Promoting Water Smart Infrastructure Investment is a water and energy use efficiency project

designed to build the capacity of cotton irrigators to adapt to reduced water availability and

increasing energy costs. It has helped irrigators make informed decisions about infrastructure

change and to accelerate adoption of irrigation best practice.

Water availability is often limited for cotton production. Irrigators also face further potential

cutbacks with the implementation of the Murray Darling Basin Plan so must continue to

improve their water use efficiency (WUE).

An important outcome of this project has been to establish water use efficiency benchmarks

for the Australian Cotton Industry which enables the irrigated cotton industry to monitor and

determine the rate of change over the years. At a farm level, this allows irrigators to compare

their own performance with industry benchmarks and identify potential improvements. The

collection of high quality WUE data is also essential for sound evidence-based policy

decisions. For these reasons, the collection of robust irrigation benchmarking data for the

Australian cotton industry should continue.

The Gross Production Water Use Index (GPWUIfarm) is used to benchmark WUE. The

GPWUIfarm for the 2012/13 season was 1.12 bales/ML. This figure can be used to compare

benchmarks previously collected for the 2006-07 and 2008-09 seasons, which were 1.17 and

1.14 bales/ML, respectively. Interestingly, the seasonal conditions varied considerably for

the years the data was collected. The 2006-07 and 2008-09 had reduced plantings, low water

availability and cotton prices. In contrast 2012-13 saw record plantings and full production.

Despite this, statistical analysis found no significant difference between the three seasons

indicating that the cotton industry is achieving similar water use efficiency in years of full

production to that achieved in years of low water availability. However there was significant

variation in GPWUIfarm between individual farms, indicating scope for further efficiency

gains.

The Australian Government is providing incentive funding to modernise on-farm

infrastructure. While this provides an opportunity for Australian Irrigators, it has resulted in

the rapid expansion of overhead pressurised systems that are associated with higher energy

costs.

After years of improving water use efficiency, attention must now be placed on energy use,

and on–farm energy use efficiency. Benchmarks for energy use efficiency should be

established to complement water use efficiency, as this will maximise the efficient use of

water and energy on-farm through continuous improvement.

This project has increased the awareness of on-farm energy assessment through training and

on-farm demonstrations. While energy have not yet been established, this

project has heightened interest in this area, particularly Level 3 energy assessments (eg Pump

performance evaluation). A Pump Efficiency Monitor (PEM) was developed by the National

Centre for Engineering in Agriculture (NCEA) and has had initial trials on cotton farms. The

PEM continuously measures water flow, hydraulic head, engine and pump RPM and diesel

consumption during a pumping event. This information is used to examine pump

performance and identify areas for efficiency improvements.

Four level 2 energy assessments were conducted which showed a wide range in energy use

between the farms. The energy use varied between 6 and 12 GJ/ha, with costs ranging

between $208 and $374 per ha. Diesel energy inputs ranged from 151 to 304 L/ha. Energy

benchmarking is a critical step to improving on-farm energy use. This project has shown the need to continue working with cotton irrigators to examine on-farm energy use. High

variability in energy use between farms is evident in the assessment results, which highlights

opportunities for energy savings. Similar to WUE benchmarks, energy use efficiency

benchmarks allow irrigators to compare their own performance to regional and industry

averages and to investigate the potential for improvements. However, practical difficulties in

collecting Level 2 energy assessment data appear to be a barrier to adoption of on-farm

energy assessments. Further research could investigate improved methods for keeping onfarm

records of fuel and electricity use, or more easily accessing and collating energy use

data already available, such as that from tractor performance monitors.

Irrigation training with a focus on alternative irrigation systems was a significant output of

this project with a total of 26 training events delivered to 342 cotton irrigators, consultants,

retailers and industry personnel. Evaluation from these workshops showed participants had a

better understanding of irrigation best practice and importantly better understood the planning

and design of various irrigation systems. They were armed with greater knowledge as to

which questions to ask when considering irrigation infrastructure change.

A significant output of this project is the publication “A Review of Centre Pivot and Lateral

Move irrigation installations in the Australian Cotton Industry”. In collaboration with Qld

DERM and NCEA, this publication examines the changes in centre pivot and lateral move

installations since the previous review conducted in 2001 by Foley and Raine. It has

identified the perceived benefits and limitations associated with the use of CPLM irrigation

systems and will contribute to better informed investment decisions on the uptake of CPLM

machines.

The Promoting Water Smart Infrastructure Investment project team has been involved in a variety of field days, conferences and industry forums. Strong collaborative links have been fostered throughout this project with a range of cotton extension, development and research organisations. NSW DPI continues to build a wide network including key industry organisations and personnel with which they have a strong rapport.

Eretmocerus hayati was first released in late Oct 2004 and over the next 2.5 years it has since spread has far south as the Sydney Basin, west into the northern NSW cotton production areas and in Qld from the NSW border to the Burdekin and as far west as St George, Roma and Emerald; coverage throughout this area is now complete. Levels of parasitism of 4th instars across cotton production areas prior to the releases (1995-1999) averaged 0.04±0.01. In April and May 2007 this had increased to 0.23±0.02 an approximately 6 fold increase. Prior to the releases parasitism of the silverleaf whitefly in 585 samples did not exceed 60% of 4th instars whereas in April/May 2007, 68 of the 478 samples exceeded 60% parasitised 4th instars. Eretmocerus hayati is now the most widespread and abundant parasitoid of silverleaf whitefly in Australia.

Assessing impact is not been straightforward, however, a recent survey by Growcom showed that in coastal vegetable production areas growers observed that silverleaf whitefly numbers were considerably lower and many had either not had to intervene against the whitefly or had greatly reduced the need to apply insecticides. However, the drought and the subsequent lack of crops and weeds have made it more difficult to assess probable impact. The reason is that our work in the vegetable production system in Bundaberg has shown that silverleaf whitefly is better able to colonise crops at a distance to the nearest source. This data is still preliminary, but suggests a crop needs to be <2 km from the nearest source in order to achieve optimal colonisation by the parasitoid. The lack of suitable crops and weed refuges is likely to have considerably changed the landscape from what would normally be expected, this is likely to inturn significantly affect the way both the parasitoid and the whitefly interact with the landscape, but the Bundaberg study suggests that parasitoid will be more affected by habitat fragmentation than the pest.

In, the release of E. hayati has been a remarkable success. To be able to demonstrate such wide coverage in a short period of time and a ready capacity to establish suggests that E. hayati holds considerable promise has a control agent. The next step is to combine on farm management decisions with our knowledge of landscape features such as farm layout and cropping composition in order to understand the circumstances which increase or decrease the capacity for the parasitoid to effectively control silverleaf whitefly numbers. Through this we will be able to develop a grower management guide to how best to encourage the parasitoid to colonise crops and in so doing help achieve a sustainable reduction in the use of pesticides to manage silverleaf whitefly and an overall reduction in the impact of the pest on producers’ bottom line.

Well designed irrigation storages and water courses on cotton farms can aid in the removal of sediment, nutrients and pesticides from irrigation water and enhance their habitat value for native plants and animals. This brochure offers key principles for increasing the water use efficiency, water quality and habitat value of cotton farm water course and storages.

Sarah Hood:This project provided for the engagement of a Consultant, Sarah Hood, to undertake an interim role of the Cotton Industry Development Extension Officerss in the St. George-Dirranbandi irrigation area. Sarah maintained the essential extension activities including the publication of Cotton Tales newsletters, facilitation of the Ballonne Big Day Out field day, regional liaison with researchers, collaboration with the NRM extension and RWUE 2 projects.

A strong partnership was maintained with the regional cotton grower associations at St George and Dirranbandi, the CCA and Cotton Australia. Linkages were maintained with the Maranoa Balonne Catchment management association to share technical information resources and to provide input into regional catchment management plans.

Heliothos egg collections for resistance testing was conducted by a consultant, Jamie Street, as a component of this project. Resistance data was published in Cotton Tales newsletters.

Disease surveys were conducted by the Plant Pathology research team.

This project has demonstrated the successful implementation of a partnership with a private consultant for the delivery of an extension program on a part time basis. Sarah Hood conducted a private consultancy business - itself a Cotton CRC affiliate, with substantial mutual benefit overall.

I believe both reinform nematodes and Fusarium (race 4) have the characteristics that could

potentially, affect the Australian cotton industry if they were to be introduced to Australia. There

is a feeling in the industry that breeders will overcome Fusarium and there has been a loosening

of farm quarantine procedures, this will increase the chance of an introduced pathogen spreading

throughout the industry. The best defence that Australian cotton growers have against these two

pathogens is sound quarantine procedures and the policy of 'Come Clean - Go Clean' that is in

place on most cotton farms. The Australian cotton industry is in a pretty good position to

if they are introduced to Australia, due to this policy.

Two “Spray Drift Workshops” were held at Norwin Hall and St Ruth Hall on the 5th and 6th of January respectively. The agenda of the workshops was designed to give participants a working knowledge of nozzles and application parameters that reduce the risk of spray drift but maintain efficacy of the products used.

Outcomes from the workshop included;

All respondents thought that the workshops were worthwhile and they gained

extra useful and relevant information. Approximately 30% of respondents changed their nozzles to produce coarse droplet spray quality. The other 70% of respondents were already running with nozzles that produce a coarse spray quality.

The respondents noted that the 4 main areas where they gained extra knowledge

was on droplet behaviour, weather conditions, nozzle selection and planning.

21 participants expressed interest in undertaking the commercial applicators

course.

Branding has become one of the latest buzzwords, and there are a number of brand developers out there who purport to offer businesses mystical solutions to building their brand. There's a lot of confusion and misinformation about the benefits of building a brand - why you build one, why you shouldn't, what a brand actually is and does. Today I'll explain to you how Cato Purnell Partners defines a brand, and the benefits of branding your product.

Over the last decade, grape growers in SE South Australia have had their water entitlements

converted to volumetric allocations, experienced a reduction in annual rainfall and seen a

rise in the salinity of groundwater which is used for irrigation. Irrigators have moved away

from flood and sprinkler irrigation, which was still widely used in the last decade of the 20

century, to precision irrigation applied with drippers. Annual application rates have decreased from between 4 and 6 ML/ha down to 2 or less ML/ha. In middle of the first

decade in the 21st century, salinity damage was emerging in some vineyards. In response the Limestone Coast Wine Industry Council convened a Root Zone Salinity Workshop in May 2006 at Padthaway. The current project addresses concerns raised following this workshop viz. ,

. characterising soil and vine salt status in vineyards affected by salinity

. developing techniques to more sustainably manage these vineyards

. extending knowledge about salinity management tools by supporting a salinity

monitoring network in the Limestone Coast Gl

. quantifying effects of long term precision irrigation with saline water on soil structure

Three salt affected vineyards were assessed at the close of the irrigation season in 2009 The high concentrations of sodium and/or chloride in leaves indicated that salinity was causing yield loss. Soils under the vine were saline and sodic with average values for salinity and ESP of 7.7 dS/in and 16%, respectively. However, soils in the mid-row were non-saline and non-sodic with average values for salinity and ESP of 0.6 dS/in and 4 16. Re- sampling at one of these sites after winter (365 min rain) showed that rainfall had Ieached soil salts and reduced sodicity with average under-vine values for salinity and ESP declining over winter from 9.3 to 2.5 dS/in and from 21 to 12%, respectively. In soils located under the vines in between drippers, the infiltration rate of rainwater was high, indicating that the high

ESP was not adversely affecting conductivity of these soils to low salinity water. However

indirect evidence points to reduced infiltration into the surface soil located nearer the

drippers. The soils under the vine were mounded and a reduction in infiltration would direct rain toward the mid-row. The flushing of soil salts by winter rain was not sufficient to bring

the salinity of soils to values below the threshold for salinity damage to vines. In part, this may reflect the persistence of a high ESP in deeper soils which may have limited drainage.

Under saline supplementary precision irrigation, the salts are added with the irrigation and the water to flush salt through the soil is provided by rain. The salinity of a soil is indicative of the balance between these two processes. Insufficient rain leads to salt build up and sufficient prevents it. Soils under the vines were saline, whereas those in the mid-row were non-saline. Rain reaching in mid-row soils was in excess of that required to prevent salinisation. Re-direction of this excess water to the soils under vine would reduce soil

salinity in this region provided that subsoil drainage rates were high enough to support the extra flushing. We hypothesised that changes in floor management which direct rain from the mid-row toward the soil under vine and which address high ESP in the soils at depth

under the vine, may assist in reducing salinity damage.

At the end of the irrigation season in the 2010, a trial was installed in a salt affected Chardonnay vineyard where soils from the mid-row had been mounded under the vine to a depth of about 0.2 in. The treatments consisted of a control(designated A), the removal of soil mounded under the vine (B), the application of calcium nitrate to 1 m wide strip of soil under the drip line (C), the covering of the mid-row with plastic to reduce losses from evapotranspiration (D), relocating the mounded soil under vine to the inid row and covering it

with plastic (E), and E combined with the application of calcium nitrate to 1 m wide strip of soil under the drip line (F). The trial ran for two seasons, 2011 and 2012 (year of harvest). Effects on soil salinity were assessed by measuring the salinity of the soil under the vine at the opening and close of the irrigation seasons. Measures of sodium and chloride concentration in leaves and fruit were used to asses the effect of treatments on vine salinity. The significances of different floor management regimes were tested with ANOVA and a set of contrasts.

Relative to salinity levels observed in vines and soils in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, those observed in the control, treatment A, during the trial were low, excepting soil salinity at the close of the 2012 season which had returned to pretrial levels. Low soil salinity in the control was not associated with variation in the depth of winter rain, but rather a variation in the depth of within season rain; when this was higher, irrigation depths were lower and hence so too was the annual saltload added to the vineyard.

Redirection of rain from the mid-row, treatments E and F, reduced the salinity of soils under the vine at the ends of the 2010 and 2011 seasons and at the openings of the 2011 and 2012 seasons; removal of the under vine mound, treatment B, reduced soil salinity at the end of the 2011 ahd the opening of the 2012 seasons. With in season rainfall in the 2012 season was low, less than a third of that in 2011 and just half of that in 2010. None of the treatments had an effect on the salinity of soil under the vine at the close of the 2012 season. At this time, the salinities of soils located at a quarter and half way across the row were also measured. In the control, treatment A, measurements of salinity and sodicity showed that the values had returned to the higher levels present at the end of the 2010 season

Redirection of rainfall(E and F) had increased the salinity of soils located at a quarter and half way across the row; addition of calcium nitrate (C and F) had increased the salinity of soils located half way across the row. The sodicity of deeper soil under the vine was measured at the close of the 2012 season. Redirection of rainfall(E and F) and addition of calcium nitrate (C and F) reduced soil sodicity by about 50%.

Measurements of salt concentration in plant organs represent an integration of salt pressure throughout organ development. In both seasons, redirection of rainfall(E and F) lowered leaf petiole sodium concentrations and leaf patiole and lainina chloride concentrations, and removing the under vine mound (B) lowered petiole chloride concentrations. In one of two seasons, covering the inid-row with plastic (D) reduced sodium and chloride concentrations, and removing the under vine mound (B) reduced petiole sodium and lainina chloride concentrations

In 2011. and 2012 seasons, redirecting rainfall (E and F) lowered sodium and chloride concentrations in the juice. In 2012, the concentrations of both ions were also reduced by removing the under vine mound.

Treatments did not affect yield. They caused smallreductions in juice 'Brix and increases in juice titratable acidity

Salinity monitoring sites were installed in a grower operated network at 14 sites across the Limestone Coast region before the 2010 season. The project staff provided each participant in the network with training and on-going support in sampling techniques. Sites were located in drip irrigated vineyards planted to Cabernet Sauvignon on own roots growing on mainly clay loam soils. Soil solution samplers were installed at each site at 0.3 and 0.6 in depth. Participants collected data on irrigation water and soil solution salinity, and rainfall depth and irrigation volumes. This data was cross related to measures of soil and vine salinity undertaken by project staff. Participants received biennial collations of all data and this

provided them the opportunity to benchmark their salinity measures against those of other network members. Soil solution salinity rose during the irrigation season and fell with winter rains. This readily obtainable measure of soil salinity did not provide a reliable basis upon which to predict either the standard measure of soil salinity (EC) or standard measures of vine salt status (sodium and chloride concentrations in petiole and juice). However, all measures of EC, below 3.5 dS/m had corresponding EC, values below the threshold of 2.1 dS/m for vine salinity damage and all measures of Econ above 7 dS/m had corresponding EC, measures above the threshold. In between these two values, there was a grey area where more conventional sampling techniques need to be applied to establish vineyards salinity status.

SARDl assessed the effect of a decade of saline irrigation on soil physical and chemical properties by comparing a set of current measurements of these properties with those made a decade ago at the same site by CSIRO Plant lndustry. Soils were sodic and saline in 1997 and again when measured in 2009; the salinity of soil in the top 0.6 in was 5.0 dS/m and the sodicity (ESP) was 13%. After, above average winter rain in 2011 the salinity of soils in top 0.6 in was 2.1 and the sodicity (ESP) was 7%. The sodic soils had been subjectto annual cycles of saline high SAR irrigation in summer and non-saline low SAR rain in winter over the previous decade. The return to non-saline and non-sodic state in 2011 indicates that any change in soil structure wrought by a decade of these cycles was not yet a significant impediment to Ieaching of salts and displacement of sodium from the clay eXchange sites. Comparison between two set of soil moisture release characteristics determined at either end of the decade showed they were different, however this may have been due to slight differences in the soil composition (5% gravel content in the earlier sample), rather than the effects of a decade of saline irrigation

Communication activities included: three journal papers, five conference papers, this final report, six steering committee meetings, three factsheets, seven workshops and seminars, and nine salinity monitoring network summary sheet mail outs.

The second Agriculture and Climate Change conference focused on the likely impact of climate change on crop production and explored approaches to maintain and increase crop productivity in a changing climate. Approximately 300 delegates attended the conference, and thus provided an opportunity for numerous seminars, posters and discussions on climate change research in a diverse range of crops. The themes for the sessions included: increased agricultural uncertainty; modelling and its application; impacts on nutrition, quality and resource use efficiency; abiotic stress; effects of CO2 on plant growth; plant-microbe interactions; innovative agronomic and breeding practices; and new crops for a new climate.

Australian research was well received by the international scientific community. This was an exciting opportunity to showcase research conducted in the Australian Cotton Industry, and there was a lot of interest regarding how the cotton industry operates in Australia. There was significant interest from other scientists regarding our in-field chambers and the experiments we were conducting in the facility. It was clear that our approach was novel and unique in this area, and my presentations generated discussions about the importance of in-field research into climate change interactions. This trip was important to begin linkages with European agricultural scientists, in addition to our close collaborations with U.S. research. A number of scientists expressed interest in continuing discussions and looking for collaborations in this area.

The Australian Rural Leadership Foundation was established in 1992 based on the premise that developing leaders in rural, regional and remote Australia could influence change across organisations, industries as a whole, and rural communities in general. The ARLF exists to develop leaders for rural, regional and remote Australia. We support the development of leaders for the greater good – no matter where they live or work. The Foundation takes an ethical approach, challenges assumptions and seeks to respectfully influence change for the greater good. Our flagship program is the Australian Rural Leadership Program (ARLP). This program has been running since our inception and we will commence Course 23 in 2016. We currently have over 650 ARLP graduates from throughout Australia. Other educational programs are shorter in length and are either targeted to a specific leadership level or client-focused (organized by a client for their sector). All graduates become life-long members of the Foundation’s network which now numbers over 1,000 leaders. As part of our existing effort we regularly assess and evaluate all our programs. However given the Foundation’s educational philosophy that emphasises people-development through values-based leadership learning, the impacts are difficult to quantify in a simplified manner. So while our existing evaluation measures can provide insight into the impact of our programs on individuals and from an ARLF viewpoint, they do not provide an expression of impact that is easy to communicate to third party investors and other interested parties. The broad objective of the longitudinal evaluation is to identify the influence of the ARLP and other Foundation programs upon the leadership of program graduates and, consequently, the impact of their leadership within regional, remote and rural Australia (and beyond) over time. The ARLF has a unique position relative to other leadership development courses with its focus on RRR Australia. The ARLF has over 25 years developed a flagship program, the ARLP that is premised upon two approaches to leadership development – that it is experientially based and is premised upon reflective practice. Eight core principles develop from this philosophy, each associated with a set of leadership dispositions or capabilities. The aim of each of the ARLF programs seeks to develop/enhance in individuals these dispositions and capabilities.