This document highlights the performance of Bollgard cotton in the Australian Industry during the 2004-05 season. Data drawn from the 2003-04 season and aggregate data from 2002-03 are also used to provide background trend data. In conjunction with the empirical quantative data, qualitative information from growers and consultants is used to inform the reader of the underlying thoughts and attitiudes surrounding issues of importance to the industry.

CRDC’s Grassroots Grants program encourages Cotton Grower Associations to apply for funding to support capacity building projects in their region. Up to $10,000 in funding is available for CGAs to help fund a project aimed at increasing the engagement of growers in the industry, solving specific regional issues and improving their skills, knowledge base and networks. Since the Grassroots Grants program commenced in 2011, it has supported over 44 projects across the cotton growing valleys.

Catchment, water resources and agricultural management are undergoing significant and difficult change in the Northern Murray-Darling Basin (NMDB). This Report has been developed following the interest of a number of investors who wished to understand the extent that current information will prevent the satisfactory implementation of these new policies, and of achieving sustainable natural resources and agricultural outcomes.

The expansion of the insectary facilities will enable the reseach infrastructure capacity of ACRI to meet the increasing demands of the Industry for entomology research. This is important given the evolution of practices and the increasing reliance on IPM strategies. An increasing focus on IPM and the need for good information on resistance has prompted the need for updated facilities. An application was made to CRDC to assist with funding the building of a new insectary to compliment and expand the existing facilities. This grant was successful and was made jointly to NSW Agriculture and CSIRO, with NSW Agriculture to administer the project. The grant was partial and contingent on additional funding coming from each of these organisations to meet the full cost of building the new insectary.

The additional insectary (Insectary 3) has rectified the problem of overcrowding and lack of bench and storage space. The new facility has specific design features including a temperature controlled room, separate work benches and work station areas that are highly functional and enhance the efficiency of entomology research.

Microsatellite data collected over many of the grain growing regions of eastern Australia from December 2002 through to May 2005, has detected and described variable gene-flow years (i.e. variable levels of migration). In December 2003-February 2004 the highest proportion of regionally "local" H. armigera were observed. In contrast, in March 2003-May 2003 there were higher levels of immigration between the regions, however still not as high as those recorded in previous research (i.e. April 2001-March 2002 in Scott et al 2005b). These data provide evidence that the direction of moth movement differs from season to season, and within a season, highlighting the importance of studies in groups such as the Lepidoptera extending over consecutive years, as short-term sampling may be misleading when population dynamics and migration change so significantly.

In some years, H. armigera populations may migrate very little and then be relatively independent within each region and thus significantly influenced by local management practices. This is shown by the significant proportion of insecticide resistance developing locally (i.e. within a single growing region) in H. armigera in this research. However, there are also periods with high migration across the cropping regions, and resistance may rapidly spread at these times. This research demonstrates that insecticide resistance to several chemistries is efficiently immigrating across growing regions in seasons of moderate "migration" levels. These research results thus reaffirm the critical importance of maintaining a nationally coordinated insecticide resistance management strategy.

A brief outline of the Trial Method is detailed with results presented graphically in Final Report

- Treatments applied using a hand held 2 metre wide flat boom fitted with 3 TX2 hollow cone

nozzles per row and operating at 300 kPA

- A total spray volume of 83 litres per hectare was used.

- Leaves assessed were mostly around the 5th main stem leaf. At later counts, in the 2 treatments containing DROPP leaves collected were 7-8 MsL.

- At the first assessment leaves were counted for sub-adults on a random halfofeach leaf. At

all subsequent assessments 2 x I dollar microscope fields (10X) were used. 10 randomly selected leaves per plot were used for leaf turn adult counts and for sub-adult microscope counts.

- Data has been analysed by 2 way ANOVAR. Means have been separated with the LSD

technique and means in columns accompanied by the same letter are not significantlv different at 95% level of P.

CRDC document 'Triple Bottom Line Highlights' indicates the following successes pertaining to insect management, especially the adoption of IPM and AWM:

- Reduction in endosulfan use in past 4 years

- Reduction in cotton-related complaints to the NSW Environmental protection Agency in past 4

years'

- Reduction in overall insecticide use across the industry in the past 4 years

Cotton is one of many agricultural industries heavily reliant on nitrogenous fertilizers and water storages to maintain high levels of production. Cotton-based farming systems are therefore labelled as potentially high-risk agricultural systems with respect to gases losses of nitrogen to the atmosphere, nitrate leaching which contribute to environmental pollution. The inefficient use of fertiliser applied nitrogen also reduces profitability. Concern has mounted in recent decades regarding the emission of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through human activities. Modern agriculture has contributed to these emissions with the release of CO2 from soils during land clearing and annual tillage operations. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions are reportedly on the increase with the elevated use of nitrogenous fertilizers and irrigation in crop production systems. Reducing the potentially large N emissions from these cropping systems has therefore been widely identified as a high priority for increasing profitability and reducing environmental pollution and is directly related to improved water and nitrogen use efficiency. Our research has confirmed that management practices currently being promoted across the cotton industry are making a positive contribution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from Australia soils. Experimental data has confirmed that typical seasonal on-farm emissions of the greenhouse gas, N2O, which is over 300 times more potent as CO2, from irrigated cotton systems in Australia and using split applications of nitrogen, are less than 1% of the total nitrogen applied. This figure is well below the default global average for emissions used by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) in developing greenhouse gas inventories. The total loss of gaseous nitrogen using a typical split application (excluding ammonia) is estimated to be about 16%. The following Best Management Practices have been identified for reducing nitrogen losses and associated greenhouse gas emissions: • A reduction in the time between initial fertiliser application and planting is critical. • Increasing the amount of fertiliser N applied later in the season (relative to upfront applications), will potentially increase yields and increase the overall nitrogen use efficiency for the season. • Urea should be used in preference to NH3 in water run applications. • Green manures may substitute for mineral sources of nitrogen, however more work is required to confirm its utility as an alternative N source. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions requires an estimate of your on-farm emissions. 

The Cotton Pest Management Guide 2014-15 is the industry’s premium resource for insect, mite and weed control, disease prevention, biosecurity and spray application information. The Guide builds on the wealth of knowledge from research the cotton industry has undertaken since the publication first began in the 1980s and is an important tool for growers, agronomists and consultants alike. Importantly, when it comes to protecting the crop, growers are not alone - insects, weeds and diseases do not respect farm boundaries, so it’s important that the industry works together to manage pests. The Cotton Pest Management Guide is published by the industry’s joint CottonInfo team and is updated each year to incorporate consistent improvements in industry best practice. Importantly, the 2014-15 edition contains the Australian cotton industry's first Herbicide Resistance Management Strategy.

The Objective: To compare the deposition and drift profiles of the Spectrum electrostatic system at 10 L/ ha with Micronair AU 5000 units at 30 LAia fitted to a fixed wing aircraft using fluorometric techniques.Results obtained in this experiment indicate that the electrostatics system does warrant further investigation, particularly considering that in this experiment the electrostatic system was able to deliver equivalent levels of deposition, with lower CV's and similar or less drift at application rates of 10 L/ha when compared with the micronair au5000 at 30 L/ha.

The ability of the electrostatic system to demonstrate equivalent deposition at 10 L/ha in this trial indicates that in using such a system there may be potential cost savings to growers through reduced costs of application, increased productivity and improved timeliness of application. The ability of the system to deliver equivalent deposition with similar or lower CV's and levels of drift should be investigated further.