The CRDC Sustainability Repository and Data Graph Builder system has been designed and developed to ease the workload of CRDC and other relevant staff to collect and process the sustainability reporting data on Australian Cotton indicators and targets. The Australian research body on Cotton, CRDC (Cotton Research and Development Corporation) publishes data about 120 cotton indicators on a quadrennial sustainability report explaining their sustainable practices on Australian cotton farms. The standard practice is to utilize a manual approach to extract information from heterogeneous sources.

Industries like Agriculture, where the IT resources are scarce, may not possess a centralized repository with temporal and spatial information. This becomes more difficult when the data is scattered over diverse locations in diverse formats. The QUT-CRDC project (2016 – 2019) started with collecting information on various social, environmental and economic indicators and targets, and proposing new ones where applicable. The final component of the project focused on studying the feasibilities of using heterogeneous data sources to extract useful knowledge on cotton indicators and propose an autonomous system that allows to collect, extract, process and query the relevant sustainability indicators information. A data source can be a pdf document, a doc file, an excel sheet or a html page that may contain relevant information for cotton indicators.

In this project, a novel data mining based methodology has been developed to automate the data acquisition, processing and reporting of cotton sustainability indicators information that may be available on multiple heterogeneous data sources. The intuitive tool based on this methodology provides access to social, economic and environmental sustainability indicators, enabling users to generate information and graphics that communicate repository query results to stakeholders efficiently and effectively.

The project team consisted of experts on data mining, software engineering, visualization, environmental science, and design science.

This report gives a brief description of the prototype of the “Sustainability Repository and Data Graph Builder” system.

Each year, Crop Consultants Australia - with support from CRDC - conduct a qualitative survey of cotton consultants regarding their practices and attitudes, as well as those of their cotton grower clients. The resulting report provides valuable information to the Australian cotton industry regarding on-farm practices , helping to benchmark the industry's performance in a range of key areas over time. This report, published in Jan 2022, looks at the 2020-21 cotton growing season.

The International Plant Nutrition Colloquium is the major international plant

nutrition conference, held every four years. This year the 16th IPNC, entitled

“Healthy Plants, Healthy Planet” was held in Sacramento, California and was

attended by people from 45 different countries. As a part of the session

“Nutrient acquisition, homeostasis and source-sink relations” the paper

Nitrogen allocation in high yielding Bollgard II ® cotton was presented as a

poster, with the corresponding paper published in the conference

proceedings. The information presented at the conference and also gained

through informal discussions with other conference participants will greatly

enhance the experimental techniques, methodologies used and analysis of the

results in my PhD. The exposure to a wider international research community

and the chance to meet and talk with these scientists was something which

could only have been possible in the context of a major international

conference like this one, and was a great opportunity for a young PhD

student!

Australia's water resources are in a serious state, both in reduced quantity and declining quality due to

rising salinity levels. In the future, the availability of good quality irrigation water resources will be exposed

to further risk from reduced rainfall and increased evaporative demand as a result of dimate change. To

ensure sustainable crop production in the future. it is imperative that rrore efficient methods of irrigation

are identified and theirimpaclon water use, rootzone salinky and nutrientloss thoroughly evaluated.

The aim of this project was to increase our understanding of the effects of supplementing saline water

sources, such as winery wastewater, for irrigation of vines and orchards. The project specifically

addressed the impacts of saline and wastewater application via drip irrigation on soil salt distribution.

These outcomes were achieved through the monitoring of existing field sites and the interpretation of

current dabsets.

Four sites, allocated in South Australia, were investigated during the course of this project. Each site has

been treated as a separate module in this report. The sites under investigation were:

. MCLaren Vale (vineyard). The site was subdivided into two sites (BBl and BB2) which were

irrigated with reclaimed water from the Willunga Basin Water Company using conventional and sub

surface drip irrigation, respectively.

. Willunga (almond orchard). The site was drip irrigated using saline bore water from three surface

dripper lines (site SS, ) and from a single surface dripperline (site SS2).

. Currency Creek (vineyard). The site was subdivided into fourtreatment blocks each irrigated with

Finniss River water using conventional drip irrigation. Treatment I received water from rainfall and

irrigation, plus an additional Ieaching irrigation, Treatment 2 received the same as Treatment I plus

mulch, Treainient 3 received water from rainfall and irrigation, and Treatment 4 received the same

as Treatment 3 plus mulch.

. Langhome Creek (vineyard). The vineyard was irrigated with darn water from Lake Alexandrina

using conventional drip irrigation. As salinhy levels in Lake Alexandrina increased, the irrigation

water was mixed with less saline water from other sources.

Summary

Monitoring of salt distrlbution through the soil profiles was undertaken at each site using SoluSAMPLERN

solution extractors. The extractors were installed at 30, 60 and 90 cm depths at between three and seven

locations within each site. Where pre-existing data were available, the soil water solution electrical

conductivities (ECsw) measured were compared with electrical conductivity values determined from

saturated soil paste extracts (ECe) or 1:5 soil/water suspensions (ECts). Where possible, attempts were

made to establish the relationships between ECsw and ECe/EQ, 5 values at each site.

The data obtained were used to produce plots of the spatial and temporal EC distrlbutions through the root

zones. The outcomes from this project have led to an increased understanding of the impacts of using

saline and wastewater sources in conjunction with drip irrigation techniques. With the addition of further

monitoring and analyses, the results of this study will assist in overcoming the constraints of saline and

wastewater use imposed by its effects on salt distribution and soil properties.

The National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSl) and Irrigation Australia Limited

(IAL) engaged GHD Hassallto develop a framework for future irrigation research,

development and extension (RD&E)in Australia, consisting of a vision, priorities,

implementation options and immediate actions.

The framework will aid the forward planning of RD&E delivery for the Industry and

assist the industry to contribute to several Australian Government Reviews considering

research and development and extension/knowledge management in 2010. This

initiative is particularly important given that there is no proposal for a national irrigation

RD&E organisation following the cessation of the CRC for Irrigation Futures (June

2010) and NPSl(June 2011).

Our Industry Vision

Australia's irrigation industry will contribute to supplying the increasing domestic and

global demand for food and fibre driven by growing population. At the same time, the

following pressures will continue to drive structural change in the configuration and

distribution of the industry:

* Securing access to increasingly scarce water resources;

* A maturing water market;

* Managing increasing costs of energy and the trade-offs at the interface between

energy, water and carbon;

* The need to sustain natural resources, including increased allocation of water for

the environment;

* Labour scarcity; and

* Competitive marketpressures.

The Australian irrigation industry has been at the forefront of improved water efficiency

by virtue of the inherent unreliability of the country's climate and the necessity of

adapting to prolonged droughts. Innovation and adaptation will ensure that the

industry responds rapidly and contributes to meeting demand for food and fibre and

addresses these challenges by increasing its productivity and sustaining and

harnessing its human and natural capital. By 2020 we will be the recognised global leader in profitable, competitive and sustainable irrigation, contributing to regional, national and global well-being.

Our RD&E Vision

RD&E will substantially contribute to Australia becoming the global leader in profitable,

competitive and sustainable irrigation, particularly in the integration of on-farm water

use efficiency and off-farm irrigation system modernisation. By 2020, Australia will

have achieved recognition as the global leader in irrigation knowledge and its

application. This will allow the industry to contribute to, and access, international

developments and innovations in irrigation RD&E. The industry will be recognised for

2/1/93221,59593 Future v1.10n and options for Irrigation RD&E

its past achievements and innovations and its unique body of knowledge grounded in

providing integrative and cross disciplinary solutions.

Industry, government and the research community will work collaborativeIy, resourced

by sufficiently sustainable investment, to focus on key priorities to deliver RD&E that

improves productivity and water use efficiency to address food security needs and

deliver environmental sustainability. Irrigation RD&E will also manage climate change

adaptation through irrigation modernisation and structural change to minimise negative

impacts on communities.

R&D will adapt and build on past achievements, achieving broad adoption across the

industry and rapid transfer of benefits to users, Australia's system of tradeable

perpetual water access entitlements provides a positive environment for future

investment in RD&E and improved infrastructure.

The Murray Darling Basin is Australia’s largest agricultural area and a major user of water for irrigation. The Basin’s capacity to supply water is fast reducing due to increased extraction for industrial uses, domestic supply and, most significantly, agricultural irrigation. The Basin contains approximately 72% of Australia’s irrigated crops; therefore irrigation needs to become more efficient in order to match supply with demand (MDBMC, 2007).

Recent droughts have increased investment in improving irrigation efficiency. A common measure of this efficiency is the ratio of seasonal crop water use to seasonal irrigation application. In order to assess whether increased investment is improving efficiency we need to develop accurate estimates of the rate of water use at the individual crop and district level.

The rate of water used by a crop, ET = evapotranspiration, depends on weather, growth stage and soil water availability. Crop yield is a function of water use. Crop water use can be estimated under well watered conditions as a function of reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) and a set of crop coefficients. The coefficients (Kc) are crop specific. Crop evapotranspiration (ETc) is estimated as the product of the rate of reference crop evapotranspiration and the appropriate crop coefficient (ETc = ETo X Kc) (Allen et al., 1998). However the crop coefficient does not account for variations in canopy cover between different areas.

Reference crop evapotranspiration (ETo) is the evaporation from a grass reference crop without a shortage of water that shows certain characteristics (Allen et al., 1998). Climatic parameters are the only factors affecting ETo and so ETo can be calculated from weather data. The variations in the values of ETo with location and season reflect the temporal and spatial variation in the evaporative influence of the atmosphere. These values are not dependent on soil characteristics (Allen et al., 1998).

Evapotranspiration (ET) is the sum of evaporation and transpiration. It is the transport of water into the atmosphere from the earth’s surface. It is one of the main consumers of solar energy at the earth’s surface and is one of the most significant components of the hydrological cycle. The energy used for ET is often referred to as the latent heat flux (Burba et al., 2006).

Evaporation is the process whereby water is directly returned back into the atmosphere through evaporative loss from soil surfaces, standing water and other water surfaces. Transpiration is the process in which water is used by vegetation and consequently lost back to the atmosphere as water vapour. The water enters through the root zone of the plant and is then used for different biophysiological processes such as photosynthesis. Water then passes back to the atmosphere through the leaf stomata in the form of vapour. If the leaf becomes stressed to the wilting point, transpiration will stop (Burba et al., 2006).

Evapotranspiration is a function of soil water content (SWC), crop stage and canopy cover (CC). Matching supply with demand is a function of the rate at which water is being used by the plant and how water is being stored in the root zone. Supply will depend on SWC the sufficiency of which can be inferred from measurements of pre-dawn leaf water potentials, while water demand is dependent on crop growth stage and ET.

The eddy covariance technique (EC) is an atmospheric flux measurement technique used to measure and calculate vertical turbulent fluxes including wind speed within atmospheric boundary layers. An eddy covariance system generally measures carbon dioxide, air temperature, moisture and 3-D wind speed above a crop canopy. The net moisture flux is a

result of soil evaporation plus plant transpiration minus precipitation and condensation (Glen et al., 2008). The EC measurement represents the flux from a specific area of crop. The size and location of this area relative to the tower site depends on wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric stability and tower height above the canopy. The area is called flux footprint and is the upwind area which is the source of the atmospheric flux measured by the instruments (Glen et al., 2008).

The main source of variation in the tabulated values of Kc is the growth stage. At a given growth stage, the rate of water use by an individual vine, for example, is proportional to its canopy cover. However the tabulated values of Kc do not account for canopy cover variations between vineyards. The canopy cover of a vineyard can be estimated from remotely acquired measures of vegetative indices.

Vegetation indices are derived from measures of the way that plant canopies modify light radiation. The normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) is a widely known example of such an index. The NDVI is a numerical indicator used to detect live green plant canopies in multi-spectral remote sensing data. It is an index used to identify the condition of vegetation in different areas. The NDVI is calculated from the visible and near-infrared light reflected by vegetation (Weier and Herring, 2010).

The NDVI can be used as a measure of canopy cover (CC). Trout and Johnson (2007) and Trout et al. (2008) have shown that there is a strong connection between NDVI and CC as NDVI was found to increase linearly with canopy cover up to approximately 0.8. Therefore NDVI can be used as a surrogate for measures of CC. Ayars et al. (2003), Williams and Ayars (2005) and Goodwin et al. (2006) have shown that the crop water use of individual peach trees (which show similar characteristics to almond trees) and vines is linearly related to projected canopy cover.

Evapotranspiration data were collected using eddy covariance towers in a vineyard and an almond orchard between February 2007 and June 2009 in South Australia’s Riverland. The project aimed to use these comprehensive data sets to explore whether the water use of an entire vineyard and an entire almond orchard can be estimated from reference crop evapotranspiration and crop coefficients adjusted with satellite measures of NDVI to account for variations in canopy cover.

Improving the efficiency of water use in agriculture is increasingly essential to maintain the

profitability and sustainability of farms. This involves applying only the minimum necessary

irrigation water to maintain or improve the yield of individual plants. Irrigation control strategies can

be used to improve site-specific irrigation. These control strategies generally require weather, plant

and/or soil data to determine irrigation volumes and/or timing that improve crop water use efficiency

while maintaining or improving crop yield. As the plant response and environmental conditions

fluctuate throughout the season, control strategies which accommodate temporal and spatial

vanability in the field and which locally modify the control actions (irrigation amounts) need to be

'adaptive'. Such irrigation control systems may then be implemented on large mobile irrigation

machine, both 'lateral move' and 'centre pivot' configurations, to provide automatic machine

operation

A simulation framework 'VANwise' has been created to aid the development, evaluation and

management of spatialIy and temporalIy varied site-specific irrigation control strategies. The cotton

model OZCOT has been integrated into VANwise to provide feedback data in the control strategy

simulations. VANwise can accommodate sub-field scale variations in allinput parameters using a

one square metre cell size, and permits application of differing control strategies within the field, as

well as differing irrigation amounts down to this scale. An automatic model calibration procedure

was also developed for VARlwise to enable real-time input of field data into the framework. The

model calibration procedure was accurately implemented with measured field data and the calibrated

model was then used to evaluate the effect of using different data inputs in an irrigation control

system.

A key challenge for the Australian cotton industry is to ensure that its’ reputation for high quality is maintained and year to year variation in yield is minimised. There is also continued pressure to explore changes in agronomic practice to deal with rising costs, reduced terms of trade, need for improved use efficiencies for crop inputs, and in response to technological changes such as new varieties, plant hormones, and precision agriculture innovations.

To maintain progress, research is needed to update existing agronomic recommendations as well as identify new practices or tools that increase yield and provide resilience to crop stress in both irrigated and dryland systems. There have been advances made in growth hormone and regulant compounds that could assist in managing stresses (water and heat) in cotton. Past research has demonstrated the utility of some of these hormones, but this was done in lower yielding crops in the USA where their use was often not economically viable. Recent successful research in Australia using an ethylene inhibitor on waterlogged cotton to reduce fruit shedding has highlighted that the use of hormones should be reconsidered for both managing stress and assisting with novel approaches to agronomic management to improve resilience and profit.

This project addressed the following research objectives (i) investigate whether the use of novel agronomic approaches utilising various plant hormones could raise yield and build crop resilience to stress, raising profit in both irrigated and dryland systems; (ii) assess an alternative approach to day degree that delivers more precise predictions and assessments of crop development for all cotton regions that will facilitate more accurate growth assessment and management decisions; and (iii) Maintain build crucial independent research capacity in cotton agronomic research through the support of Claire Welsh’s PhD studies in rainfed cotton systems.

Growth regulator/hormone research - Over the course of the four years many experiments were conducted to evaluate key research questions. This was a challenging project where experiments were compromised by hail (1 on-farm experiment in 15/16 season, and most experiments at ACRI in 2018/19 season), extreme cold then extreme heat and disease (verticillium) (all ACRI experiments in the 2016/17 season), waterlogging when not required (1 on-farm experiment in 17/18 season), and extreme rainfall events removing lint from the plant (2 on-farm experiments in Emerald in 2016/17).

Research addressed the following key questions:

• Can yield and quality be improved on fully irrigated crops using consecutive applications of anti-ethylene agents?

• Can various combinations of anti-ethylene agents reduce the effects of mild stress in irrigated cotton?

• Can anti-ethylene agents improve yield and quality by retaining fruit at cutout using anti-ethylene agents?

• Can the use of anti-ethylene agents help with yield reduction associated with a skipped irrigation?

• Can a combination of anti-ethylene agents and foliar fertiliser reduce the impacts of a waterlogging event? This was the first research conducted where they will be assessed in combination.

The conditions in which this project was undertaken was challenging with the climate extremes experienced. Variability within many experiments was far greater than effects caused by the treatments making it difficult to discern any consistent treatment effects.

It was hoped based on the waterlogging experiments conducted in the past that rates and timings would have led to differences. These results potentially highlight that unless there is a severe stress imposed (like a waterlogging event) to prevent significant fruit loss there may be little utility in retaining fruit in less stressful situations. Lack of differences could simply be a result of cotton’s ability to compensate the loss of fruit to allow assimilates to support the growth of existing fruit (resulting in larger fruit; evidenced in this study). This is a known mechanism that cotton uses to overcome stress in milder situations. Overall at the present time, and given the current high cost of these hormones, the multiple application strategies that generated differences would be currently cost prohibitive. Future research should be conducted in more controlled conditions, with greater replication, and with an explicit ability to quantify the stressed conditions. Ability to utilise a technique that can quantify the ethylene hormone response would also aid this research. Therefore, at this time no clear recommendation of the use of these growth regulators to answer the questions addressed in this study can be made.

New Day Degree Calculator - Key management recommendations rely on accurate estimates of crop development and boll periods using the day degree approach. The day degree approach is a fundamental tool used to assess crop development against growth and management (eg nutrition sampling, first irrigation) milestones for that particular season’s climate. Currently, the ‘day degree’ approach is not robust to accommodate extremes of climate (heat/cold). There is a need to refine this approach to ensure the accuracy of this critical tool to accommodate temperature extremes and ensure we can use it confidently for management decisions in new cotton regions (eg. Griffith). New approaches will be developed to accommodate temperature extremes improving predictive capabilities and management recommendations that rely on this approach.

During the course of this project we have compiled data from multiple seasons where first square, first flower, and sometimes first open boll were recorded. Data was collated from both Australian and USA locations. We compared a number of approaches: 1. The existing industry day degree approach and targets; 2. A modified approach using the existing approach with a maximum temperature threshold and existing thresholds; 3. A published method used in the USA in Arizona; and 4. A method that uses an alternative approach calculating a rate of progress from data measured in the Canberra Phytoton previously published by Bange and Milroy (2001).

This study was able to demonstrate that there were improvements in the predictability of time of first square and first flower measured in cotton crops. Two functions were able to better predict these phenological stages compared to the existing function used currently in the Australian industry (Constable and Shaw, 1988). The best performing functions were a variable temperature day degree function that used a base temperature of 15.6 °C and an optimum of 32 °C, and a physiological rate function that reflected similar temperature characteristics as the variable function. The use of these functions should be considered in the development of new cotton crop predictive capabilities as they will be able to account for more temperature extremes (high and low, that maybe more prevalent in a changing climate) and where cotton production moves into new regions. The analyses of functions here also support the use of a base temperature of 15.6 °C (60 °F) used in USA cotton systems.

Michael Bange began promotion of the understanding relating to the use of these new functions throughout the industry. An industry you tube video was also developed on the use of day degree functions and included outcomes generated in this study. CSD have also implemented the new function as part of their online suite of agronomy tools

In 2017, the National Farmers’ Federation announced a vision for Australian agriculture to

exceed a farm gate value of $100 billion by 2030. AgriFutures Australia commissioned ACIL Allen to:

Establish a baseline projection which estimated a farm-gate value of $84.3 billion by 2030, $15.7 billion below the target.

Investigate what opportunities and

barriers impact agriculture’s ability to exceed the target and deliver enduring profitability.

Understanding the $100 billion vision

The $100 billion target was created to provide focus and establish national dialogue on how to grow the sector. The target is ambitious, requiring a growth rate of 3% annually, double the current trend. The target is directional for how Australia can increase productivity and better prices in the face of ongoing climate and market volatility. Success

is greater enduring and sustainable profitability rather than pursuing farm-gate value at any cost, or claiming credit from favourable conditions.

Progress toward the target requires alignment and execution of strategies that contribute to improved enduring profitability. The strategies need to be sufficiently flexible to facilitate adaptation across the industries that make up agriculture and over time as the need, and circumstances allow.

Drivers and risks on which strategies can be built

Four drivers and four risks have been identified based on nationwide consultation across industries and analysis. The drivers and risks were chosen on the basis they can provide an enduring platform on which strategies can be supported, built and implemented. They are adaptable and not exclusive.

Drivers

Technology and data – getting more from adoption

Off-farm R&D – creating value up the supply chain

Off-farm infrastructure –efficiency & capital attraction

Markets – accelerating access and development

Risks

Climate and water – adapting farming & infrastructure

Biosecurity – sharing responsibility to sustain integrity

Regulation – sustained reform for efficiency & integrity

Consumers – meeting/exceeding changing preference

Moving towards action

The report provides an approach for conceptualising the opportunities and risks, against the backdrop of uncertainty, facing agriculture. The approach presents a range of possible strategies/investments for delivering enduring profitability by the sector. For these strategies/ investments to be implementation ready’ it will be necessary:

• To address the immediate opportunities and risks with a targeted program of investments

• • For industry and government to co-invest in the design of strategies/investments that meet the requirements of each industry and agriculture as they emerge. These strategies/investments may not be

the same as those reccomended and could include

provide an enduring platform on which strategies can be supported, built and implemented. They are adaptable and not exclusive.

Risks

Climate and water – adapting farming & infrastructure Biosecurity – sharing responsibility to sustain integrity Regulation – sustained reform for efficiency & integrity Consumers – meeting/exceeding changing preference

industry-wide investments. If the risks become severe it is anticipated that the costs of developing these strategies/investments will be insignificant compared to the costs of implementing structural adjustment policies and industry support mechanisms that are either insufficient or overly engineered

• To build the institutional framework which will provide clarity for the roles and responsibilities of parties to the vision and to provide a platform for coordination, and investment.

• • To build the analytical and research capabilities of institutions required to monitor the economic, social and environmental costs and benefits associated with prosecuting the $100 billion vision.