In this project, a novel treatment was investigated to improve whiteness, brightness, softness and dye uptake of cotton yarn and fabric. It uses an eco-friendly amino acid treatment in place of highly concentrated caustic soda used in mercerization process. The treatment can be conducted in yarn package form without needing any additional or specialised equipment. The project has demonstrated through subjective assessment and spectrophotometric measurements that samples prepared by this process has higher whiteness and reduced yellowness. The treatment if flexible and desired fabric properties can be achieved by treatment at both acidic and alkali pH thereby allowing this to be extended to blends with cotton.

The influence of the treatment on the mechanical properties show that fabric strength is increased. The dye pick is significantly improved for commonly used reactive dyes as well as direct dyes. The improvement in handle was evaluated by instrumental analysis as well as subjective measurements. The increase in softness is achieved in addition to whiteness, brightness, dye pick up and without reduction in strength which is not achieved by any other chemical processing of cotton.

This project investigated a range of factors leading to dieback and low recruitment rates of river red gums in cotton-growing regions of the northern Murray-Darling Basin. Our research echoes the sentiments of previous research, confirming that multiple complex interacting factors are driving tree dieback and recruitment processes in these landscapes and many factors are context-dependent. Tree dieback is a natural process, however, human management, including regulation of river systems, drawdown of groundwater aquifers, use of broad spectrum insecticide chemicals and introduction of competitive exotic species has exacerbated the frequency, extent and severity of dieback events, stressing trees further than they are evolved to cope with in already variable environments. Changing climatic conditions are also likely to intensify tree dieback and recruitment processes, including increasing moisture stress and insect herbivory.

A dieback identification and management guide has been produced and is available through the Cottoninfo website (www.cottoninfo.com.au/publications/tree-dieback-guide). Growers are urged to

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seek out that document for more information on how dieback can be addressed in specific situations. A range of scientific publications will be available in coming months and will be made available through CRDC.

Riparian ecosystems hold a variety of environmental, social and economic values. Unfortunately there is no silver bullet answer to immediately improve tree health and management is likely to be context-specific. However, a variety of management options are available to growers that wish to improve tree health, as outlined in the tree dieback identification and management guide available through Cottoninfo. Commitment to improving tree health on cotton farms for a variety of outcomes, including biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service provision, demonstrates the industry’s dedication to sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Australian agriculture is experiencing a labour and skills shortage, driven by an aging workforce, low attraction rates and strong competition from the resource sector. The cotton industry is challenged with attracting and retaining core staff, on-farm labour, and access to professional advisers and service providers. The problem has recently been exacerbated by expansion following years of drought, and the resources boom.

The role of the Education Officer has developed and expanded since conception to (i) provide educational opportunities that enabled a flexible path for developing skills across the industry; (ii) co-ordinate specialist short courses and training for cotton consultants, agribusinesses, cotton growers and their staff; and (iii) promote science and agriculture in schools. The CRDC project also integrated broad industry investments in education and continued to develop relationships and partnerships with external education and government agencies.

The three year project reported on herein is the continuation of that initial project directly with the CRDC, which extends the strategies developed within it that aim to attract, develop and retain skilled people in the cotton industry. The Education Officer will maintain established links with education organisations, government agencies and industry bodies to promote science and agriculture in cotton regions. It will link with other industry investments in education, development and delivery. The Education Officer is employed by CSIRO based at the Australian Cotton Research Institute, Narrabri. This facilitated continued direct connections with the industry, schools, universities and rural communities.

In Australia we have a proud tradition of extension and adoption within primary industries. Extension services play an important role in assisting Australian farmers and fishers to adopt research and development (R&D), to innovate and change, and to keep their business profitable. The Consolidating Targeted and Practical Extension for Australian Farmers and Fishers project was welcomed as the start of a much needed national conversation about the future of extension and is now complete. Funded under the Australian Government’s Rural R&D for Profit Programme, it was an ambitious project that aimed to reverse some of the drivers of fragmentation that are impacting on delivery, to evaluate the extension system, and to consolidate extension knowledge. The 18 month project also identified practical and achievable actions that will lead to improvements to our extension systems, helping it meet future demands and opportunities in primary industries. Key project deliverables and outcomes were: • A practical extension information ‘hub’ • An evaluation of the current extension environment and systems • Information and advice on strategic next steps to improve the efficiency of extension • Undertaking forums and information exchange Extension Hub A key achievement of the project was the creation of a web-based ‘hub’ to support extension professionals as they plan and deliver information to Australian farmers and fishers. The Extension Hub consolidates and organises existing knowledge, tools and resources in an accessible way so that it can be easily used to inform the design and implementation of extension by public and private providers. The site, established as the Extension Practice Community of Practice (CoP), went live November 2016. It currently contains 30 curated articles on extension relevant to target audiences. They are tagged with keywords, and linked to other sources including YouTube. Further resources are being added by the CoP leader. Currently there are 1300 users of the site. Communities of Practice on crop diseases and crop nutrition are also housed on the site. Visitors can listen to podcasts, read articles or “ask an expert” technical questions on the subject area of the Community of Practice. 

The research conference brought together 230 delegates with 135 presentations across a range of disciplines as well as 7 keynote speakers. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for CRDC R&D Managers and CottonInfo team members to review the research currently being undertaken across the entire research portfolio as well as being able to network with a number of scientists at this meeting.

In 2008 the Cotton CRC invested in an Education Officer, Trudy Staines, for 5 years to promote science and agriculture in schools. The schools program was developed to enhance and expand the science and environmental management syllabus in primary and high schools by providing relevant cotton information and opportunities for practical on-farm activities. The strategy proposed by the Cotton CRC was the promotion of science and agriculture in schools to encourage school students into careers in science and agriculture, specifically the cotton industry through collaborations with school teachers, scientists, the cotton extension teams, industry, catchment and government education agencies, to encourage primary and secondary school students to develop resources and implement science and agricultural based activities that engage students and ultimately promote the cotton industry as an employee’s career of choice. The three year project reported on herein is the continuation of that initial project directly with the CRDC.

All of the main objectives of this project were met: to (1) become the central point of contact for industry education; (2) support the continued development of existing industry education initiatives; (3) actively engaging with PISCE; (4) represent the cotton industry in numerous education initiatives; (5) support undergraduate programmes; (6) support the industry post-graduate program; and (7) work with Gordon Stone in developing a new strategy for work force development.

Notable achievements included: (1) delivering the “Enviro stories” competition which is curriculum based with education kits and information packs available online. This activity is a stepping stone in introducing science and agricultural related concepts and is moving into the digital era with books available online; (2) engaging with The Primary Industry Centre for Science Education to promote Science & Agriculture to high schools (public & private). The program consists of class visits, science investigations, industry camp, industry placement, undergrad internships, teacher personal development, and CD resource development. This activity engages students and teachers to participate in science and agriculture areas with a ‘hands on’ approach and gives them a solid back ground in what careers are available within the cotton industry. It is an integral part of the young cotton professional program having an already established and proven model; and (3) Establishing better links with Cotton Agribusinesses and matching them with suitable undergraduate students for work placement experiences. Importantly, this project provided a proactive methodology for the cotton industry to seek out high quality, skilled and passionate young people. Their suitability was judged via placements with cotton agribusiness employers and through a structured process a database of suitable employees can be developed, based on feedback from host employers.

This project made an important contribution to the industry and rural communities as it worked towards defining career pathways for potential cotton industry employees. The industry and community benefits may not be immediately apparent but will develop in the years to come. The outcome of this project is that it will make a significant contribution to the continued supply of educated, highly qualified, skilled and passionate workers to the industry and a more science and agriculturally aware community. We detailed examples of the career pathways of 5 students that have interacted directly with several initiatives in the ongoing schools project. We also tracked the impact of our programs at local high schools in the region directly through subject choices taken by year 10 students for their year 11 curriculum

Current nutrient management strategies are based primarily on the concept of cost effective nutrient management (i.e. deriving an economic return from fertilizer investment), unless managers have consciously embarked on a nutrient replacement approach to balance crop nutrient removal. The consequence of cost effective strategies is that soil fertility reserves of (originally) non-limiting nutrients will decline until fertilizer applications become warranted. Soil testing has shown that reserves of P, K and S have been gradually declining but there is little definitive evidence of the threshold soil test values which indicate when fertilizer application becomes warranted. This is particularly so for the alkaline cracking clay soils that support the Australian cotton industry. In addition to the lack of clear guidelines to identify fertilizer responsive field sites, there is also uncertainty surrounding the most effective fertilizer application strategies (rates, placement and timing) to allow efficient crop recovery and use. These issues are particularly important for immobile nutrients which don’t redistribute down the soil profile as moisture profiles refill.

This project undertook an extensive field research program to improve the soil testing guidelines for defining P and K responsiveness in irrigated and dryland cotton systems and to evaluate fertilizer application strategies (soil or foliar applications, fertilizer banding or incorporation) in terms of crop recovery and crop response. Both these nutrients already figure prominently in cotton fertilizer programs.

The key research findings have been that the efficiency of use of applied P and K fertilizers in most cotton farms is extremely poor, due to a combination of a crop root system that exploits fertilizer bands poorly and a phenomenon observed in flood irrigated systems where root activity in the fertilized hill declines rapidly once irrigation commences. If P and K are dispersed through a soil volume where adequate cotton roots are active during peak uptake periods (from first flower to first open boll), the crop can accumulate substantial quantities of both nutrients – even to the extent of clear luxury uptake. However the predominance of banded applications in dryland systems (to facilitate rainfall capture and storage) and the phenomenon of poor utilization of nutrients from the bed after flowering under flood irrigation are combining to seriously restrict nutrient use efficiency. Foliar applications of P and K were not an effective strategy to address these constraints.

The implications for productivity in the broader industry are uncertain, as the lack of recovery of applied fertilizer in most field trials has prevented meaningful interpretations of the degree of P or K constraint evident at each site. We have derived indices (kg nutrient uptake/100 kg lint yield) from long term experiments where P and K responses are substantial to attempt to benchmark crop nutrient status in the regions where research was undertaken. While preliminary, these indices suggest relatively widespread evidence of low-marginal crop P status in NNSW and southern Queensland, but less frequent occurrence of low crop K. While these benchmarks may not easy to adopt more broadly, we have also explored seed nutrient concentration as a possible indicator of crop P and K status. Considerable variation in seed P concentration is evident, but little for seed K. While important for nutrient budgeting calculations, seed P analyses may ultimately offer a more practical way of benchmarking crop P status.

While an improved understanding of the apparent impaired shallow root activity in flood systems is being developed, the irrigated industry should clearly move from banded to dispersed (broadcast and incorporated with tillage) P and K applications, with the depth and thoroughness of the incorporation a key to improving nutrient recovery. In dryland situations the solutions are less clear, but it is apparent that greater efficiencies of P and K recovery can be achieved by the grains crops grown in rotation with cotton than by cotton itself. The most effective interim strategy may be to allow the cotton crop to exploit residual (and potentially more dispersed) fertilizer residues and utilize the post-cotton pupae busting tillage operations as the opportunity to apply most P and K fertilizer in the crop rotation.

The Burdekin region of coastal north Queensland and other areas of tropical Australia provide a significant opportunity for Australian cotton industry stabilisation and contribution to drought proofing. This proposal will continue and extend upon research work conducted in predecessor projects The development of sustainable cotton farming systems for coastal north Queensland" and "Completion of Burdekin cotton feasibility study". This R&D has demonstrated potential to grow good yields of quality cotton in the Burdekin with the potential for management strategies to minimise the impact of late wet season cloud cover that reduces radiation needed for growth that can occur in 30% of years. The wet season in the monsoon tropics is a unique environment for cotton production in Australia. Hence, to reliably achieve this potential requires an agronomic production package tailored to and validated under local conditions rather than the accepted norms of southern production. The research that has preceded this proposal has made significant progress toward the development of a production package for the wet season that incorporates strategies for managing seasonal variability.

A changed political landscape now permits commercial cotton production in the Gulf region of North Queensland(NQ), the Kimberley and Pilbara of Western Australia(WA) and the top end of the Northern Territory(NT). A key objective this project was to provide expert knowledge to assist cotton investment decisions, validate the Burdekin production package for new wet season growing areas, extend past research to dry season cotton growing areas and support implementation of sustainable and economic production practices for those regions. The knowledge gained from this and predecessor projects was also relevant to cotton regions with climates not typical of the older industry (e.g. Central Queensland(CQ) and southern NSW) hence this project also supported relevant research and delivery activities in these regions.

The RD&E proposed in this project has four objectives: 1) Undertake research for the development of crop husbandry packages for the Burdekin region to manage the heavy clay soils and complete research aimed at reducing risks associated with seasonal variability, 2) Undertake research to investigate means to better integrate cotton into crop rotation systems unique to the Burdekin; that is to measure the impact on cotton in a sugar / grain rotations and to continue evaluation of cotton / grain annual rotation. The cotton rotation with sugar rotation research will be linked with a new GRDC, SRDC, QDEEDI and BSES systems project. 3) Provide specialist knowledge to growers on cotton production in the Burdekin and other tropical growing areas and subtropical central Queensland. There will be a significant capacity building component to this project as new growers will need to gain expertise quickly to avoid costly mistakes. 4) To publish Burdekin research in peer reviewed scientific journals and make the outcomes available to industry.

Research in this unique environment has and will also continue to add valuable knowledge in crop physiology and management that is benefiting the whole industry. Some recent examples include the impact and recovery of cotton growth in cloudy and humid conditions following flooding in CQ.

Water consumption in the irrigation sector has a perception of being a high water consumer, these perceptions are not wrong. Currently it represents 53% of total water consumption in Victoria (ABS, 2010). This body of work continues on what many others have achieved in understanding the efficiency of the practice of fast-flow irrigation (Gillies et al., 2010; Smith et al., 2009). Through few trials were conducted during the two month trial period due to a wetter-than-average summer, application efficiencies of over 99% were obtained for all trials. Comparatively such efficiencies for slow-flow irrigation have been shown to range between 46- 86% (Smith et al., 2009). It is universally acknowledged by many in the irrigation industry that fast-flow irrigation has the ability to reduce water consumption in the sector at a modest cost. It is this cost that is usually in the form of increased labor and technology requirements, thus a balanced approach to aiming to reduce water consumption and management of the associated costs is important to the success of any productivity improvement program.

The Australian Cotton Sustainability Report 2019 is the Australian cotton industry's second five-year sustainability report, co-published by Cotton Australia and CRDC. It provides a succinct and balanced summary of our industry's sustainability performance against eight environmental, economic and social sustainability topics from July 2014 to June 2019, and meets an industry commitment to report on sustainability every five years.

The report shows the industry can be proud of a long-term trend of improvement in many areas, and highlights some areas in which we can do better.

The report is part of the industry's wider PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK sustainability framework.

The framework recognises sustainability is integral to the industry’s future and provides a path for the entire industry to stay in business. PLANET. PEOPLE. PADDOCK. guides our industry’s work to: set ambitious industry-wide Australian cotton sustainability targets; coordinate existing work and new investments to achieve these targets; engage effectively with stakeholders on actions and progress, and provide a united vision for further positive change.