The Burdekin region of coastal north Queensland and other areas of tropical Australia provide a significant opportunity for Australian cotton industry stabilisation and contribution to drought proofing.

Obviously, avoiding trafficking wet soil is one means of avoiding soil structural damage. Another is to use a vehicle with lower ground pressure, by using dual tyres, wide tracks, etc.

Cotton growers began to realise in the late 1970's that compaction of clay soils may have been a cause of declining yields. Research over the last 10 years has confirmed those suspicions.

The SOILpak project so far has concentrated on the grey and brown cracking clay soils used for cotton production.

Cotton growers commonly apply nitrogen (N) fertilizer at rates of between 100 and 200 kg N/ha, yet the cotton plants seldom recover more than 40% of the applied N, and often much less.