Roundup Ready cotton has been commercially available to Australian cotton growers for five years and has been widely adopted by the industry with approximately 77% of the area planted to Roundup Ready cotton in the 2005/06 season. The next generation of herbicide tolerant cotton varieties; Roundup Ready Flex and Liberty Link, are likely to become commercially available over the next couple of years. These traits will allow the cotton industry to further develop in-crop weed management systems that may rely almost exclusively on the use of one or other of these technologies. The widespread adoption of these technologies is likely to result in a further decrease in the use of residual herbicides, inter-row cultivation and hand-hoeing in cotton fields. Adoption of these systems should reduce crop establishment problems, allow better yields and reduce problems of environmental contamination currently occurring with residual herbicides. However, their use is also likely to further exacerbate problems with species shift, herbicide spray drift and the control of volunteer crop plants, as well as increasing the risk of weeds developing herbicide resistanc

Knowledge of the lifecycle of troublesome weeds is crucial for devising successful Integrated Weed Management (IWM) strategies. This is particularly useful when potential lifecycle weaknesses are identified and exploited by management. Grouping weed management by lifecycle similarity is intrinsically attractive, particularly when a large numbers of weeds are encountered. This idea was examined for the botanically diverse weed flora in the Australian cotton industry. The lifecycle of 32 weeds was examined. This information was drawn from the literature, unpublished field observations and from field studies on the lifecycle of problematic species. The literature revealed four weed groups, those with emergence and reproduction: - year round, in all but winter, between mid-spring and mid-autumn, and those with defined warm season periods. These generalised groupings allowed major gaps in management to be identified, in particular in fallow, pre-plant and post-harvest situations. Individual weed species have different lifecycle characteristics, despite apparent similarities. Failure to recognise these are a key reason why problematic weeds sometimes arise. The lifecycle (field) studies revealed different defined periods of growth and reproduction which could be exploited. These studies indicate that while IWM strategy generalisations can be made based on lifecycle similarity, that specific studies and management of problematic weeds will often be needed.

The complexity, uncertainty and variability of Australian ecosystems raises the question whether science is able to deliver answers to water sharing problems. In the end, much of the decision making seems to be based on value judgements about the best use of water (Falkenmark 2003). In this paper we will argue that science has an important role to play. Science can help define the risks involved in using water for a certain purpose. Understanding these risks will allow better decision making.

Bioremediation can be defined as any process where biological agents provide a practical solution to the unwanted presence of a chemical substance. In providing this solution, the risk or probability that a hazard may act must be substantially reduced. Thus, in its broadest sense, even the introduction of GM technology to reduce dependence on insecticides (Fitt, 2000), or the encouragement of beneficial predators of pests could be included in bioremediation. However, in this paper the term will be restricted to processes where a more specific biological agent, usually a microbe or microbial product or a plant is recognised as reducing the risk from agrochemicals such as insecticides or herbicides. In particular, attention will be directed towards those processes acting to reduce the 'half-life' of the chemical as a contaminant in the local environment. The half life is the time taken for the amount of chemical present to be reduced to half a baseline value. The term remains very broad though, since a range of physical or chemical actions mediated by these biological agents could be involved in reducing the amount of the chemical present.

To understand the trends in picking capacity for the Australian crop we must first quickly look at some historical data to understand what are the factors and influences that have shaped the demand for services to the cotton industry, specifically the picking of the crop.

The privilege to use gene technology bears responsibilities and rewards. Rewards come in many forms, including reduced chemical applications, improved integrated pest management, and life style advantages. The rewards lead to benefits for the environment, farming operations, and people. The rewards from being at the leading edge of technology adoption have given us an advantage over our global competitors, many of whom are heavily subsidized and not confronted with the ever increasing commercial and environmental pressures that the Australian industry is subjected to.

In 2005/06 the Australian cotton industry clocked up its 10th season of commercial insect tolerant Bt cotton production (i.e. INGARD and/or Bollgard II) and its 5th season of glyphosate herbicide tolerant cotton production (i.e. Roundup Ready ). When the industry entered the brave new world of applied biotechnology in 1996 there were expectations that it would bring about change and it certainly has. This paper looks at some of the changes and impacts experienced to date.

Any way you want to look at it, farm costs are up. I can't think of any input to our operation that hasn't risen in the last few years, some a little, others a lot. The prices of machinery, seed, technology, fertiliser, steel, pipe, water, labour (when you can get it) are all up 10 to 50% in the last 2 years. And, then of course, there is diesel, nearly double the price at the farm gate of 3 years ago. Commodity prices as you know have not risen in proportion; in fact unless you grow beef, they have stayed flat or like cotton, have fallen.

A raising of the quality base and increasing levels of discounts impact significantly on the profitability of dryland cotton. CSIRO has research in place that not only aims to improve the yield of dryland cotton varieties, but also fibre quality and disease resistance. Fibre length is the quality trait that is most influenced by the water stress that dryland crops experience at some point during the season, but micronaire is also influenced to a degree. Data is presented on some commercial varieties well suited to dryland production, as well as some examples of future varieties that may be released over the next few years.

Australian cotton fibre is exported into a dynamic and competitive market and we need to ensure an ever-improving product to meet the demand from spinners. Periods of insufficient soil water not only reduce the amount of lint produced but also impact on fibre characteristics. The use of skip row configurations provide some insurance against poor fibre quality by increasing soil water reserves available to the crop, delaying water stress. This paper presents some recent research in dryland situations that aim to optimise the balance between yield and fibre quality. Specific issues include comparing Bollgard II and non Bollgard II crops in different row configurations and including premium fibre varieties. Results show that high fruit retention Bollgard II cotton did not perform any differently to conventional cotton when grown in skip configurations. Fibre length was improved using the skip configurations compared with solid. The yield of a premium fibre variety was less but fibre length was significantly improved, so this variety would only be beneficial if there was a significant likelihood in attaining large discounts for fibre length. Further research is being done with a range of different row configurations to further develop guidelines that will help growers select the best option for each situation.