The CSIRO breeding program at the Australian Cotton Research Institute at Narrabri aims to develop locally adapted varieties for use by Australian farmers, The program has been very successful in developing varieties for all cotton growing areas with eleven conventional and five Ingard varieties available through Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) for 1998 planting. Key advances from the CSIRO breeding program include the development of varieties with okra leaf (for insect and mite tolerance), better disease resistance (particularly bacterial blight and Verticillium wilt), improved fibre quality and good adaptation to cool growing areas. The varieties produced by CSIRO have brought many millions of extra dollars to farmers and have been a key factor in the rapid expansion of the cotton industry in recent years. As a continuation of this program of regular release of new high performing varieties we are pleased to announce the introduction of three new varieties: Sicala 40, Siokra V-16 and Sicot 189i