This Travel Bursary helped me to attend the 2008 International Cotton Institute Course in Memphis, TN,

USA.

Features of course:

• Network with participants from around the world as well as cotton industry leaders.

• Provide background in all facets of the industry from growing, ginning, marketing,

shipping, milling and spinning including visits to USDA gin research labs and Cotton

Incorporated’s milling and spinning research facilities.

• Learning how to manually class cotton.

Due to the large percentage of Boll disorders and diseases that have occurred in Central Queensland Cotton production system in recent years, growers and advisers are attempting to find some answers to eliminate the risk of these occurring. The following project is a concept which is taken from the canopy management concept that a reduction of the canopy density can reduce the humidity in the crop, thus alleviating potential boll disorder conditions in wet seasons. This project looked at reduction of the plant stand within a linear metre of row to study the effect of the increase or decrease in plant densities on yield and boll disorders.

The season was an extremely wet season, at the time of boll opening and at picking, which was perfect for the results of this trial. However, due to some shortcomings of the experimental design and procedure, there was no significant difference in the trial, despite there being some areas where, with further research, may have some potential trends. In addition to the extremely wet finish to the season, a December hail storm heavily impacted on the crop which also may have affected the results negatively.

In order to completely understand this concept, the trial needs to be re-visited and conducted in such a way to alleviate any of the shortcomings of this pilot study and to ensure that the results and data are such that they can begin to provide a picture of what may be causing some of these events. Climatic conditions should be recorded within treatments in future trials, as this will assist in identifying what parameters are causing these disorder events. There is a limited amount of information available to the industry on how these disorders can be controlled or mitigated and therefore more research should be conducted in line with these ideas to assist the industry in combating these problems.

Plant growth promotion is a complex phenomenon that often cannot be attributed to a single mechanism, as most PGP microbes are capable of multiple mechanisms and in some cases their PGP effect may only occur through interactions with different microbes. It is important to note that any microbial agent added to the rhizosphere would have to interact not only with the plant but also with any other organism sharing the same ecological niche. To be successful the inoculant has to maintain a critical population mass in the soil and have the right conditions to exert its beneficial activity.

Despite the challenges, a growing variety of microorganisms with properties that can be exploited in plant growth promotion are being discovered and tested under field conditions, with increasing number of cases reporting success. Reductions in the uses of chemical fertilisers and pesticides as well as improved yield are the main direct benefits reported from use of inoculants. Indirect benefits are reduced build up of toxins in agricultural soils and reduced environmental pollution with agricultural runoff. Success is often associated with using a combination of inoculants with complementary beneficial traits, e.g. biofertilisers that increase nutrient availability in the proximity of the roots together with a mycorrhizal fungus that enhances the root system and assists the plant to absorb the nutrients. It is not surprising that often indigenous microbes are proving to be the most effective, as such microbes would suit the environmental conditions in the cropping system they are intended for. Nevertheless, indigenous microbes would still have to out compete other microbes for resources and, in the case of biocontrol agent, suppress pathogens.

The Australian GRDC has been investing in a Soil Biology research since 1992. Between 2002 and 2008 they have invested approx AUD 8,000,000 on the Soil Biology initiative, which they report was successful in generating economical, environmental and social benefits. Economical benefits were attributed to investment areas related to inoculants, disease control and nutrient balance. Environmental benefits were attributed to a reduced use of fertilisers and reduced energy input. The GRDC announced their next generation soil biology plan to run between 2009 and 2014. One of the main focuses of the plan is the Beneficial Microbes Program, which aims to isolate, test and commercialise microbial bio-inoculants for the grain industry. One of their rationales for such an investment is the readiness of the Australian

farmers to reduce on-farm chemical inputs and replace them with biological alternatives in order to reduce costs, increase sustainability and maintain healthy soils and ecosystems (GRDC Five years Business plan, 2009-2014).

The cotton industry, via the CRDC, would benefit from maintaining its program

on soil biology and, from reasons outlined above, extend research into isolation of cotton specific beneficial microbes, from different cotton growing regions in Australia. Other than isolating microbial agents for augmentation, further research should be directed into cropping practices that enhance existing and introduced beneficial microbes, such as controlling the amount of chemical inputs, which might otherwise suppress the activity of beneficials and increase the activity of detrimental organisms.

There is a great scope for collaborations between the different Research and Development Corporations in Australian agriculture and worldwide with regard

to the development of technology for e.g. screening for and identification of

microbes with beneficial traits; assessment of the benefit to the plant; testing

strains for commercialisation; designing best formulations for inoculant delivery; detecting and assessing the performance of inoculants in the soil; analysing soil microbial communities and the effects of the soil inoculation on soil health; and the studying of general effects of cropping practices on specific microbial communities. In general, it can be said that similar groups of beneficial microbes seem to be involved in promoting the growth of different plants. Examples for this are bacteria from the Bacillus, Azospirillum, Pseudomonas groups and mycorrhizal fungi. Nevertheless, there is enough evidence to suggest that particular microbial species, or even strains, benefit specific plants under defined conditions. Therefore, beside collaborative efforts, regional efforts need to be maintained to produce inoculants specific to the crop, agronomic practices, soil type and other environmental conditions.

Report from the Administration Officer, MCGA: I have recently taken up the reins of Macquarie Cotton Growers Association and, besides being on a steep learning curve, I am also following up on a few loose ends, one of which was the CRDC funding for the past funding period.

After a conversation with Sally Hunter yesterday, it has transpired that we have not invoiced the CRDC for the grant money that had been made available in 2011.

The application form that was submitted by MCGA outlines the benefits that our two projects would bring to our local cotton growing community. One of the projects, the Barefoot Bowls Day, was postponed, and instead a Field Day was held. This was supported by a group of growers and refreshments, lunch and a bus were provided by MCGA.

In addition a BBQ trailer was built with the help of some funding from DFACS. It is a very well designed setup and has been getting regular use through the local communities in the Lower Macquarie. We are providing it free of charge for not-for-profit organisations and will charge a user fee for larger companies or private use.

There have been additional costs with the BBQ trailer which include tyres, registration and proposed sign writing, which has been made possible with CRDC funding. Substantial in-kind input has been made by MCGA committee members in regard to the designing and administration of the building and management of the trailer.

Once the trailer undergoes sign writing, it will be a very visual advertisement for Macquarie Cotton Growers Association, as well as creating a sense of support by cotton growers within the communities.

The other significant outlay was the decision to have Rachael Robertson as the keynote speaker at our annual Grower Awards night. As outlined in the funding proposal, this was a great drawcard for the night, and has resulted in very positive feedback from our grower community.

The committee of MCGA feels that these funded projects have impacted very favourably with both the growers and the wider community. The BBQ trailer has raised the profile of the association in the community and is a very positive outcome. Field days are an integral part of supporting our growers and create enthusiasm and networking. Having a keynote speaker makes our awards night a more significant event and encourages our membership to socialise and celebrate.

I have emailed an invoice for $8,000 which was first raised in November 2011, and have also sent a second invoice for $2000, being the balance of the funding grant that was offered. As I am sending them direct from Phoenix, they will be separate from this email.

Macquarie Cotton Growers Association would like to thank the CRDC for making this funding available as it enables our committee to support our members and our community to a level that otherwise would not be possible.

In response to the APVMA regulatory review of diuron, this project was initiated in response for two main purposes. Firstly, to show that that cotton industry has the technology the effectively manage chemical residues in BMP cotton systems and secondly to provide an assessment of the ecological risk from diuron and atrazine in the Namoi and Emerald cotton catchments.

The project used QuickTests, rapid analytical technology, to analyse 456 samples over a four month period. Ten per cent of samples were sent to an analytical laboratory for instrumental analysis. This rapid analytical technology, develop recently through a Cotton CRC project, enables superior environmental management to support the cotton eco-brand. Not only can analysis be undertaken on site, giving immediate feedback for management, a lot more data is made available as the costs are about 10-20% of contemporary instrumental methods. Following the principles of ecological risk assessment this project showed that the concentrations of diuron and atrazine detected in the Namoi and Emerald catchments did not pose ecological concern based on the assessment endpoints adopted for this agricultural region (90% of ecological species protected 90% of the time).

This project provides the framework for rapid analytical technology to be included in catchment management and BMP systems. Until now, the costs of analysis have been prohibitive. The technology and systems are available to support good practice of effective pesticides for the industry against increasing regulatory pressure.

Following extensive discussions since 2010, CRDC agreed to provide seed funding for a Centre for Biopesticides and Semiochemicals, to be developed by researchers from NSW Department of Primary Industry(DPI), the University of Western Sydney, and the University of New England. The aim of the Centre was to conduct basic research to identify new biopesticide and semiochemical solutions for use in integrated pest management in a range of Australian cropping systems, and to facilitate the commercial development of products based on these discoveries. It was anticipated that additional funding would be sourced from other rural R & D corporations and commercial partners in the future. However, limited funding from GRDC and other research bodies resulted in limited outcomes and aims being achieved.

Research focused on pheromones which might be used for monitoring, in early warning systems. Target pests were selected because existing monitoring and control methods were not adequate, and current GM technology did not provide management options. The targets are green mirids (Creontiades dilutus), affecting cotton and to a lesser extent grain legumes and the cotton leafworm or cluster caterpillar (Spodoptera litura), affecting cotton, vegetables and grain legumes.

In 2010, CRDC received a PRP from the Primary Industries Education Foundation (PIEF) to consider an investment. Encouraged by Cotton Australia, CRDC invited PIEF to submit a FRP which was considered at CRDC’s budget meeting in March 2011. The board did not support the request for CRDC to become a member of PIEF for a 3 year period. Instead, the board placed sufficient funds in the commissioned project budget to cover a possible 12 month investment in PIEF provided a satisfactory cooperative arrangement could be established with Cotton Australia. CRDC discussed the option to establish a 12 month project with PIEF’s CEO Ben Stockwin and received an offer to become a PIEF member for 12 months.

CRDC determined to co-invest with Cotton Australia in PIEF. Initially CRDC invested for a 12 month ‘pilot’ to assist the industry to become a member of PIEF and to work with CA to assess the value of PIEF membership. At the commencement of the arrangement, CA and CRDC outlined the potential value that we saw, and how we planned to use PIEF. A number of proposed outcomes were agreed upon which were to:

1. Highlight, prioritise and plan our involvement in relevant initiatives and events, e.g. through identifying effective education efforts in other industries, effective mechanisms and approaches and potential partnerships that could be developed

2. Identify, develop and promote resources in schools that highlight many key aspects of the cotton industry and demonstrate that there are many exciting careers to be found within it.

3. Work more collaboratively and cost-effectively with other rural industries to showcase agriculture as a sustainable sector with excellent career opportunities.

4. Show that the work of PIEF is having an impact on students as measured by an improved knowledge of primary industries in general and the cotton industry in particular.

5. Provide evidence that interest in and entries into the VET and tertiary courses which support agriculture is increasing over time.

6. Understand the kinds of resources that other industries have developed through their membership with PIEF and how they are being used.

7. Demonstrate that PIEF will provide value for money compared to other options the industry has for investment in the education sector in other words how the cotton industry can innovatively build upon the access PIEF provides to the National Curriculum?

Beyond the initial 12 months, provided both parties agree that PIEF is a worthwhile investment, CRDC indicated that it was prepared to consider ongoing co-investment in PIEF with CA.

On the one year anniversary of PIEF membership, Ben Stockwin , met with the Human Capacity Panel when they met to review 2012 PRPs. Their reception of PIEF was markedly different as PIEF can now better explain its role in the education space and has moved from talking about aspirations to delivering outcomes. The Advisory Panel acknowledged that they had turned this concept away last time, with the rationale being that PIEF needed to show that it delivered for cotton. This time, the panel was vocal in its support for PIEF. They saw value in what PIEF are doing with their core funding and recognised the potential in using PIEF to deliver on areas of need in cotton (e.g. commissioning specific projects through future PRPs). They were supportive of PIEF’s business model of operating leanly, committing to core objectives and seeking funding for project based work.

After the first year of membership we have revisited the envisaged outcomes in considering the value of PIEF for the cotton industry and consider PIEF to be delivering on the outcomes on the whole and providing a range of unanticipated benefits. This report is structured around the outcomes for the cotton industry agreed prior to undertaking PIEF membership.

On New Year's Day 2011, the peak of the Cornet River flood in Central Queensland

broke long standing record levels. The alluvial lower floodplain of the Comet River is

arguably some of the more fertile and productive soil in the region, with a significant

percentage of this land being developed for irrigated farming and cotton production.

Once the flooding had occurred, the region found itself in a position of having to try and

find a way forward from this natural disaster. With cotton prices being at record levels

and most farm businesses having forward-sold commitments, the most likely profitable

avenue was to attempt to continue with the current cotton crop through to the Grid of the season. With no information on how cotton would recover from such an event available,

any management decision came with the Grid result being uncertain.

Case studies were developed in consultation with growers, researchers and advisors to

study a range of post-flood management options. The treatments were developed based

on the state of the crop after the flood and the crop recovery immediately after the event. The case studies monitored were as follows:

1. Crop retained most leaf matter however all fruit was lost, crop left untreated

2. Crop retained no fruit or leaf material, slashing was the first point of recovery

3. Crop was uneven in survival, uniformity was induced by "tipping" the crop 4. Crop retained ino fruit or leafmatter and was left untreated

5. Crop totally destroyed and paddockwas re-planted to conventional cotton

Objective of the visit 1. To attend the 21st International Congress of Entomology Conference and present a paper on beneficial insects conservation and development of IPM in cotton in Australia. 2. To interact and have discussion with scientists working in the same area of research to gain further knowledge in the area of beneficial insect conservation and IPM.

The successful SOILpak concept was developed in 1986, but the most recent version of the manual (‘SOILpak for Cotton Growers: Third edition’, 1998, and the accompanying Pocket Notes) is now eighteen years old. Valuable ideas for updating SOILpak were presented in the reviews by Shaw (2005) and EA Systems (2006) approximately ten years ago.

Other soil-related PAKS developed by the Australian cotton industry also remain important but some sections are out of date; they include NUTRIpak, WATERpak, MACHINEpak and NORpak.

Precision Agriculture techniques associated with soil management are very valuable – particularly yield mapping and elevation data – but there has been an over-dependence on EM surveys, and a lack of attention given to ‘yield gap’ mapping.

There are several problems with SOILpak that need to be addressed:

• Machinery wheel pattern descriptions are outdated; there is no mention of the new and heavy JD7760 pickers and high capacity wheat harvesters that have the potential to create much deeper compaction than previous harvesting equipment.

• SOILpak sampling depths are compatible with modern schemes such as GlobalSoilMap, but are not well integrated with NUTRIpak and WATERpak – consistency is required.

• SOILpak and associated decision support systems collectively are not “Big Data” ready; cotton soil data across the different valleys tend not to be in a format that can be clearly tabulated and mapped.

• The planned technical updating process for SOILpak as new research results became available did not occur.

• The case study section with cost-benefit analyses was never developed properly, despite the introduction of excellent new software technologies such as Wikis and easy video delivery via the Internet.

• The soil structure assessment section requires refinement/clarification through the use of modern communication and diagnostic t

The report contains an extensive list of (mainly technical) suggestions for upgrading SOILpak, which will inform the proposed revised approach of providing detailed technical information to growers and the industry, focused on 1) using the Australian Cotton Production Manual as the ‘centre piece’ source of information, supported by 2) more detailed fact sheets and 3) regular scientific reviews. The review of SOILpak provides a good case study in the streamlining opportunities this proposed revised approach provides: it highlighted that there are soil sampling guidelines in SOILpak, NUTRIpak and WATERpak, which were not completely consistent. A ‘fact sheet’ approach (that would also support myBMP) would allow for the production of a single source of truth regarding soil sampling, reducing duplication and eliminating inconsistency and the potential for confusion.