In growing their crops Australian cotton farmers need to comply with Australian regulations. Within Australia, there is a detailed and rigorous process for the , the setting of residue limits (MRLs) and for the labelling of food going to the consumer.

However, knowing that you have used pesticides according to the label and Good Agricultural Practice as defined within Australia may not be enough if cotton byproducts are exported or used in the diet of livestock either domestically or destined for export to countries where regulations differ. To help avoid potentially damaging problems in our export trade, the CRDC have funded a project to monitor the development of international food standads at Codex (the United Nations international food standards setting body).

In addition, gaining access to crop protection products is important to the cotton industry particularly when new pests, such as silver leaf whitefly, emerge. To ensure that relevant crop protection products were available to manage this pest regulatory support was sought in the gaining of APVMA permits. Kevin Bodnaruk’s firm, AKC Consulting, took on these tasks.