately on agriculture, rather than on the broader food and fibre industries, and it tends to examine industries or issues individually, rather considering cross-sectoral challenges or themes. Scholarly and industry research also tends to rely on quantitative methods such as surveys, rather than on qualitative approaches that enable deeper investigation of key issues.

As a result, while there have been some efforts to understand issues of importance to the Australian community (i.e., what the community cares about), there has been surprisingly little investigation of why or how these issues become important. Focus on the why and the how is essential for developing cross-sector and whole-of-system strategies that can address specific issues where trust is currently fragile and enable proactive approaches for maintaining trust as new issues emerge.

Key findings:

• Many seemingly common-sense models for the building and maintenance of community trust are ineffective for producing long-term results. They also tend to conflate trust with other related but distinct concepts such as social license, social acceptability, and confidence. Research shows that the increasing distance between producers and consumers can erode trust, but more information, education, and transparency are not the solution: instead, far more complex and nuanced approaches are needed for success.

• Existing research on community attitudes is inconsistent and sometimes contradictory in part due to an overreliance on quantitative surveys and consumer sentiment analyses in academic and industry research; these tend to employ broad questions or overly simplistic measures that do not permit comprehensive analysis or understanding of the deeper issues affecting community trust.

• Current controversial issues—such as animal welfare, new technologies and environmental sustainability—offer critical lessons that can be applied on a cross-sectoral basis. These issues point to the complex spaces of debate that are emerging in contemporary Australia, and to the need for more robust and careful empirical research into the drivers and threats associated with community trust. It is vital to avoid easy assumptions (about the so-called urban-rural divide or the prevalence of knowledge deficits, for example) that will lead to oversimplified solutions unlikely to be successful on a medium- and longer-term basis.

• A lack of evidence base for best practices for disseminating research findings to end-users and engaging with them is a problem that is not unique to the food and fibre production sectors. However, the principles of both public engagement with research and more traditional extension approaches can be used as the basis of novel and effective dissemination and engagement strategies. Ongoing evaluation of these efforts will be crucial both to redress the limited evidence base and build capacity, and to ensure improvement and refinement of these strategies over time and guarantee that the sector benefits from investments in building and maintaining community trust.

An efficient and world standard computing system at ACRI has benefited all research

programs through their use in data processing, storage, statistical analysis, simulation

modelling and the development of end-user packages. In addition the network located at

ACRI provides printing services and communication which includes e-mail and website.

These services have underpinned the quality of research conducted at ACRI and personnel

rely heavily on continued and uninterrupted access to computing support to this IT. In

instances many initiatives for the cotton industry instigated by researchers and extension

officers rely solely on access to the computing support provided by this project. These

services are imperative to the proper functioning of ACRI institute and are separate to IT

overheads provided by CSIRO and NSW DPI.

This project enabled ACRI to operate its computing services as a whole. Supporting IT in

this way is the most efficient and cost effective means for the cotton research effort at ACRI.

This support:

� provides ACRI with cutting edge IT technologies making it a world class research facility

for dedicated cotton research.

� goes beyond generic services provided by research institutions based in capital cities

� ensures timely access to IT services at ACRI.

� avoids duplication and fragmentation of IT resources for research activities by different

institutions based at ACRI.

� ensures that ACRI has an IT champion in place leveraging significant resources from the

CSIRO and NSW DPI.

� enables cotton researchers at ACRI to focus on research alone and not on IT issues.

This project employed Tony Pfeiffer, an experienced Network manager permanently based at

ACRI to enhance operation of IT at ACRI. While Tony is employed by CSIRO he is

available to all people at ACRI to provide immediate computing assistance. He works

closely with CSIRO IT and NSW Department of Primary Industries to coordinate further

investment in computing services and infrastructure at the site. With the increase in

computing power and staff at ACRI, the need for sustained technical support directly to the

user has expanded. The systems manager now supports 63 CSIRO, 49 NSW Ag and 10

others computer users. The computer systems manager also supports the network servers

(backup and communication) and phone system at ACRI.

Travel to the USA to attend the Fusarium 2005 workshop at Kansas State University, and to accompany representatives of the Australian cotton industry on a cotton disease study tour of the USA. The purpose of attending the training course was to improve my technical skills as a plant pathologist, with the specific aim of learning new techniques that will enable me to maintain, identify and differentiate species of Fusarium. The study tour aimed to view several diseases of cotton that are not yet present in Australia. First hand experience of these diseases will enhance our ability to detect and manage any future incursions. Both the course and study tour provided opportunities to meet other plant pathologists who work not only on cotton, but on a range of other crops and diseases.

The Australian Cotton Water Story brings together research and development outcomes around water use in Australian cotton over the decade from 2002 to 2012. The Australian cotton industry has seen a dramatic improvement in all facets of its water management over this decade, and with water being the limiting factor of production for the industry, growing ‘more crop per drop’ has been an important goal for cotton water research. This publication brings together a snapshot of the breadth of cotton water related discipline research and development done on cotton plants, fields, farms, catchments and communities – with a focus on measuring the industry’s water use productivity and delivering outcomes of research to the end users, cotton growers, to put into practice.

The following Report covers my participation in a series of meetings at

Bremen, Germany, in late March 2006 - including;

20.3.06; CSITC *small technical group' meeting

21.3.06; International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF)

'working group' meetings on - Cotton Fibre Maturity, Stickiness, Neps

and Trash, Fibre Length, and HVl.

22.3.06; ITMF Cotton Technical Steering Committee (am).

CSITC Full Meeting (pm).

23.3.06; ITMF Cotton Conference - included a forum on

'International Harmonisation of Instrument Testing' - self on panel.

24.3.06; ITMF Cotton Conference - included reports from earlier

specialist technical sessions' and on measurement technology.

The project provided travel funding to assist enable six Australian scientists who have undertaken extensive research on pesticides on behalf of the cotton industry to participate in the Pacifichem 2005 Symposium 225, Rational Methods for the Selection and Use of Agrochemicals: Risk Modelling, Monitoring and Management.