Building growers capacity to adopt and adapt innovation ensures the outputs of research have the greatest impact. Interest and motivation from growers to engage more actively in industry extension can be greatly enhanced when it is driven by growers and at the regional scale. This project aims to help growers respond to current and future challenges through a wide range of targeted innovation forums and other extension activities promoted and facilitated through the local St George Cotton Growers Association Inc. The project supports a more direct influence by growers on determining both the nature and type of research and extension that they consider best meets their current and future needs. To that extent, it will encourage the interest and increase the capacity of the local grower association and individual growers to help industry determine future needs and the translation of research outputs to improve farming practices and profitability of farming enterprises.

This project seeks to achieve increased capacity for each of the St George CGA members by equipping them with the 'go to' on the latest research knowledge. Through Risk Management workshops, the members will be better equipped to respond to the ever changing and challenging climatic and economic conditions and better control the impact of these on farming practices. Marketing workshops will increase understanding of marketing and strategies that can be employed on farm to increase profitability in the market place.

It is hoped that increased awareness of Industry will also lead to more Industry involvement and industry representation at a higher level from CGA members.

Improved perception of the cotton industry will be achieved through increasing awareness of the local school children and hence the wider community will be better informed of careers and opportunities available in the cotton industry.

The project has developed three practising certified myBMP auditors. There are currently no growers waiting for a certification audit. Seven farms have now reached “Certification Status”, five of which were achieved via this project. Another 15 farms have been audited and at 30th June, 2013 were implementing actions to obtain their “certification status”.

Training has been provided to 10 people who attended a two workshop on myBMP auditing.

This led to many improvements to the myBMP system and the technical capacity of the people responsible for its implementation.

On farm improvements and practice change can been attributed to the myBMP projects in general. However, on farm practice change can also be demonstrated and directly attributed to the auditing process. There is strong evidence that certification process results in on ground grower practice change.

In turn this provides stakeholders confidence that the cotton industry is applying its practices to high standards, to achieve economic, environmental and social outcomes.

The project also participated in all steering committee meetings of the Australian Cotton Industry: Third environmental assessment project. Specifically, this project drafted the cotton industry’s response (64 pages) to the 2nd environmental audit. In addition, the project also reviewed and provided a report on the alignment of the Better Cotton Initiative and my BMP.

The project contributes to industry and community by providing an essential service to the myBMP program. That is, the myBMP audit service and oversight.

For industry, it ensures there is a practical, cost effective team of people capable of undertaking myBMP audit certifications according to industry policy.

For the community: there is strong evidence that certification process results in practice change so that growers achieve best practice. The community has confidence that the cotton industry is applying its practices to high standards, to achieve economic, environmental and social outcomes.

Economic benefits that arise from the project are better farming practices and less risk exposure.

Environmental benefits that arise from the project are increased adoption by growers of farming practices that have positive natural resource management outcomes such as riparian zone management, soil conservation, better water quality etc.

Social benefits include increased knowledge, skills of the human capacity of the industry. A further social outcome is contributing to the social licence to operate.

The autumn edition of CRDC's magazine, Spotlight, looks at the ground-breaking work CRDC is investing in with its research partners to develop ways to make cotton production more reliable and profitable.

The Central Queensland cotton production system is a highly variable tropical climate which is heavily influenced by tropical storms and weather patterns. This provides the region with a unique set of challenges unrivalled in the Australian cotton production belt. The Central Queensland region has consistently produced higher percentage of boll disorders than any other cotton growing region in Australia. This has impacted on the overall yield and profitability of the farming system. This trial is to investigate some potential management practice changes to assist in alleviating the impact of these disorders.

Introduction

Central Queensland has been a significant cotton growing region for the Australian production system for 40 years. In that time, the Central Queensland area has faced multiple challenges, resistance to pesticides, exotic pest incursions and weather extremes (flood and drought). During these 40 years, the region has shown resilience to remain productive in spite of these issues.

The Central Queensland region differs significantly from other cotton growing regions of Australia, being in a hot and tropical climate. This climate is not unique on global standards, but the challenges that are being observed are unique to Australia’s farming system. The tropical and variable climate patterns are such that attaining consistent yields is difficult for growers as tropical weather patterns (tropical lows, ex-cyclones) can impact the yield potential for the crop in multiple stages throughout the development of the crop.

The major difference between regions that has been observed over numerous seasons is the increased percentage of boll disorders (boll rots and tight locks) in the CQ system, when compared to the more southern growing regions. These have been sampled in the Cotton Seed Distributers annual Disease survey over 20 years. It is because of this information that this experiment became of interest. Discussions with researchers, grower groups and consultants suggested that a reduction in the incidence of these boll disorders would begin to bring the Central Queensland yields closer to the southern production regions.

The dyeing of cotton is influenced by chemical and physical interactions between dye molecules and the substrate, many of which are not well understood. This project reviews current knowledge of the relationships between the fibre properties of cotton, including surface and structural properties, and dye uptake by cotton fibres. Where available, research specifically pertaining to the dyeing ability of Australian cotton is reviewed.

The aim of this review is to guide the CRDC and researchers in understanding the issues associated with cotton dyeing and the current gaps in knowledge. Understanding and resolving these issues provides better quality, both in terms of breeding fibre with improved dyeing ability and improving dyed quality in mills. Increasing understanding around cotton’s dyeing ability also improves prospects for better water and energy efficiencies associated with dyeing cotton, and thereby the ‘social’ license to use cotton as a textile.

The review has been conducted in response to anecdotal information gathered over time from mills reporting colour appearance and dye uptake differences using Australian cotton (Gordon et al, 2002, Gordon et al, 2004 and Yang and Gordon, 2010).

While a large amount of research has been conducted in this area, there remain questions about the effect of the structural properties of cotton cellulose on dye uptake kinetics and substantivity, i.e. the adherence of the dye molecule to the substrate being dyed. The structural properties in question include the species of wax and associated chromophores on the outer surface of the fibre, the non-cellulosic fractions, e.g. pectins, within the fibre structure and the fine structure of cotton cellulose itself. The review concludes that there remains a gap in understanding how these surface and structural attributes affect dye uptake and dyed appearance in cotton.

Focus is given to research that describes cotton’s structural morphology, its cellulose structure and surface chemistry properties and the physical properties currently used to assess the dyeing ability of cotton. An overview of the dyeing of cotton including the dyestuffs used and procedures for preparing and dyeing cotton is given. This is followed by a review of research on the central issues that affect cotton dyeing. The central issues, as identified, are control of shade variation and water and energy consumption by the dyeing process.

WATERpak is the Australian Cotton Industry’s Compendium of water and irrigation research. Its production was funded by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and it was first released in August 2004. Since 2004 there has been a significant change in the irrigation management within the industry and new irrigation and water management research findings. Additionally, the myBMP process has been launched with the on-line myBMP process the mechanism by which industry participants can access the latest research findings and recommendations to ensure continued implementation of best management practices with respect to water management within the industry.

In April 2008, grains related information was incorporated as part of the Irrigation Knowledge Management Project. In 2009, a meeting was held to determine a strategy for updating WATERpak, details of which have been included in the final report of the recently completed CRDC project “Water Smart Cotton and Grains”.

It is now opportune to look at updating WATERpak with the latest research information and including new information that has been identified in irrigation and water research since the first edition was published. This is particularly relevant given the improved water supply situation within the industry, the impending changes in water availability that may result from the proposed Murray Darling Basin Plan and the myBMP process now being promoted within the industry. An update process has been flagged by the Industry D&D team as a desirable step in improving the integration of water research and the myBMP program.

Information about farming practices used in cotton production, yields obtained and fibre quality are

of enormous value in planning research and extension efforts, in industry activities and in telling the

industry’s ‘story’. Without regular surveys there is relatively limited information about current

practices used on farm or changes over time. Survey findings are used to evaluate research and

development uptake and identify areas for further research to help improve cotton production.

The Cotton Growing Practices 2013 survey was conducted in late winter 2013, focusing on the 2012-

13 cotton crop.The hot, dry 2012-13 season produced the second biggest Australian cotton crop on

record with the highest yet, average yield of 10.2 bales/ha. 4.384 million bales were produced from

405,000 ha of irrigated cotton. Dry conditions restricted the dryland plantings to 36,880 ha producing

132,300 bales.

Latest weather and climate news Observed rainfall analysis (Dec 2014): Summary of climate indicators: Rainfall and temperature guidance summary: Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO): Australian Sea Surface Temperatures: Tasman Sea Atmospheric Blocking

Silverleaf whitefly (SLW) is a major insect pest of the cotton industry. It is a pest because it excretes honeydew that contaminates cotton lint, causing problems during textile processing. Honeydew contaminated lint may receive price penalties or in extreme cases may be rejected from sale. Insecticides are an integral part of whitefly IPM, particularly products like Admiral® (pyriproxyfen) which are soft on natural enemies. However, SLW can rapidly develop resistance to insecticides as seen overseas (Israel and USA: Arizona) where resistance to pyriproxyfen has been reported. An insecticide resistance management strategy (IRMS) has been developed by the Australian cotton industry for SLW to prolong the life of insecticides like Admiral®. This project collected SLW insecticide resistance data so the performance of the IRMS can be evaluated and if necessary the IRMS can be adjusted to reduce the likelihood of SLW developing resistance to insecticides used against it. During 2010-13, the insecticide resistance status of silverleaf whitefly populations in cotton growing regions (Emerald, Theodore, St George, Mungindi, Moree and Narrabri) was monitored. Insecticides tested included pyriproxyfen, diafenthiuron, bifenthrin, spirotetramat and clothianidin. Silverleaf whiteflies populations in each of these cotton regions remain susceptible to these products. A small increase in the LC50 for bifenthrin at Narrabri was detected in the 2010–11 season, but this has decreased in the subsequent seasons. Limited data on clothianidin indicate potential for resistance at Emerald but further testing over coming seasons is required. The elevated levels of resistance to clothianidin are likely to be the result of widespread usage of neonicotinoids in the form of seed coat dressings at planting as only minor amounts of clothianidin are utilised in foliar crop applications.

Correct species ID and the SLW threshold matrix