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.

Total dependence on broad spectrum insecticides led to nerve insensitivity resistance in Helicoverpa armigera and, eventually, to the collapse of the previously successful cotton industry at Kununurra in 1974. The final year of production saw an average of 40 insecticide sprays per crop, at which stage the industry was no longer economically or ecologically sustainable (Michael & Woods, 1980). New research commenced in 1994 to evaluate the potential for successfully reintroducing cotton to the Kimberley, but within a biologically sustainable framework. The new approach aims to develop pest management security for a future industry by minimising the impact of pest species, minimising pesticide inputs and enhancing the benefits of naturally occurring predators and parasitoids. Key features of the new strategy include winter cropping, the use of transgenic varieties, resistance management policy and an integrated pest management (IPM) production philosophy (Strickland and Constable, 1995). The preliminary studies reported here were based on conventional cotton varieties due to the unavailability of transgenic types. However, in 1995, additional observations were made on the insect fauna in a transgenic cotton crop grown for seed production on behalf of Cotton Seed Distributors by Mr T Sass-Nielsen. The aim of the studies was to obtain basic data on insect abundance and impact on yield for contemporary cotton varieties grown during the winter months at Kununurra. The intention was use this data as the basis for developing more detailed research on IPM systems, with transgenic varieties, when they became available from 1996 onwards.

The imminent release of transgenic cotton brings with it the need for some changes in production techniques to provide effective refuges as part of the pre-emptive resistance management strategy (see papers by Fitt and Forrester, this proceedings). Refuges are clearly the most unusual aspect of the strategy. Here we briefly describe our work to quantify the value of different types of refuge for Helicoverpa where the chief measure of value is the number of moths produced per unit area overtime. A refuge which produces twice as many moths is twice as valuable for resistance management, all else being equal.

We tested the suggestion that early season damage may limit the crops subsequent exploitation of moisture in the skip row, which may in turn 11nxit the crops ability to recover. Over two seasons the recovery response of dryland double skip cotton was investigated, where artificial damage was used to simulate damage caused by thrips or Helicoverpa. Treatments included defoliation and/or tip damage. None of the treatments significantly affected yield, however there was a consistent trend towards lower yield in heavier damage treatments. Moisture extraction from the plant row and skip did not appear to be correlated with plant damage, although seasonal weather conditions may have affected this result. Earliness was not specifically assessed but heavy damage treatments appeared slightly delayed. These experiments suggest that factors other than early season damage may be affecting the plants ability to extract moisture from the skip row. Further work in this area needs to be conducted to assess the impact of damage on skip row cotton and factors affecting extraction.

Irrigation of cotton while substantially increasing yields, presents several new problems to the industry. Perhaps the most immediate of these is deep drainage, which in turn poses water use efficiency and groundwater pollution problems. Excess root zone salinity and soil structural problems due to irrigation should also be issues of great concern. There are many factors that contribute to the development of these problems, the most crucial of which is the irrigation water quality and the soil properties. The expansion of cotton into areas such as the Darling Downs has seen the increasing use of higher conductivity, occasionally sodic groundwater for irrigation. With this trend set to continue, and with significant quality decline in surface waters predicted (MDBC Salinity Audit 1999), the need to investigate the extent of the problems this will cause is even more pressing.

Since 1992, CSRO Cotton Research Unit has conducted large scale insect management trials in the upper and lower Namoi Valley. The trials have utilised large field areas on privately owned farms, generally in collaboration with a commercial consultant. Over the past 4 seasons, an average of 3 trials per season have been conducted, covering both long and short season irrigation areas and dryland production. The primary aim of the trial has been to field test and validate the insect management decision support system entomoLOGIC. This included testing the functionality of the program and also establishing its value as a tool for monitoring field trials. The second aim of the work was to compare different pest management approaches, including a range of &quote;hard&quote; and &quote;soft&quote; options. The aim of the &quote;soft option&quote; was to preserve beneficial insects for as long as possible to determine whether their impact on pest numbers was sufficient to reduce the total number of sprays. In all cases, the aim was to produce the maximum possible yield and earliness, regardless of the treatments imposed. This was important considering that the trials were conducted on a commercial scale on private farms.

Cotton integrated pest management (IPM) is a constantly evolving approach to managing insect and mite pests in cotton. The goal of IPM is to integrate all means of managing pest populations with the aim of reducing insecticide use whilst maintaining profitability (IPM Guidelines, 1999/00). The Australian cotton crop is subject to a range of pests that often show a wide range in abundance between seasons. Whilst a number of new relatively selective chemical control products have become available the increasing scrutiny on chemical use by regulators has made application of some chemicals, both new and old, very difficult. This has provided a strong motivation to use more environmentally friendly insecticides and to reduce overall insecticide use. The rapid adoption of the 'new' chemistry by growers and consultants is reflected in an increasing awareness of the value of beneficial insects in the Australian cotton agroecosystem. Cotton IPM in Australia is not easy; indeed pest management in cotton has not been easy since the single tactic of programming Synthetic Pyrethroids began to fail in the early 1980's. Insecticide resistance and environmental impact are the legacy of over reliance on a limited number of control options for heliothis. Resistance, increasing insecticide costs and the need to reduce environmental pollution are driving the continual development of a management approach that seeks to combine all the 'tools and tactics' available to growers and consultants to deal with multiple pest species in various combinations. The objective of IPM is to use all the tools in the toolbox in a way that creates a balanced approach that results in an overall reduction in pesticide use, hence reducing environmental problems and resistance while maintaining profitability. Successful cotton IPM in Australia takes a commitment to planning so that all the tools and tactics that are available can be used effectively