In recent years Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) have made available a range of CSIRO varieties with different attributes, thus enabling farmers to choose varieties best suited to their particular situation. For 1994 plantings CSD have available three new CSIRO varieties: Sicala V-2, Siokra V-15 and CS 8S. All were developed for particular situations but are showing broader adaptation than expected

Raingrown cotton is becoming a very important component of the Australian industry: the relative proportion of the crop grown with rain has been increasing over the past ten years. Given good prices and rainfall, the area of the crop grown with rain will exceed 50,000 ha. It is also important to note that during droughts, irrigators are forced to grow cotton semi-raingrown. This article aims to point out principles and results which aid the decision as to which variety to grow under raingrown conditions. Data from raingrown experiments are presented. We also illustrate some primary points for crop water use/supply/response.

Watertable rises resulting from irrigation are evident in several areas in the Murray Darling Basin, with groundwater level rises of up to 70 cm per year being reported in the Riverina and 50 cm in the Lower Macquarie Valley. The Department of Water Resources initially reported rising groundwater in the Lower Macquarie Valley about 7 years ago, and it was predicted that large areas north and west of Narromine may become waterlogged within the next 15 - 25 years. Current aquifer pressures indicate watertables may rise to within 2 m of the soil surface in some areas, eventually resulting in salinisation. Groundwater recharge in the Macquarie region seems to be effected by a number of factors including; floods, seepage from the river bed; leakage from weirs; storage dams and irrigation channels; and intensive irrigation. The aim of this study was to identify potential rates of groundwater recharge under irrigated cotton.

There are both anecdotal and well documented reports indicating that unsprayed cotton can be profitable. However, the frequency of growing a profitable crop in this way has not been established and the pathway to success is not well worn. On the other side of the coin, the use of insecticides increases the probability of profitable returns, but this approach to pest management is not without its problems

Permanent beds are becoming popular in the cotton industry, but problems remain with matching equipment and tyre sizes to the beds and furrows. Decisions about tyre sizes ad equipment matching require information about the impact of the equipment on soil compaction in the furrow and bed. In this paper we study: 1. the impact of narrow and wide tyres on the furrows in a pennanent bed system; and 2. the effect of furrow shape.

It is probable the I.P.M. of the future will rely heavily on predators, parasites, pheromones, food sprays and deterrents, and that these systems will be developed at least in part in these organic fields.

The specific aims of this project are to: I) establish a repeatable field survey scheme of key soil variables influencing cotton production in the lower Namoi, Gwydir and Macintyre valleys; 2) obtain a quantitative statement of the current status of these variables; 3) develop spatial prediction models for optimal estimation of the variables in each of the valleys; 4) build up a soil data base incorporated into a Geographical Information System (GIS)

Use of fertilizers and insecticides in cotton production has increased to the extent that cotton production is losing its profitability against other field crops. Environmental concerns are also increasing in society. Researchers have done a lot of work towards growing cotton with a minimum use of chemicals but much more is yet to be done. In the highest yielding cotton countries of the world like Australia, Guatemala and Israel, reducing the cost of production is even more important One option is to produce organic cotton and sell it at a premium. Organic cotton is cotton grown without synthetic inorganic fertilizers, fungicides, herbicides, insecticides, growth regulators and defoliants and duly certified by a recognized certifying organization. Organic cotton is also sometimes called clean, natural, green or environment-friendly cotton. In order to be eligible for certification as organic cotton, cotton must be grown without the prohibited chemicals for a period of three years. Cotton produced without chemicals in the first and second years is referred to as transitional, pending certification or organic certified B cotton.

International trade in organic produce is now estimated to be worth around US$40billion per annum Of this, Australia produces in the vicinity of $40m each year2 and it is expected to become nearer to 10 percent of total agricultural production by the end of the decade3. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is assessing through its farm surveys the level of organic fanning practiced and the results should provide a more definitive picture of the extent of organic production in Australia. During the late 1980s niche markets for organic produce were identified by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQJS). There markets, particularly in Europe, pay substantial premiums for Australian organic produce.

Irrigation is used to negate the climatic irregularities of rainfall. The long term sustainability of such irrigation is dependent on maintaining the quality of irrigation water (i.e., low salt concentrations) and minimising excessive deep drainage, without which regional rises in water tables cause accretion of soluble salts in the rootzone. To prevent occurrences of secondary salinisation, baseline information should be collected and monitoring procedures need to be developed and implemented to continually assess the effects of irrigation. This project is aimed at developing soil salinity assessment techniques (primarily electromagnetic induction (EM) and geostatistical) for rapid, reliable and repeatable broadscale salinity assessment and monitoring purposes, specifically on a previously identified salt rich subsoil layer, (Triantafilis and McBratney, 1993).