Australian cotton is purchased for a premium as it meets spinner’s requirements on the basis of quality and consistency. Coarse (high micronaire) fibre, high nep counts and excessive short fibre content are aspects of Australian cotton that spinners would like to see improved. Fibre quality in the field is affected by a large number of interacting factors: variety, seasonal conditions, crop and harvest management. This project continues explicit and important research employing a

combination of both in-field and post-harvest research efforts to improve the quality of Australian cotton, key strategies of both the CRDC and CRC. Improving the understanding of the links between agronomy and textile performance will allow us to better refine in-field crop management recommendations to ensure cotton produced meets or exceeds market expectations.

Specific objectives were to: (i) Improve the understanding of the effects of crop stress on micronaire and its components fineness and maturity. (ii) Reduce neps in the field through development of monitoring approaches to identify instances where crops have an increased risk of neps. (iii) Identify management practices that improve the consistency of cotton taken from the field. (iv) Conduct research to establish the value (price and textile value) of blending/segregation of lint quality based on quality attributes. (v) Identify other unique fibre quality attributes of Australian cotton to enhance its market value. (vi) Maintain research capability and activities into fibre quality research from the ‘field to fabric’.

This project was successful in providing new knowledge on fibre quality issues through:

Improved understanding of the changes in crop management practices and climate that affect micronaire and its components of linear density and maturity.

A new methodology to predict micronaire using temperature around boll filling was developed.

A potential in-field approach to estimating the influence of harvest aid timing on final micronaire

at harvest was developed by measuring the quality of immature bolls at the prior to the time of harvest aid application.

Demonstrated in-field blending of cotton seed attempting to raise quality; no benefits were identified.

Research was undertaken to assess whether end of season management could be employed to

improve the consistency of fibre quality. In these studies no improvements were identified

through the use of late season application of Mepiquat Choride, missing last irrigation, or defoliating earlier.

The effects of early defoliation on fibre immaturity and textile performance was quantified and

related to measurements of crop status. Results showed that the current industry recommendation of application of harvest aids at 60% bolls open is adequate to limit impacts on yarn strength and dye uptake.

Despite differences in micronaire resulting from differences in defoliation timing machine spindle

harvesting did not interact with harvest aid timing to further increase neps. On average machine spindle harvesting contributed 53 neps over hand-harvested cotton.

Multiple linear regression models for yarn strength which included yarn manufacturing variables

card or comb, count (12, 15, 20 tex), twist (knit or weave) and HVI fibre quality

parameters performed well. Models performed better when alternatives to micronaire, such as gravimetric linear density, were used, although models using laser diffraction ribbon width were best. This information has contributed to the development of Cottonspec.

Continued to raise the awareness of the effects of climate and management on fibre

quality through the Geelong ‘Field to Fabric’ course, FIBREpak, myBMP, the cotton production manual, and various other industry forums.

Ongoing on-farm research into fibre quality will be most likely be supported through the ongoing project ‘Agronomic Management for Better Fibre and Textile Quality’ supported by CSIRO and the CRDC. New research will include undertaking the first systems experiments investigating the value of



the use of premium varieties with modified ‘fibre friendly’ agronomy and processing compared with standard practice. Other research will include: Developing improved understanding of fibre properties that increase neps in fibre, yarn and fabric. Finer fibres are sought by spinners, but efforts to reduce fineness may increase their propensity to nep; Undertaking research to develop an improved understanding of the value of late season bolls to final yield and quality; and (3) Evaluating methods to enable growers and ginners to predict quality at the end of season to assist with harvest preparation and gin settings through online micronaire and neps predictors, and scoping opportunities for in-field measures of quality.

IrriSAT is a weather based irrigation water management and benchmarking service

that uses satellite imagery to better determine site specific crop coefficients that are

needed to accurately calculate crop water use figures. The system uses local weather

stations to measure sunlight hours and intensity, cloud cover, rainfall and wind

which are all used to calculate a reference crop water use in the past 24 hours. This

information when combined with the satellite-determined crop coefficient for a

particular crop allows a site specific crop water use figure to be calculated for an

individual field.

After initial successful trials using IrriSAT in the Gwydir region during the

2010/2011 irrigation season this project extended and expanded the trial to cover

additional cotton growing regions in the Namoi and Walgett areas. During the

2011/2012 irrigation season approximately 80 000 ha of irrigated cotton was

monitored with the IrriSAT system over these three cotton growing areas. Issues

with non-transmission of satellite data from one of the main NASA satellite sensing

systems (Landsat 5) used by IrriSAT limited the trials ability to provide real-time

irrigation scheduling information throughout parts of the irrigation season, however

the water use and yield benchmarking components of the system where able to be

assessed and provided useful information to trial participants which allowed them

to assess the performance of their water management strategies and benchmark their

performance between fields and also between regions. Strong relationships between

yield and IrriSAT determined crop evapotranspiration were found which were

consistant across regions, providing confidence that the IrriSAT system has further

potential to be used as an initial forecasting tool for predicting yield potential. The

results also showed there was a wide variation in water use productivity between

fields, growers and regions. This information can then be used for respective

strategic analysis of decisions regarding water management.

The IrriSAT system when adopted widely across the cotton industry will place the

industry in a unique position at the forefront of water management technologies.

The IrriSAT system provides water management information over large areas at low

cost to improve water use productivity. The IrriSAT system also allows the

benchmarking of water use and production across fields, farms and catchments

when combined with yield data at the end of season. This benchmarking

information has been seen as a valuable tool for improving water use efficiency and

resource use efficiency. This project has provided benchmarking data available

across three catchments and over approximately 80 000 ha of cotton during the

2011/2012 irrigation season. This information has been provided to irrigators to

allow them to directly compare their performance against others in the industry and

also look at options for improving their own water use productivity. Continued use

and expansion of the approach has the potential to led to wide scale change in water

use management across a range of scales from individual fields to regions.

Nitrogen use workshops form part of the Cotton Research and Development Corporations Extension and Outreach project; “Carbon Farming in the Australian Cotton Industry”.

Agricultural advisory firm Back Paddock Company, in partnership with Cotton Info were contracted to deliver a round of workshops in cotton areas of eastern Australia to assist the CRDC in meeting its extension objectives under the CFI:

• Up-skill cotton & grains industry advisers, extension networks and key influencers about emissions management and nitrogen use in cotton production

The key performance indicator used to measure extension efforts in this area at the conclusion of the project is as follows;

• 75% *of cotton growers and 90% of advisers have an improved

understanding of the CFI, emissions management and sequestration in

cotton farming.

• 75% *of cotton growers and 90% of advisers understand how N2O

emissions can be reduced.

• 25% *of industry implementing plant tissue analysis to monitor crop

nutrition balances to meet crop nutrient demand.

(As measured by CRDC fund Cotton Grower Practices and Cotton Consultants surveys conducted at the beginning and the end of the project)

A knowledge system model to improve the effectiveness of the transfer of(irrigation) information to growers was developed and tested. Knowledge can be described as information combined with experience, context, interpretation, and reflection. A frequent misconception is to equate it with information. The knowledge system depends on the way in which information is applied. Industry extension programs need to facilitate opportunities for knowledge sharing and transfer. This is significantly more complex than typical irrigation extension programs. The central feature of the model was to employ more of the five extension models rather than only the two commonly used. The main vehicle was the concept of cohesive, self-directing groups that form the core around which activities under the other models are conducted. This was achieved by production of an innovative Cotton

& Grains Irrigation Workshop Series containing 7 modules; establishment of a pathway for accreditation in irrigation management; development of a model for delivering commercial

irrigation services; production of a range of information resources; creation of a dedicated

irrigated cotton and grains web site.

The Australian Future Cotton Leaders program framework was managed by Cotton Australia. The program involved three key stages over 14 months: Stage 1 􏰁 Leadership development Stage 2 􏰁 Individual skill development Stage 3 􏰁 Leading change Program Overview An overview of the Australian Future Cotton Leaders program is outlined below. This customised program is the result of an industry briefing regarding the issues and requirements regarding human capacity building in the current Australian cotton industry. A key focus of this program was participant􏰀 knowledge and skill application via their individual leadership project in the industry. This real time, real industry leadership project is what stands this program apart from other content based leadership programs currently in the market place. A comprehensive suite of elements make up the Australian Future Cotton Leaders Program. This is based on the initial brief provided by industry in terms of the ultimate industry goals of this program. We align these elements to the leadership maturity continuum and ensure participants are introduced to them at the most appropriate stages of the program. All elements place demand and accountability on participants in and outside of the face to face workshops as we are encouraging participants to become leaders and to operate in this way throughout the program. For development, it is essential that they actually do this in their industry context. This way we can ensure there is a higher chance they will continue to contribute to their own and hence their business and industry development post this program. In addition, some of the elements require limited funding, so hence greater value is achieved for the cotton industry from the program budget.This project jointly funded by Cotton Australia supported the Future Cotton Leaders Program over a 14 month period. Fifteen participants graduated from the course in 2014, that involved three developmental stages, Leadership Development, knowledge and skill application, and leading change. The benefits to the industry included a cohort of emerging leaders with increased knowledge and understanding of how the cotton industry works and where they can contribute/assist? To enterprise and industry development.

Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) has undertaken research, within its Cotton Industry Workforce Development Project, into defining cotton agribusiness sector (resellers, suppliers of goods and services and service providers’ particularly private agronomists / consultants) needs for professional cotton industry personnel. These have been defined as primarily to assure the sector of the availability and retention of skilled and engaged staff; followed by continued professional development, to support both their retention and increased skill levels.

A potential strategy to assist in responding to this challenge has been identified, and is termed the Cotton Professional Personnel Program. The Program revolves around a central concept of establishing a ‘Network’, which connects cotton agribusinesses directly with potential employees, in this case school and university aged students. This is proposed to be through a range of strategies including:

 Internship programs

 Graduate programs

 Mentoring programs, and

 Scholarship programs.

Project GSA1401 – A proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program Page | 3

Commercial-In-Confidence

Previous work indicates willingness for key cotton agribusinesses to support such a Program. Most respondents from a core representative group stated their intention to directly engage with the Program. As a result the concept of a pilot project to trial the Program was developed from the previous work in a bid to assure the industry that such a Program would be valued and would work in practice.

A pilot project has been suggested as a way of 'ground truthing' the extent to which the cotton agribusiness sector will embrace the proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program. . A survey of key cotton agribusiness respondents was undertaken to gauge the level of interest and buy-in to the pilot project.

As a result of this survey 9-12 respondents could reasonably become collaborators in the pilot project. All respondents were prepared to engage in all aspects of the Program subject to further workshopping of the finer details. This also means that the draft of the Program will need to be developed beforehand, so it can be reviewed with the invited collaborators, prior to trialing.

As there was agreement to the core elements of the proposed Program, this is best finetuned operationally through a structured project management process. This will involve creating systems and processes that can be refined in an initial workshop with the collaborators, and then managed into a truly operational and functional system to be trialed on-ground.

The ultimate outcome of the pilot is then expected to be a Cotton Professional Personnel Program which has stronger fit with the needs of cotton agribusiness sector, the Cotton Workforce Development Strategy and ultimately provide a more stable cotton industry through an assured supply of key professional personnel.

The survey Key findings are:

 All respondents believe that the proposed Cotton Professional Personnel Program would be valuable both for their own organisation and for the wider cotton industry, resulting in a positive impact.

 All saw value in the Program supporting engagement between employers and students (school and universities) to seek future employees and in engaging with key universities notably CSU, UNE, USQ and UQ.

 It was noted that there are strong synergies with the CCA Young Member Network – and that administrative and operational factors would need to be addressed, ideally in a common manner, across the whole industry using the Program as some form of catalyst.

 All respondents were prepared to host a school or university student placement at their organisation, on the basis that finer detail would be determined on project commencement.

 A range of specific placements with details regarding operations were identified.

 All respondents were willing to participate in a mentoring program.

 They saw it being valuable in its own right, while assisting in / informing the better structuring / planning of an industry program could also inform their own programs.

Water is the major factor limiting cotton production in Australia, with 70-90% of the cotton production area usually managed under an irrigated system. The Cotton Catchment Communities Cooperative Research Centre (Cotton CRC) placed a major emphasis on improving water use efficiency and productivity of irrigated cotton farming systems in Australia. This paper reviews the research and trends in the water use efficiency and productivity of irrigated cotton.

Cotton CRC research from 2006 – 2012 focused on promoting measurement of water use efficiency, optimising the performance of surface irrigation systems, investigating alternatives irrigation systems to the conventional furrow irrigation systems, understanding the movement of water through the soil and the potential of deep drainage, reducing water losses from on farm storages and better understanding of plant water relations

Surface irrigation systems are used on 80% of the irrigated Australian cotton crop and utilise 6-7 ML/ha depending on the amount of seasonal rain received. Over the past decade water use efficiency by Australian cotton growers has improved by 3-4% per annum, or by 40% increase in the water use productivity. This has been achieved by both yield production increases and more efficient use of applied irrigation water. The whole farm irrigation efficiency has improved from 57% - 70%, while crop water use index is above 3 kg/mm/ha and is high by international standards. The seasonal evapotranspiration of surface irrigated crops averages 729 mm over the last 20 years

Yield increases over the last decade can be attributed to plant breeding advances, the adoption of genetically modified varieties, and other agronomic research. There has been an increased use of irrigation scheduling tools and furrow irrigation system optimisation evaluations. This has reduced in field deep drainage losses. The largest losses of water on cotton farms is from evaporation from on farm water storages. Application efficiencies of over 90 per cent are achievable under well managed furrow irrigation. The greatest initial gains in water use efficiency can be achieved by improving the management of existing surface irrigation systems through this site specific optimisation. Growers are also making changes to alternative systems such as centre pivots and lateral move systems and it is expected there will be increasing numbers of these machines in the future. These systems achieve labour and water savings (30%), but have significantly higher energy costs associated with water pumping and machine operation.

The standardisation of water use efficiency measures and improved water measurement tools for surface irrigation have been important research outcomes to enable irrigation benchmarks to be established. While the Cotton CRC achieved important new research outcomes, its major effort was related to water extension projects, training of growers and advisers, capacity building, technology demonstrations and information packaging. The industry benchmarks indicate that Australian cotton irrigators should be producing >1.1 bales per ML water (total water, ie irrigation water applied, rainfall and soil moisture used) with surface irrigation systems and 1.3 bales/ML with centre pivots and lateral move machines.

Water use management performance is highly variable and site specific between cotton growers, farming fields and across regions. Therefore, site specific measurement is important. The range in the presented data sets indicates there remains potential for further improvement in water use efficiency and productivity.

The Back Paddock Company has become one of the leading soil nutrition consultants in the cotton industry. The objective of the project is to better educate CGA member growers about soil nutrition by completing two Back Paddock nutrition courses.

The CGA has highlighted that soil nutrition is a key area where growers can improve their business. Soil and crop nutrition was also an issue highlighted by growers at a R&D Thank Tank facilitated by Ingrid Roth. As a result of these discussions a grower focus group has been established in the Macintyre Valley with the objective of increasing yields and increasing Fertiliser Use Efficiencies. The group is being facilitated by our local CottonInfo team Regional Development Officer, Sally Dickinson. The group recently met with the CRDC as part of its soil research review. It was highlighted that growers are making decisions from previous year’s crop and not on soil test data. It was also highlighted that growers rely on consultants to decide what fertiliser rates they are going to use on their farm. Increasing yields has also resulted in growers applying increased fertiliser rates. There are a number of questions involving critical levels, namely where to apply fertiliser? What fertiliser type to use? How to apply the fertiliser? And the timing of fertiliser application?

Growers that undertake the workshop will learn to make better management decisions when applying fertilisers. It will enable growers to understand and interpret soil tests and allow them to communicate and design a fertiliser program best suited to their business.

The cotton industry will benefit from this project as it will increase fertiliser use efficiency on farms through increased capacity of the growers who have participated in the course and the focus group. Growers will increase productivity on their farms by improving fertiliser use efficiency.

This project will also consider key industry research in the Macintyre Valley, including the CottonInfo team's Nitrogen Use Efficiency trial.

The Walgett CGA wanted to increase their knowledge about weather patterns and forecasts. By increasing the number of weather stations in their area then learning how to use them and the numerous forecasts available they will be better able to predict rainfall events but also wind changes which will reduce issues surrounding spray drift. Ultimately though this is a way to better mitigate risks inherent in farming.

To develop their knowledge of weather patterns- a meeting was held at the completion of installation and 12 growers and advisors attended. Jon Welsh went through the models and based on qualitative feedback, knowledge has been increased.

Fill in the weather gaps- 4 Next Gen weather stations have now been installed which fills a large gap in the information available to growers in the Walgett area.

Increase the use of wind speed and direction in decision making - Many growers were not aware of the detailed wind direction and strength models available on the BOM website and so Jon was able to increase awareness to better use these tools to minimise drift.

Findings at a glance

Water availability and the related subject of climate change is the primary issue facing the

community. It has jumped ahead of all other issues - the economy, terrorism, education, health - with

surprising rapidity. The full implications of this rapid rise are yet to be seen.

For the overwhelming majority of participants cotton is not on the radar as an issue.

Overall, respondents had mildly negative to neutral perceptions of the cotton industry. They know

little about cotton. Their default position veers towards negative because of the perceived excessive

use of water, but they are not negative towards the cotton industry itself.

Perceptions of the cotton industry are based on very little knowledge - so are lightly held

Once they are given more information about cotton, nearly all respondents became more positive

The strongest messages supporting cotton relate to job creation, contribution to the economy

world's best practice and improved water efficiencies and reduced chemical usage.

There is a widespread view that cotton farming has a long term future in Australia. However,

people do want to see evidence of more efficient use of water and investigation into new drought

resistant strains of cotton.

Most respondents support some kind of public education campaign to help combat negative

perceptions.

However, the research as a whole shows that this is risky as most people automatically turn

negative when they hear that cotton uses a lot of water and it takes focused reading and

discussion to educate most of them back to a positive standpoint. In the real world this would

be a formidable and very costly task given the complexity of the issue.