Judging by the media headlines over the past three years, the dominant issues for sustained use of the Murray-Darling Basin's natural resources are sanity and security of water supply under the Cap on diversions. The average reader could be excused for thinking that there is a simple trade-off between environment and industry - we can't have a healthy river system unless we get rid of cotton or rice production, or we can't continue the remarkable growth in the regional economy unless access to surface and groundwater is maintained or continues to grow. Growers and natural resource management agencies are apparently on a collision path and the resolution is compensation.

Reducing pumping costs by $10 an hour with a dieselgas mix has put money in the pocket and a smile on the face of irrigated cotton farmer Warwick Wannan.

The 1997-98 season saw the re-investigation of ultra-narrow row cotton ("UNR" cotton) as an alternative production system. Since that time, growers have responded to the system's development in a cautious but extremely enthusiastic mariner. Four experimental sites were established in 1997-98, which totalled an area of 52.6 ha (130ac). The majority of these sites returned an almost unbelievable result; three weeks earliness and comparable yields, to conventional planting's. The 1998-99 season resulted in the establishment of 17 sites and 1821 ha (4500ac) planted to UNR. The following season, 1999-2000 saw the production area increase to 3642 ha (9000 ac). The bulk of this production increase has been centred in the southern production areas of the Lachlan, Hillston and Murrumbidgee. Initially, much of the research, which forms the basis of the current system, was coordinated during the late 1960's, and early 1970's. Historical results were not favourable, with UNR cotton being abandoned, as technology was not available to solve the challenges it faced. An example of the type of technology unavailable was growth regulators. Technology has advanced presenting more options for developing viable UNR systems. However, it is important to remember that no system is without faults and UNR cotton is no exception. The aim of this paper is to outline these positive and negative issues associated with UNR production.

As the uptake of the Round Bale (RB) picking system has been widespread and rapid it is not a matter of whether or not the industry should adopt this technology rather a process of determining its impacts evaluating impacts against previous harvesting systems

Cotton integrated pest management (IPM) is a continuously evolving pest management philosophy. A high level of awareness has been created by the commercial success of a number of IPM programs in recent years and a general awareness of the wide range of tools being promoted within the concept of cotton IPM. There is a desire on the part of growers for clarity in the definition of IPM for Australian cotton and a positive environment for the acceptance and adoption of IPM strategies in the industry (Coutts, 1997). The primary aim of the Australian Cotton Cooperative Research Centre, IPM Training Coordinator project is to assist in improving the level of adoption of IPM strategies within the Australian cotton industry. The implementation of appropriate management strategies for both conventional insecticides and transgenic plants is critical if the industry is to survive in the long term. The project seeks to tram a large proportion of growers over a relatively short period of time in a program that provides the opportunity to adopt IPM strategies for a sustainable future.

Pump cavitation is an unwanted problem that occurs when pumps and associated pipelines are poorly designed and configured. Cavitation is extremely costly because it greatly reduces the life of the pump as well as increases the energy (and cost) required to pump water.

Phosphorus (P) fertiliser usage in the cotton industry has increased six-fold in the period between 1981 and 2000. This has been the result of growers being concerned with maintaining soil P fertility levels so that long-term cotton production is sustainable. However, response to P has been variable which has raised the following questions:

Area-Wide Management (AWM) of heliothis (Helicoverpa spp. ) is not a new concept. Knipling and Stadelbacher (1983) discussed the rationale of attacking heliothis populations during the first spring generation and this approach has been investigated since 1990 in the Mississippi Delta (Hardee and Bell 1996, Streett et al. 1998), In Australia, Titmarsh (1992) was the first to advocate control of the first spring generation as a management approach on the Darling Downs, but it was Sequeira (1998) who put words into action in the 1997/98 season with a regional management program in the Emerald Irrigation Area. The driving force for this action was the need to develop a pre-emptive resistance management strategy for the area to facilitate the introduction of INGARD cotton. Key components of this program were the use of early-season and late-season trap crops. It is this research that has been the catalyst for similar plans to deal with the heliothis crisis on the Darling Downs (Murray et al 1998) and elsewhere in Australia. Under the AWM programs implemented in Australia, Helicoverpa armigera (heliothis) is the primary target because this species has developed resistance to most currently used insecticides and presents a dilemma for mid and late season management in cotton and grain crops. While large immigrations of Helicoverpa punctigera (Wallengren) from inland Australia may take place during late winter/spring in some years, the tactics employed against H. armigera also should be valid against H. punctigera. The thrust of AWM is an overall reduction in H. armigera population levels. Various tactics have been incorporated into AWM strategies, and the mix of tactics varies from region to region. No single tactic will form the basis of AWM and no AWM strategy will be universally suitable.

Since 1992, experiments to validate the Decision Support System CottonLOGIC have been conducted. These experiments have focused on insect management and have been located on commercial cotton farms in the upper and lower Namoi Valleys. During the 1998/99 and 1999/00 seasons experiments were conducted on commercial cotton farms within a wider range of regions (Table I). The reason for conducting experiments on commercial farms is to test the capabilities of CottonLOGIC in a range of environments that represent a commercial system in 1998, the NutriLOGIC module was incorporated into CottonLOGIC. This system informs the user of the need for nitrogen (N) fertiliser for a given field or cotton crop based on soil or petiole nitrate analysis. This paper presents the results of two years of validation and discusses the field performance of NutriLOGIC and the current limitations of its use.

To grow in this environment, an environment in which external forces have traditionally driven and shaped the agenda, the Industry needs leaders who have the knowledge skills and networks to address the important issues, and who have the abilities to influence Governments, industry and the community. It needs men and women with vision who are capable of seizing opportunities for the Industry and overcoming threats facing the Industry. It needs men and women who understand the strengths and vulnerabilities of the Industry, and men and women who truly believe that the Industry shape its own future. A key will be their ability to recognise the important battles which will have to be fought for long term prosperity for the Industry, rather than those to be fought for short term gains.