It is widely recognized that &quote;Plant diseases are a man-made problem&quote;. Our current farming systems are 'pathogen-friendly'. All of the pathogens that cause diseases of cotton are favoured by one, or in most cases, several of these farming system features. Our current cotton farming systems are ruining cotton health!

Area-wide pest management (AWM) has had a high profile introduction to the cotton and grains industries on the Downs since 1998 and prior to that in the cotton industry in Emerald. All Cotton-growing valleys in Australia now have at least one group taking an area-wide approach to their insect pest management. To a large extent, this movement has been as a result of the work undertaken on the Darting Downs.

Cottonseed oil is highly polyunsaturated and is routinely hydrogenated to achieve greater stability for cooking applications and functionality for margarine production. The combination of trans-fatty acids that result from hydrogenation, and naturally high levels of saturates make hydrogenated cottonseed oil nutritionally undesirable because both components are implicated in raising blood cholesterol. Increasing consumer attention will be focused on these negative features of hydrogenated cottonseed oil in the future as a result of the likely introduction of compulsory labelling of trans and saturated fatty acid content. The recent development of nutritionally-improved forms of competing vegetable oils (e. g. sunflower, rapeseed, soybean) will create a situation of increasing market discrimination away from the current cottonseed oil.

The nature of agricultural production has changed dramatically over the past decade, with more changes in the pipeline. Where producers once chose between grassfed livestock or cereal crops, or a combination of both, as their primary income source, they are now faced with a plethora of enterprise choices as a means of supporting their businesses and families. Traditional practices have given way to innovative and lateral activities that enable producers to spread their financial risk across a multitude of enterprises. While this has been an exciting development worthy of strong community support, it often brings with it new problems. Countering the upside of better land utilisation and financial risk management are 'boundary' issues, particularly those that negatively impinge from one production system to another either on the same property or within a region. Agricultural-chemical 'trespass' is the starkest example of this, with the cattle/cotton production interface the most publicised. Until two or three years ago, individual agricultural sectors were quite satisfied to develop their own quality assurance (QA) programs to maximise quality and safety attributes for customers. While a number of these programs were extended to include environmental and/or animal welfare matters, little effort was made to ensure 'seamlessness' across enterprises, even though multiple-enterprise properties were becoming an increasingly common feature of the agricultural scenery. Fortunately this is changing, albeit slowly. Resulting from rumblings in the bush, the cattle, sheepmeat, grain and wool industries, for example, are now sharing common 'modules' across their QA schemes. These cover 'management' and 'chemical use/storage'. The beef-cattle/cotton industry interface is in desperate need of similar co-operation.

Genomics is the discovery and study of many genes simultaneously on a genome - wide scale. The completion of the genome sequence of Arabidopsis thaliana (a model dicot) heralded the beginning of the genome era for plant biology. The development of genomic tools, such as microarray technologies are profoundly changing and accelerating research in many areas of biology including plant biology. DNA microarrays consist of thousands of target CDNAs robotically arrayed on glass slides. Flourescently labelled CDNA samples, from different tissues or different conditions, are then hybridised to the arrays. By analysing the fluorescence of the hybridised spots on the microarrays we can assess the gene expression changes of 1000's of genes simultaneously. Microarrays provide a powerful tool for discovery of plant genes involved in important biological processes such as growth, development and defence, to name but a few. Genomics-based characterization of plant genomes has the potential to revolutionize plant science.

What started as a normal season In Emerald soon became one of the most challenging for quite a while. Not only did we have low commodity prices, extremely hot weather and the normal contradictions of an average season, we also had for the first time in our industry in Australia, the Silver Leaf Whitefly (SLW). This insect can be a problem to the production of cotton, but it is their excretion (honeydew) that is the major problem. It creates classing problems and very large discounts on the P&D sheets. In the marketing arena, the perception of an area having honeydew is nearly as bad as having it exist physically. The insect problem at the moment only affects the Central highlands but they have already been detected in most other cotton growing areas.

Fusarium wilt is a disease of cotton (Gossypium hirstum) caused by the soil-borne fungal pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum sp vasinfectum (Fov). This disease was first reported in Australia in 1993 in the Darling Downs, and since then it has been steadily spreading to other cotton growing areas. There is currently no effective control for Fov in infected soils; spores can survive in soil for up to 10 years and can be spread over long distances in infected soil. Fusarium wilt is of serious concern to the cotton industry. At present, commercial cotton cultivars range from susceptible to moderately resistant and no completely resistant cultivars are available. Little is known about the interactions between cotton and FOV and it is not clear what factors are involved in the expression of resistance or susceptibility to this disease. New sources of resistance or increased tolerance to this disease are needed urgently by cotton growers. The aim of this study is to investigate cotton's defence responses to FOV infection, and to identify genes whose expression is associated with improved resistance. Plant pathogen interactions are complex and plants will respond to infection with an arsenal of different defences. Plant responses will be reflected in the expression changes of certain plant genes. Gene expression changes due to pathogen attack are thought to be involved in defence against that pathogen. By examining the gene expression changes in cotton plants infected with Fov we hope to discover some of the defence response strategies used by cotton. We have used microarray technology to examine the gene expression changes occurring in infected cotton. The power of this tool is the ability to examine expression changes of thousands of genes simultaneously.

Rotations are important to plant disease because they affect the survival and reproduction of plant pathogens and the biology and quality of soil. Plant disease is one of several factors to consider when choosing a rotation sequence for cotton.

The use of plant growth regulators has been a common practice in the production of Australian cotton for at least two decades. The most common product has been Pix, which reduces plant height by stopping the production of the plant hormone (gibberellic acid) responsible for cell elongation. Many other plant growth regulators (PGRs) have been tested overseas, and some are commonly used in cotton production. A range of new PGRs (Glycinebetaine, GA3, PGR IV and AVG) where tested under Australian conditions. The use of Pix was also tested on a range of new cultivars to examine cultivar sensitivity.

The existing harvesting technologies are systems which have been developed and refined over the past 50 plus years From the humble no cab, single row mechanical harvester to today's six row machines, technologies have allowed greater and greater individual and support equipment capacity, with a steady reduction in harvest labour per bale harvested. These developments have basically been refinements of the spindle picking system, a technology first marketed in the late 1940's. Whilst capital cost has increased significantly, to a large extant this has been offset by capacity increases, the combined effect being a lowering in the real cost per bale harvested overtime