The summer edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, brings you stories about the people who are passionate about the cotton industry and how, with added support from CRDC and organisations such as Cotton Australia and Auscott, we are helping them achieve their potential. From researchers, PhD students, Nuffield scholars and the Australian Rural Leadership Program participants, CRDC is building capacity and resilience within the industry.

This edition also includes a focus on climate change research within the cotton industry. CRDC-supported RD&E has been addressing how a changing climate will affect future cotton growing, ensuring industry preparedness for future sustainability. Preparedness is also key to biosecurity and protecting the cotton industry from exotic pest threats. CRDC has been engaging with fellow plant industries to form a cohesive and collaborative front to future incursions. The cotton industry, with Plant Health Australia, recently ran Exercise Blueprint – an incursion scenario focused on cotton blue disease, a priority pest for the industry. It showed that communication is vital in the immediate period following the discovery of an exotic pest, and the industry is well placed to disseminate information and follow a clear management plan.

Australia is no stranger to successfully dealing with exotic incursions and owes much to the quality of the research that provides detailed information about threats before they reach our soil. We also owe much to the growers who continue to support researchers and trials on their farms to improve disease and pest preparedness. In this edition we catch up with Darling Downs cotton grower Graham Clapham, who in his words, ‘became famous for all the wrong reasons’ but is now highly respected and appreciated for all the right reasons. Graham had the first identified case of Fusarium wilt on his property in 1993 and has been helping researchers and the industry overcome its effects ever since.

The 2018–19 year marked the first year under the CRDC Strategic RD&E Plan 2018–23. As such, the 2018–19 year marked a crucial year for CRDC. It ensured that the first round of strategic RD&E investments under this plan help set the future direction for the Australian cotton industry – one of innovation and impact through increased commercialisation and digital transformation.

To achieve this, during 2018–19 Australian cotton growers and the Australian Government co-invested $24.1 million through CRDC into cotton RD&E, across 285 projects and in collaboration with 116 research partners. The investments were made in the five key areas identified in the Strategic RD&E Plan: increasing productivity and profitability on Australian cotton farms; improving cotton farming sustainability and value chain competitiveness; building the adaptive capacity of the Australian cotton industry; strengthening partnerships and adoption; and driving RD&E impact.

The Australian Cotton Industry is now in the midst of dealing with both glyphosate resistant and tolerant weeds in the cotton system. Glyphosate, the world’s most important herbicide continues to be relied on as the primary source of weed control. The sustainability of this herbicide is dependent upon the ability to incorporate it into a diverse system and prevent the introduction and spread of glyphosate resistant weeds in the farming system.

Previous research has demonstrated how glyphosate resistant and tolerant weeds can be managed in cotton systems. This information has been packaged into management guides in WEEDpak for three species: flaxleaf fleabane, feathertop Rhodes grass and glyphosate-resistant awnless barnyard grass. This information is designed to help growers understand the ecology of these weeds as well as their management in crop and fallow. As more information is compiled from current research, these management packages will continue to be updated.

An updated version of the online glyphosate resistance risk assessment tool has been developed. This new version enables users to determine their resistance risk for grass and broadleaf weeds independently. Users can also compare different strategies for resistance prevention/management with greater efficiency.

An in-depth understanding of triggers for emergence of a number of key species, in particular awnless barnyard grass, feathertop Rhodes grass, fleabane and sowthistle has been gained. This research has shown that the smaller seeded summer grasses and asteraceae (fleabane and ) can emerge within 2-3 days of rainfall events of 10 mm or greater. This has contributed to their success in glyphosate based farming systems, and it important that fields are monitored soon after rainfall event so the control measures can be conducted in a timely manner.

Studies have been conducted on how to manage survivors of glyphosate application. This is an important part of the CMP for Roundup Flex cotton, and weed management in general. Results from trials on fleabane and awnless barnyard grass have shown that double knock applications with either paraquat or glufosinate as the second knockdown herbicide are most effective. Particularly as these plants are often larger, and well past optimal spraying time.

Minimising the numbers of weed seeds entering the seed bank is critical for sustainable weed management. Preliminary experiments on reducing seed viability have shown that this is achievable when plants have past optimal spraying time. Results have shown the glufosinate was most effective on awnless barnyard grass and feathertop Rhodes grass, and 2,4-D+picloram was most effective on fleabane. However, fleabane and feathertop Rhodes grass in particular are able to regrow and produce viable seeds. At this stage research indicates that an attempt to reduce seed viability is a short-term option until plants can be subsequently controlled with more robust methods.

Field and glasshouse trials that provide data to a spatial simulation model has been developed to determine the feasibility of eradicating patches of glyphosate-resistant awnless barnyard grass. Results to this point have shown that species such as awnless barnyard grass that are predominately selfing, have a relatively short seed bank life and are not transported by wind can be effectively managed at a patch level. Long-term management strategies that include two non-glyphosate tactics in crop and fallow have been successful in significantly reducing the seed bank and the number of emergences in the short-term. As the trial continues, the added benefits of extra eradication tactics will be determined for their effect on driving down the seed bank.

Controlling Volunteers * Time of Planting - Some Interesting Results *Plant X

The Cotton Field to Fabric Training program was initiated in 2005 with the main aim of educating and providing information to the various production sectors in the Australian cotton industry on the needs and requirements of both domestic and international spinning companies. Understanding spinners’ requirements is of utmost importance in assisting the Australian cotton industry in continuing to deliver quality cotton and maintaining a competitive position in the international market. This program currently has three initiatives which provided people in the cotton production pipeline the opportunity to gain valuable and current information and understanding of the entire cotton production pipeline; from the field to the manufacturing of fabric. The three initiatives are the: 1) Cotton Field to Fabric Course held in Geelong, 2) Cotton Field to Fabric Roadshow and 3) Field to Fabric in Schools course.

There is considerable interest within the Australian cotton industry to develop Long Staple Upland cotton (nominally referred to as ALS) varieties to obtain the high premiums paid for fine long and strong staple fibre which can be used for the production of yarns in the premium yarn count range. Previous commercial processing trials have shown that it is possible to produce fine count ring spun yarns for knitting or weaving, although the yarns produced varied considerably in quality and processing performance. The main object of this study was to determine what the LS fibre is capable of when processed by a commercial spinning mill, with the fibre quality within stipulated specifications. A further object of this study was to compare fibre quality and turnout of LS cotton ginned using saw and roller ginning systems.

Health and safety are key issues for all agricultural businesses and while the cotton sector is an industry leader in this area, further work was required to strengthen on-farm systems and processes.

In managing these risks to health and safety, there are well acknowledged systems and processes that can enhance a business’s capacity to not only meet legislative requirements, but also to enhance productivity. This is also important given the recent national harmonisation of the Work Health and Safety (WHS) legislation.

Since the development of the Managing Cotton Farm Safety program and related resources in 2000, these materials have been incorporated into the myBMP program. However, since 2000 there have been considerable developments in cotton farming technologies, resulting in changed practices that have an impact on health and safety. In light of these changes, these resource materials required updating to ensure they meet current best practice.

In 2012 key industry stakeholders assisted in a WHS mapping of the existing myBMP and Managing Cotton Farm Safety resources to ensure they reflect current best practice. Based on this review, the resources were updated to meet the established best practice benchmarks and trialled with growers.

Resources were updated based on these recommendations and then be piloted with a small group of growers to ensure their relevance and practical application. Resources were then uploaded into the myBMP program.

The resources provide a comprehensive suite of materials to assist growers in meeting all current WHS obligations. The availability of these resources ensures that all growers can access the best available information to support their health and safety systems and practices specific to the industry. A key pre-requisite to improved safety will be increasing the utilization of these resources through the myBMP platform. Ongoing improvements in health and safety performance by the cotton industry will have a positive impact on restricting increments in workers compensation claims and also maximizing productivity

It is important for ginners to monitor classing and leaf grade in order to maximize grower returns in terms of classing grade, and to reduce fibre damage. The grade from samples drawn during ginning will determine the amount of drying and/or lint cleaning the ginner applies during the ginning of that cotton. Currently most ginners assess classing and leaf grade manually by assessing samples drawn from baled cotton against USDA physical standards. Objective measurement of fibre quality during ginning represents the future of decision-making in ginning. Recently some Australian gins have purchased in-line instrument systems that compare digital images of samples drawn automatically after lint cleaning with images of USDA physical standards. The potential for in-line systems in gins to monitor and control fibre quality has long been recognised.

The objectives of this project were to compare results from Uster Technologies IntelliGin system, an in-line leaf, colour and moisture monitor for cotton ginning, with leaf and colour grade results from the standard High Volume Instrument (HVI), also built by Uster. Researchers studied the statistical relationships between the leaf and colour grades measured by HVI instrument with those measured by the IntelliGin system. The datasets with corresponding HVI and IntelliGin results were supplied from three gins representing three growing regions. From each region between 65 and 67 sets of HVI data, representing about 200 bales after module averaging, were gathered. While this is only a small snap shot of Australian cotton production, the dataset reflects standard leaf and colour grade values found in Australian cotton. It is noted the subsequent relationships measured would have been improved with a larger set of samples containing a wider range of USDA leaf and grade classifications.

Discussions with a number of growers, workers and agronomists found that many of them knew very little about Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI) and what went on there and how research projects were actually decided. Many of these people were a younger generation who were not about when issues surrounding resistance was widespread and ACRI was paramount in keeping ahead of arising complications. It was soon evident that this group needed to be engaged so that they could have a better understanding of the research being done now and in the future.

Trip One - This trip was focused on the research aspects of the industry and included speakers and presentations in the Narrabri area followed by a rubgy match.

Trip Two - Due to the success of the first trip and coming in under budget a second trip was organised for the southern area around Hillston and Griffith. This trip focused on networking opportunities as well as irrigation layouts and diversification.

Trip Three - The third and final trip went to Croppa Creek, Bongeen and Dalby. The the aim initially was to visit John Cameron who was 2013 Monsanto Grower of the Year and we took the opportunity to visit 2 other farms to look at different farming systems and farm machinery.   

The primary objective of this project is to empower Young Future Leaders and engage more growers and Consultants in sharing information and participating in research.

Specifically we wanted to educate participants in;

*What research is being undertaken

*How research projects are chosen

*Awareness and understanding of the organisations in the industry

*What is involved in the ginning process

*How planting seed is produced

*Greater involvement in Industry decisions making

*Build better relationships and networks

*Begin to develop research questions

The purpose of the travel was to attend the 5th Joint Australian and New Zealand Soil

Science Conference in Hobart, Tasmania from the 2-7 December 2012 to present the

results of CRDC research project titled " Organochlorine Pesticides in irrigated

Vertosols". As co-author, my research paper was presented at the

conference that containing research work using chloride mass balance models to

estimate deep drainage under irrigated Vertosols.

Professor Robert White (Emeritus Professor of Soil Science – Melbourne School of Land

and Environment), an invited speaker delivered an excellent review of the 20 papers

presented at the conference under the subject matter “Soil Carbon and Climate Change

(Chemistry/Biology).The presentation by Professor White highlighted the need for the cotton industry to ensure they are researching soil organic carbon accurately and correctly. The correct

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method of sampling and analysing for SOC is critical if we want to accurately evaluate farming systems and there affects on increasing/decreasing soil C stocks.