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

World cotton production for 2000/2001 cotton year (I'' August - 3 1'' July) is expected to be around 87-88 million bales. World consumption is expected to be around 90 million bales. Two thirds or around 60 million bales of the global crop will not be exported, but consumed by the producing country. This puts world trade (country to country movements of raw cotton) at around 27 million bales annually. Why is this such a vital statistic for AustraliaΓ Because Australia this year will have to export 94% of its total raw cotton production. Australian domestic consumption of raw cotton remains below 200,000 bales per annum, so with no large domestic market and no Government subsidy schemes, every additional bale produced by Australian farmers has to find a home in another country. With no protective price buffer and no economical way of carrying stock every bale has to be sold under very competitive quality and price scenarios and without the subsidies many of our competitors are receiving in one form or another. To further break down the export trade of raw cotton into broad quality groups, we start to gain an appreciation of where Australian cotton fits in the global market.

Pesticides provide essential protection in the production of many agricultural commodities. However, increasing pesticide use as a result of increased production has led to community concern about the social and environmental impacts of pesticide residues. Of particular concern is the contamination of irrigation run-off and drainage water, agricultural soils and horticultural products.

When David Swallow rang and asked if l would present this paper my first thoughts were &quote;Why would you pick on me?&quote; I'm 54 years old, nearly as old as my farm. I'm flat out looking after my own health let alone my soil. Then it occurred to me that there are a lot of similarities in maintaining soil health and the way I go about maintaining my own health. The soil is a living organism, just like me, so if you want it to perform, you must be prepared to spend some money and time on it. When I purchased Mayfield some 21 years ago it didn't take me long to realise that it was in pretty bad shape. It was one of the first farms in the area to use ground water for flood irrigation. For some 35 years this was its only means of irrigation. I built the first dam on this property in 1984. At that time I basically knocked everything down and, starting from scratch, redeveloped the farm so that all fields could be watered and drained quickly and all run-off recycled back to the dam. Now we could mix some overland flow water with the high sodium salt ground water. This eased the burden of salinity in our soil. Over the next few years we could see our soil structure, with the help of gypsum, was improving. Our heavy box clay soil was more like &quote;chewing gum&quote; now- a big improvement from &quote;araldite&quote; which is the word I had previously used to describe it. Unfortunately the price of gypsum today in the Dalby area has made this option less attractive than it was some years ago. Gypsum works well but, unfortunately, economics also comes into the story of maintaining soil health.

This paper is based on my views and experiences from the four Area Wide IP M Groups in the Macintyre Valley. These groups cover the majority of the irrigated cotton from Yetman to just east of Boomi. There are 72 farms and 9 consultants in these groups covering 34669 Ha

I am an irrigation farmer, very reliant on the security of water for my livelihood; I am very concerned with the pressure on the long-term availability of water for irrigated agriculture. There is not doubt that the value of water will escalate rapidly as we enter the twenty-first century. Competition from four areas will pressure the value and reliability for water. These areas are Environment, Urban, Industrial and Agricultural. Of these four, Irrigated Agriculture, while placing the highest demand for water, has the least ability to pay. No one disagrees that we need to find the balance between the use of water for Urban, Industrial and Agriculture, and an allocation for the environment. To this end, Government bodies are pointing to water users that we need to be looking at efficiencies in our use and application of this finite resource