Agriculture is facing current productivity challenges in terms of managing pests and diseases, which

will significantly increase within the next decade. With a general decline in productivity growth and

changes to external factors in managing weed, pest and disease risk, Australia more than ever requires

access to new and safer pesticide and veterinary medicines. The plant and animal industries are all

facing significant emerging biosecurity threats and being impacted on by pesticide resistance.

Australia is no longer on the global priority list for pesticide and veterinary medicine

commercialisation as it was 20 years ago..

Australian agriculture is experiencing increasing market failure regarding investment in agricultural pesticides

and veterinary medicines as the case for commercial investment is not always sufficient given the

regulatory cost for chemical registration and the relatively small market size.

The delivery of Access to AgVet Chemicals Collaborative System, was

contracted to establish a forum to develop a sustainable approach for collaboration regarding AgVet

chemicals, building on recent cross industry discussions on AgVet chemical access that were

supported by industry and government stakeholders. It could include establishing a collaboration and

co-investment framework to more efficiently improve AgVet technology access for agricultural

industries at reduced cost.

Australian irrigators are under increasing pressure to

maintain the viability of their farm businesses in the

face of reduced surface and ground-water allocations;

increasing competition from alternative users (such as

urban, industry and the environment); the cost-price

squeeze; and the uncertainties in climate change.

The key challenge to irrigation growers is then how

to identify practical and actionable strategies that

increase returns per ML of water available at the

whole farm level while at the same time reducing or

minimizing risks.

Here we report the experiences of a team of farming

systems that used experimental and participatory

modelling methods to explore farmer’s opportunities to

develop more profitable and less risky irrigated cotton-grains, rice-grains farm businesses.

For all our case study farms we could jointly identify and

quantify strategies that would allow them to improve

returns without increasing risk. In some cases our results

confirmed farmer’s intuitive expectations. Farmer’s

response to this new information varied, though a key

learning was a better understanding the trade-offs

between potential gains in profits at the cost of taking a

little extra risk.

Clearly for farmers on river entitlements, the value of

seasonal stream flow forecasts

(www.bom.gov.au/water/ssf) was a positive surprise.

Dryland growers are looking to adjust planting dates to better utilise planting opportunities and available soil moisture and minimise the negative impacts of peak flowering during extreme heat events. Greater understanding of the physiological development of dryland cotton, especially BG3 under different row configurations will enable growers to make better management decisions to maximise returns.

Pupae busting is a major hurdle to the adoption of dryland cotton. It’s a major expense, causing significant moisture loss, which minimises further opportunity cropping for dryland growers. The expansion of dryland cotton is significantly influenced by the need to pupae bust. Ratoon cotton can cause major issues in subsequent crop rotations.

Gomeroi Country extends broadly from the Qld / NSW boarder region to Tamworth, Aberdeen/ Muswellbrook, Coonabarabran and Walgett. The Gomeroi people are the traditional owners of this Country. The communities that this region encompasses have significant levels of indigenous populations. The economic conditions of these communities are also changing rapidly and are moving from a largely agricultural base to a more diverse economy which includes the mining and resource extraction industries.

The aim of the project is to undertake a skills audit of Gomeroi people in Narrabri to ascertain their current skill levels. The ultimate goal (but outside the scope of this project) is to use the information collected in this project to develop the necessary support and training for local Gomeroi people to take advantage of the range of jobs provided by mining and agriculture in the region. This study will undertake a skills audit of the Gomeroi people in the Narrabri region, both on country and off. A skills audit is a method of identifying and accounting the existing and deficient skills in a community to illuminate under- utilised human capital which can be re-invested into creating a viable local economy. The skills audit will also point to areas in which training and education are needed so that suitable courses can be developed.

The results of this project have the potential to generate major outcomes and multiple uses for the Narrabri Gomeroi People. They are ultimately the “owners” of these results and therefore future direction must be ‘owner driven'. The only limit will be “what they choose to do with the information and recommendations”. A key component to any decision will be a driver to assist with facilitating steps to ward planning for and instigating their chosen direction.

There are aspects of this project that worked and with further tweaking make this ultimately a very valuable methodology. The employment of an Indigenous Field Assessment Officer(FAO) is important – but reliability and honesty are paramount in the candidate. Additionally, the role of the Liaison to assist organisation, training and reporting.

Of major importance is the software solutions and ownership of the hardware which are housed at CRDC, Narrabri. The methodology outcomes are tangible and repeatable. Further community profiling now has the benefit of this first campaign thus allowing for engagement of this style of audit of other valleys.

This travel sponsorship funded two people to attend the Australasia Pacific Extension Network Conference in Christchurch, New Zealand. The purpose of the representation at the conference was to tell the “All for one and one for all: the story of "Harcourt" and the Dawson Valley Cotton Growers”, which explored the aftermath of the 2010/11 floods and how the Dawson Valley cotton grower community responded in a proactive way by using the industry’s voluntary Best Management Practice (myBMP) program, and support from incentive funding provided by the Fitzroy Basin Association, CRDC and the Australian Government. Cotton growers Mike and Debbie Austin share their own personal story as an example.

Prof. Dr. Silvia Dorn, Professor of Applied Entomology from ETH Zurich in Switzerland was on a scientific exchange to the Australian Cotton Research Institute (ACRI) in Narrabri from 5 – 12 February 2011. The exchange was organized by Dr Robert Mensah (NSW Department of Industry & Investments, Australian Cotton Research Institute Narrabri, NSW) and Assoc. Prof. Gimme Walter (School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane). Prof. Dorn gave two presentations during the visit to staff of University of Queensland (UQ), NSWDII, CSIRO and DEEDI. The presentations were titled “Herbivore behaviour matters: insect flight performance and host switch” The presentations emphasized the importance of insect flight and choice behaviours of Helicoverpa spp. between Bt cotton and refuge crops. According to Prof. Dorn, insect species can evolve adaptations to distinct host plants, limiting the gene flow between populations from different host plant species and this will have implications on Helicoverpa spp. resistance management in transgenic cotton crops in Australia

This forum is recognised as the main conference for cotton research. The conference consists

of four days of individual reports, panel discussions, hands-on workshops and seminars about

the latest research developments and their practical applications in cotton production and

processing. The conference fosters dialogue among cotton producers, processors, scientists,

extension personnel and agribusiness representatives.

I have never attended a Beltwide cotton conference and would relish the opportunity to attend

and present at a cotton focussed research conference to be brought up to date on

developments on cotton physiology and agronomy (especially in the areas of fibre quality).

In addition I would also like to identify new opportunities for cotton decision support

development. Despite having been on a sabbatical to the USA recently I have not attended a

cotton research conference since August 2002 (not presented at one since 2000). In fact I

have not attended or presented at a research conference of any type since early 2003.

During my sabbatical in Texas last year I also started a number of potential joint initiatives

with Texas A&M. Attending this conference in San Antonio and travelling to College station

(only 2hrs away) means that I can aim to build on these initiatives with researchers from

Texas and start to facilitate some new ones that were discussed. One especially is the joint

supervision of Nicola Cottee (CRDC funded Sydney University Student) with Dr Tom

Cothren (located College station). The project was submitted and approved with the idea of

her conducting similar research on cotton physiology here and in Texas with Dr Cothren. I

would like to ensure that appropriate resources are in place for Nicola's stay in the USA (most

likely next year 2006).

Other initiatives that have been instigated and I would like to develop further are:

- Joint supervision of PhD student in Texas on the development of DSS tools for

- Planning a potential visit by up to four Texas extension specialists (hosted by the

cotton industry)

- Planning a sabbatical for Dr Giovanni Piccinni to work with James Neilson and

others on cotton water relations

- Planning a sabbatical for Dr Dan Munk to work with Dirk Richards on irrigation

decision support and information dissemination.

- Developing linkages with Texas A&M's cropping systems initiative as part of the

new Cotton CRC. There are opportunities to host exchanges for scientists and extension

personnel.

Quarantine plays a critical role to ensure that Australia remains free from serious pests, weeds and diseases present in other parts of the world. Australia places great importance on quarantine and has among the strongest quarantine measures of any country in the world. Cotton is treated to ensure that consignments are free from live insects, soil and other debris. Depending on the samples the quarantine treatments used can be chemical (fumigation) by either methyl bromide or ethylene oxide or by gamma irradiation at either 50kGray or 25kGray (kGy).

Experience from within the industry suggests that these treatments affect the quality of the cotton, although there is little direct scientific information available on the magnitude of the damage to the cotton. Thus, in order to determine the affect of the various quarantine treatments on the physical properties of cotton lint standard Upland cotton, Long Staple Upland cotton and Extra Long Staple cotton was treated with the various quarantine treatments.

The fumigation treatments by either ethylene oxide or methyl bromide had little or no significant effect on the physical properties of the cotton fibre. However gamma irradiation did have an effect on the physical properties of the fibre.The fumigation treatments by either ethylene oxide or methyl bromide had little or no significant effect on the physical properties of the cotton fibre. However gamma irradiation did have an effect on the physical properties of the fibre.

The results clearly indicate that the physical fibre properties of the cotton such as; strength, elongation, length uniformity, short fibre and to a lesser extent colour is affected by gamma irradiation. The study has shown that gamma irradiation affects normal Upland, Long Staple Upland as well as Extra Long Staple cotton. In the case of the Upland and Long Staple Upland cotton the strength of the fibre reduced by between 3cN/tex and 9 cN/tex, depending on the dosage. This decrease in fibre strength corresponded with a gradual decrease in fibre elongation by 1.0 to 2.0%. The Extra Long Staple cotton was dramatically affected by gamma irradiation. The strength reduced by between 5 cN/tex and 18 cN/tex. This decrease in fibre strength also corresponded with a 2% decrease in fibre elongation.

Analysis by various microscopy methodsrevealed no noticeable surface damage. However chemical analysis revealed that the molecular weight of the cotton decreases at even the lower dosages and continues to decrease as dosages with gamma irradiation increased. These results suggest that a low irradiation dose provokes the breakage of cellulose chains at the most sensitive points, which probably represents domains of lower crystallinity in the structures. Higher doses then further decrease the size of cellulose chains from the more crystalline domains of the fibers. The decrease in molecular size is most likely responsible for the observed alteration of the mechanical properties of the cotton fibers upon irradiation.

The message from this preliminary investigation is quite clear, if any cotton material needs to be imported into Australia; one must insist on chemical (fumigation) by either ethylene oxide or methyl bromide as gamma irradiation, even at low dosages, severely damages the physical properties of cotton.

is a limiting factor for cotton production in Australia. As a soil-borne fungal pathogen, epidemiological, ecological and genetic features of Fov populations are strongly influenced by soil conditions. This includes key fungal life-history traits crucial to managing the disease such as and aggressiveness. The objectives of this project were to provide a better understanding of how Fov copes with different soils in the perspective of aggressiveness, saprophytic ability and evolution.

Soil samples were collected from Moree, Boggabilla, and the Darling Downs regions and disease incidence, Fov density, and soil abiotic conditions were tested. Results showed that Fov density varied among fields and disease incidence was not significantly correlated to Fov density (P=0.1281). However, correlation and stepwise regression analyses found significant relationships between disease incidence and soil conditions like calcium/magnesium (Ca/Mg) ratio, sodium, chloride, and electric conductivity, among which only soil Ca/Mg ratio showed a negative relationship. This observation was confirmed by further studies in soils inoculated with the same level of Fov inoculum, suggesting that lifting soil Ca/Mg ratio could be used as an alternative disease control measure provided the efficacy is verified under field conditions in future studies.

Studies of 17 representative Fov isolates clarified that fast-growing Fov isolates are more aggressive than slow-growing ones and aggressive isolates usually produce few spores than less aggressive ones, suggesting trade-off between spore producing ability and aggressiveness in Fov. Consistently, the trade-off was also detected in the soil when the same Fov population was associated with cotton and wheat, respectively. Compared with cotton soils, Fov density was significantly greater in wheat soils due to enhanced saprophytic ability as a result of the absence of cotton. Furthermore, a significant impact of the interaction between Fov and soil origins on the trade-off was also noticed.

Difference in Fov recovery frequency on diseased plants grown in different soils suggests a strong soil impact on Fov evolution. When the recovery frequencies of a from different soils are compared, it is usually higher in the soil from which it derives than in those so-called alien soils. This suggests that Fov can evolve to become soil- or region-specific due to local adaptation and this should be taken into consideration when a suitable cotton cultivar is chosen for different soils.

Silverleaf whitefly (SLW), Bemisia tabaci B biotype (Gennadius), is a major insect pest of cotton and horticultural industries. In cotton it is a pest because it produces sugary exudates (honeydew) that contaminate cotton lint and cause problems during textile processing. Honeydew contaminated lint may receive price penalties or in extreme cases may be rejected from sale.

Insecticides are an important SLW management tool, but SLW has the propensity to rapidly develop resistance to many insecticide groups including synthetic pyrethroids, organophosphates and carbamates. Pyriproxyfen (Admiral®) is currently considered the most important insecticide for SLW management because it has excellent efficacy against high density infestations. Overseas, resistance to Admiral® has been reported for SLW.

Resistance monitoring for Admiral® between 2007 and 2010 indicated there was no evidence of resistance to pyriproxyfen developing in cotton dominated regions. Resistance factors in cotton dominant regions were generally not significantly different to the susceptible strain. In 2007-08 elevated resistance factors were recorded for Silverleaf whitefly collected in cotton against pyriproxyfen in St George and the Burdekin. In St George, subsequent sampling in more recent years indicated that resistance factors had returned to a susceptible level and there was no evidence of resistance developing.

In the mixed cropping zone of the Burdekin, no pyriproxyfen usage occured in cotton as part of an area wide resistance management strategy to give priority products to the dominant cropping industry. It is likely that the elevated resistance factors recorded in the Burdekin from cotton are due to close proximity between cotton and horticulture.

Elevated resistance factors were recorded for pyriproxyfen for silverleaf whitefly collected from Ayr and Gumlu, North QLD in 2008-09. Resistance factors 100 times higher then the susceptible strain were recorded for these two field collections. These elevated resistance factors are a warning to the cotton industry of the risk of resistance developing to pyriproxyfen. The cotton Insecticide Resistance Management Strategy of a maximum of one application of Admiral® per season is a valuable insecticide resistance management tool.

Elevated resistance factors were recorded for diafenthiuron and bifenthrin between 2007-10. The increased resistance factors indicate that resistant genes are present in the populations however at this stage there is no evidence that the resistance factors have increased over the three years of monitoring. Overseas, diafenthiuron is thought to be stable to resistance however it has not be used widely due to phytotoxicity issues. Bifenthrin is not recommended for use in cotton due to poor efficacy and high toxicity to beneficial insects.