In March 1995 the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) asked the Centre for International Economics to prepare a report on the cotton industry and its economic impact. This report was to provide a basis for assessment of the key policy, economic, market and environmental issues facing the industry.

Commissioned in November 1994, it was funded equally by the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and Sainty and Associates with a budget of $47 000 and the following work was undertaken: 1. Azolla evaporation study (University of Western Sydney). 2. Floating ring evaporation study (RMIT, Melbourne). 3. Evaporation mitigation from on-farm water storages (CSIRO Centre for Environmental Mechanics). 4. Study tour of six cotton farms (CSIRO Division of Water Resources, Sainty and Associates).

This study was initiated to quantify the impact of those predators commonly found in Australian cotton fields and thereby reveal the importance of the various predatory species in Helicoverpa pest management. Trials to investigate the commercial feasibility of growing cotton under 'soft-option' strategies (that is, without pyrethroids or endosulfan) at 'Midkin' (Auscott Pty. Ltd., Moree) provided populations of Helicoverpa and predators for our comparisons. Field work was also conducted on organically-grown cotton at 'Alcheringa', near Boggabilla, and Wilby', near North Star. Unsprayed cotton from these sites and from research sites of the Australian Cotton Research Institute was also used, and these field studies were complemented with laboratory studies of predation carried out at the University of New England.

In Australia, management of cotton pests is insecticide based. Beneficial insects are neglected due to the disruptive impact of the insecticides, lack of techniques to maximise their abundance and effectiveness and also lack of ecological diversity in Australian cotton systems which are monoculture and militate against beneficial arthropods. Studies to develop a control strategy for early season pests on cotton which has minimal effect on natural enemies commenced in July 1992 until June 1995. These studies showed that provision of supplementary food through Envirofeast spray can attract, conserve and augment naturally-ocurring predatory insects, including transverse, three-banded, twospotted ladybird beetles, red and blue beetle, big-eyed bug, damsel bug and green lacewings. These insects are natural enemies of cotton pests especially Helicoverpa spp. However, thiodicarb and endosulfan which were previously known to the industry to be "soft" on beneficial insects were shown in this study to significantly reduce predatory insect numbers. Interplanting of luceme, as strips within cotton farms, served as a trap crop or sink for early season cotton pests such as green mirids and as refugia for predatory insects. Green mirids and predatory insects on cotton can be effectively sampled using Dvac. The integration of Envirofeast and the lucerne/cotton interplant (i.e. refugia technology) into a pest management system eliminated the need for early season synthetic insecticide sprays and reduced total synthetic insecticide sprays per season by 60 per cent. Envirofeast product unfortunately is not rainfast and production technology needs to be developed to produce the product in large quantities for commercial use. With resistance of Helicoverpa spp. to insecticides increasing, and the possibility that insect resistance will be a major problem even with transgenic cotton, the control strategy developed in this study should be integrated with transgenic cotton to sustain future cotton production.

Various parasitoids are active on cotton crops from early seedling growth right through to defoliation. The parasitoids of greatest interest on the cotton crop are those that attack the key pest, heliothis, and which may add to the mortality of egg, larval and pupal stages that is provided by other biotic and abiotic factors. During recent years most research on parasitoids has concentrated on native agents attacking the egg and early larval stages.

If Australia is to maintain its reputation as a consistent supplier of high quality cotton it

will need to ensure that the entire cotton pipeline from growing to ginning and from

warehouse to port conforms to industry Best Management Practices (BMP). The BMP

program has been successfully taken up by the growing sector in 1999 and the classing

sector in 2004, with the ginning, harvesting and warehousing and despatch still

outstanding. In response to this need a draft BMP Handbook for Ginning, was compiled

in late 2006. Initial audits were conducted during the 2007 ginning season to determine

the compliance of the gins to the draft BMP for Ginning. These audits were also

conducted to determine any discrepancies and omissions in the draft BMP for Ginning.

As a result of the initial audits the draft BMP was amended and formalised with formal

scheduled audits conducted during the 2009, 2010 and 2011 ginning seasons. During

the 2009 ginning season, sixty three percent; during the 2010 season, seventy five

percent and during the 2011 season, eighty percent of the operational gins were audited

against the current version of the BMP Handbook for Ginning. This Handbook for

Ginning has evolved over the three years becoming more comprehensive with each

updated version. A large number of the audited gins complied with the current version

of the BMP Handbook for Ginning and as a consequence were recommended for

certification by Cotton Australia. There are however a large number of issues that were

raised during the 2011 audits which will need to be attended to by the Australian

Cotton Ginners Association and the individual gins.

Insects in cotton fields form a diverse and volatile community. Room (1979) collected some 500 species of insect (plus spiders) in Australian cotton fields. Some (the ones we notice most) are pests. Others are beneficials, that is, predators or parasites of the pests. Room considered more than half of the species he found were predaceous to some extent. However, in most cases, the majority of insects in a cotton field are neither pests nor beneficials. They may feed on cotton, but cause negligible damage (for example, flower beetles and leafhoppers). They may be predators and parasites of these innocuous plant feeders, or of beneficials. They may be soil-dwelling species which rarely enter the foliage. They may feed on nectar or the honeydew produced by aphids and leafhoppers. Finally, they may be just passing through, having arrived accidentally on the wind. All these insects are what we might call "incidental" species - incidental for conventional pest management, but not necessarily in their importance to the pests' ecosystem. Figure 1 summarises the results of sampling on two fields at Auscott's "Midkin" (Moree) property during the 1992/3 season. The numerical dominance of the "incidental" species is plain. Even when pest pressure is high, the numbers of major pests like Helicoverpa spp. are much lower than those of the incidental species.

This paper considers some recent research on mirids, in particular thresholds, sampling and control of the green mirid. It also considers the industry's views of mirids as pests, sheds some new light on the taxonomy of the green mirid and summarises the direction of current research.

Cotton growers are facing increasing pressure to manage resources more cost effectively and to be more accountable for the impact their decisions have on the surrounding environment. Decision support systems (DSS) have been developed to provide cotton growers with the best information available from research to assist with their management decision-making.

The aim of this project is to continue to identify critical issues where decision support tools can help growers and to develop and validate these tools. We have a range of new ideas and also requests from industry that need to be progressed over the next few years. This project will also maintain and support the existing software packages to ensure their ongoing relevance and performance. Finally, this project will also provide support for researchers, such as developing programs to help with validation of models or present data on the WWW. The approach we propose to achieve this is to combine a dedicated programmer, to ensure that the most up-to-date software design and web management is used, with an experienced cotton agronomist (Ms Sandra Deutscher), to undertake field validation of software and to understand technical issues from the industry’s point of view when developing new tools.

This was the main source of funding that supports the Cotton Management Support Systems team based at Narrabri and will specifically support:

• The salary of Ms Sandra Deutscher, Experimental Scientist responsible for field validation, software evaluation and testing, as well as providing software training and support. Sandra’s current and future role will also be to assist in implementing advanced computing approaches for delivery of information, such as using multi-format tools that allow rapid publication of Web, hardcopy and CD based information. Examples of these included the revised IPM guidelines and the pest and beneficial guide.

• The salary of a programmer Laxmi Thakur. The programmer is responsible for the development and maintenance of the Cotton CRC’s website and new developments in handheld technology and advanced information delivery systems.

• Operating costs to fund the necessary resources for new software engineering projects, field validation, training, support, and the production and distribution of software.

This project was also jointly funded by the Australian Cotton CRC and was strongly linked to the CRDC project ‘Supporting development and independent evaluation of cotton management packages’.

A range of DSS activities undertaken to assist industry in crop management were:

• NutriLOGIC Online;

• HydroLOGIC version 1;

• Commencement of CottonLOGIC redevelopment;

• Maintenance of the Cotton CRC’s website;

• Implementation of the CSIRO’s common modelling protocol;

• Completion of the online pest and beneficial guide.

• Assistance in completion of the revised IPM guidelines (paper based, online and on CottonPAKs);

• Release of the online Early Season Diagnosis Tool;

• Delivery of Myall Vale (ACRI) weather data online;

• Completion of a new version of the CottonLOGIC insect check cards;

• Field validation of the Early Season Diagnosis Tool and sucking pest sampling methodologies; and

• Conduct of CottonLOGIC/HydroLOGIC training workshops and provision of a decision support helpdesk.

Additional research work has been undertaken to answer a range of questions raised concerning various aspects of WEEDpak.

Included are:

1. Provide extension and technical support for WEEDpak. Promote WEEDpak at grower

meetings, field days etc

2. Complete study of nutgrass control in commercial cotton

3. Commence herbicide susceptibility studies for dwarf amaranth, David's spurge and red pigweed

4. Commence germination, growth and seedbank studies on dwarf amaranth, David's spurge and redpigweed

5. Examine temperature and photoperiod effects on peachvine and bell vine and initiate seed dormancy experiment

6. Commence field evaluation of herbicides for dwarf amaranth, David's spurge and red

pigweed management in permanent beds with retained stubble

7. Monitor weed density and diversity in commercial cotton