As a by product of more valuable cotton fibre, cottonseed oil (CSO) in its current form is widely used in its current form in various food applications around the world. In order to maintain and expand the market use of CSO, CRDC and CSIRO has co-invested in the genetic modification of CSO in previous years and this has led to the development of MonoCott, the worlds first nutritionally improved and value-added CSO. The distinct feature of the novel germplasm is its radically altered seed oil composition containing a five-fold increase in oxidative stable and heart healthy oleic acid, and concomitant major reductions in nutritionally undesirable fatty acids, including palmitic and cyclopropenoid fatty acids. MonoCott is the ultimate outcome of several previous CRDC, CRC/CSIRO projects on genetic modification of CSO. The radical re-design of fatty acid composition which has been successfully modified to address the consumer concerns over the saturated and trans fatty acids should enable CSO to compete more effectively with rival vegetable oils such as canola and soybean oils.

This project concerns OCTR approved seed increase under field conditions including the evaluation of MonoCott for its physiological and agronomic performance under typical Australian cotton farming conditions. The information and data collected through this project is pivotal for potential commercialisation of this germoplasm. The seeds increased through the trial can also provide necessary raw materials for functional evaluations by various industries including the food, feed and biodiesel industries.

Developed as part of the ‘Promoting Science and Agriculture in schools’ project, it was recognised that there was an opportunity to more actively involve students that study textile and design. After the initial pilot study in 2008 a number of teachers have continually requested the course be run again. René van der Sluijs travelled to Narrabri and presented an ‘Introduction to Textile Processing’ course from the 12th to the 13th of October 2010, with fellow presenters Rose Brodrick, and Geoff Dunlop, to teachers and senior high school students across the Namoi valley. This year saw three schools participate with another two showing great interest but unable to attend at that time. This course is a shortened version of the Cotton Field to Fabric course presented in Geelong and the course educated teachers of science, agriculture, and textiles in all aspects of cotton production from field to fabric. It assisted in the dissemination and integration of cotton examples into the high school curriculum. Undertaking the course in an accessible, central cotton growing area gave students practical, hands-on experience of the entire cotton production system and increased interactions between the broader community and the cotton industry. The course also exposed students to the range of science and agricultural careers available through the industry along with assisting with the adoption of new technologies and industry knowledge. The general feedback from participants is that the course was well presented, informative, well organised, interesting and they hoped that it will be run again in the future.

During 2002 and 2003 the Australian Cotton Industry through the then CSIRO Textile and Fibre Technology Division with the support of the Australian Cotton Co-operative Research Centre (CRC) and the Australian Cotton Shippers Association (ACSA) conducted a survey of 31 international and domestic spinning mills to determine what their needs and perceptions were of Australian cotton. Spinning mills in Indonesia, Japan, Thailand, Korea and Australia were surveyed. This survey [1] found that Australian cotton was generally well received with all countries rating neps and Micronaire, along with short fibre content as properties that needed improvement. The low level of contamination, colour, grade, spinning ability and staple length of Australian cotton created the best impressions.

The information collected by the survey was very valuable from a marketing perspective and assisted in shaping directions in research from breeding and growing through to ginning and classing.

In 2007 a further survey was carried out by Technopak (a management consulting firm in India) on behalf of the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC) and ACSA. Thirty four companies in China, Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, India and Pakistan were surveyed. This survey’s [2] findings were similar to the findings made in the previous survey conducted in 2002/03.

The aims of the current survey described in this report were to:

1. Review / benchmark the perceptions of Australian cotton against baseline data collected in the

2002/03 survey.

2. Identify / quantify potential emerging trends with regards to raw fibre / textile demand.

3. Quantify mills’ value perception of various licensing / branding programmes (e.g. Cotton USA/BMP

Cotton / Supima etc.)

4. Identify points of differentiation / value perception of Australian cotton versus other cotton

origins and fibres.

5. Establish the demand potential for higher quality Australian cotton.

Thirty five companies that purchase Australian cotton and a management consulting firm were interviewed, during 2009 and 2010, in regard to its quality in yarn production. A survey-interview approach, which entails person-to-person interviews conducted around a set of scripted questions, was used. Spinning companies from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong/China, India and Indonesia were surveyed as well as the last remaining cotton spinning company in Australia. The survey consisted of a series of background questions about each spinning company’s production, raw fibre use and spinning facilities followed by a series of more open-end questions about the quality of Australian cotton fibre. Information gathered during the survey interviews was enhanced by objective measurement of fibre samples gathered from bale lay-downs in mills of more than half the spinning companies surveyed.

The Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers Association (CGA) committee identified the need and the opportunities to extend our information and industry advocacy services to a broader audience of growers and the community. This included the need to educate new growers and re-educate growers returning to the industry following a hiatus. There was also the opportunity to enhance our industry awareness programme within the broader community.

The project enabled the Gwydir Valley CGA to formalise a partnership with the Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association staff and committee, which became the foundation and driver for the project’s implementation, allowing for broader collaboration between industry groups, growers, agribusiness and advisors and ensuring the project remain relevant due to the grower-led focus.

The project aimed to:

1. Engage with new growers and returning growers;

2. Establish conduits for extension material and information on the industry, focussing on improvements;

3. Improve collaboration with other industry projects in the region and form partnerships; and 4. Host industry awareness events.

Resulting in the:

Establishment and facilitation of five grower networks for information sharing and

communication with growers, agronomists and researchers;

Coordination of a ‘Considering Cotton’ workshop with NSW DPI for growers wanting to know the basic principles of growing cotton with more than 40 in attendance;

Organisation of the ‘Innovation in Irrigation’ field day, promoting innovative irrigation technologies in the Gwydir with a predominately grower audience of 90;

Planning and implementation of two ‘Evening with Cotton’ events that tour cotton farms and a working cotton gin with 100 non-cotton industry people attending;

Development of information packs for all events, including each grower group meeting (containing, myBMP information, cotton production guides, beneficial insects, local trial results, flood recovery ideas, how to grow a pair of jeans booklets etc.); and

Maintenance of the Gwydir Valley Cotton Growers Association website for media and promotional material for activities.

The project was highly successful with growers receiving relevant and up-to-date information on issues they considered important and the broader community having a greater understanding and appreciation of the cotton industry’s advancements and achievements.

An open hydroponics system aims to increase productivity by high frequency application of irrigation water and nutrients to the soil. Such a system is sometimes also called advanced fertigation.

Conventional involves adding a balanced amount of nutrient in the irrigation water, approximately once a month. This management system can be intensified by more sophisticated monitoring of water and nutrient use, and increasing the frequency of water and nutrient application. Systems where applications may be daily, or several times a day, are known as open hydroponics. A wide range of intensity of fertigation management has been adopted by irrigators.

Under open hydroponics the root-zone is kept restricted by increasing the number of drippers and using low application rates per tree. The root-zone volume may be only 0.5 m3 compared to 6-10 m3 for conventional fertigation. This concentrates the applied nutrients and potentially increases fertilizer use efficiency. Soil moisture content is maintained close to field capacity.

The benefits of open hydroponics may include some or all of the following:

earlier fruit production from establishing trees;

higher fruit production from mature trees;

a higher percentage of fruit suitable for the fresh fruit market (pack-out percentage).

Globally 46,500 ha of permanent horticulture are grown under open hydroponics. In Australia it has been estimated there are a total of 3,800 ha under citrus, avocados, almonds, table and wine grapes, mango, banana, blue berries, olives and stone fruits.

With funding from Horticulture Australia Ltd (HAL), and the former Land and Water Australia (LWA) through the National Program for Sustainable Irrigation (NPSI), the South Australian Research and Development Institute (SARDI) has carried out preliminary investigations. These have included an economic analysis, and some field observations of plantings under conventional fertigation and open hydroponics. The work has been done in collaboration the , and NSW Department of Primary Industries (NSWPDI) officers at Dareton Agricultural Research and Advisory Station.

In assessing any new technology it can be difficult to substantiate assumptions or claims made for the new systems being investigated. In the case of open hydroponics SARDI did not have the background data to rigorously test these assumptions, for example increased yield or a higher pack-out percentage. The assumptions used were based on field anecdotal evidence and research done outside Australia.

Other local anecdotal evidence suggests that with current lower juice prices, the advantage for open hydroponics may be almost entirely from increased pack-out percentage rather than any yield increase.

The Australian cotton industry is a regional based market focused industry generating in excess of $1 billion of export revenue. Cotton is produced in regional NSW and Queensland by up to 1,000 growers and employs up to 14,000 people depending on variable seasonal and market conditions. The productivity and sustainability of the cotton industry has improved significantly over the past 20 years through technology development and improved management practices.

The future of the industry is influenced by a number of critical uncertainties including climate variability, water availability, competitiveness with food, product differentiation, grower dedication and industry profitability. This means that while the cotton industry will continue, the size of the industry will vary year to year and growth is reliant on productivity gains, improved sustainability and market development.

The response to these challenges is to develop a vision outlining the preferred future which the industry can work collaboratively to: Australia cotton, carefully grown, naturally world’s best with the attributes of differentiated, responsible, tough, successful, respected and capable.

A central component of the industry’s success is a capable and effective network of RD&E organisations working with industry. The network faces challenges from a tight fiscal outlook and the need to maintain cotton specific capability as well as drawing on a broad range of capabilities to deliver on an expanding suite of RD&E priorities.

The purpose of the travel was to attend the 12th International Verticillium Symposium held in Ljubljana, Slovenia where presentions were made by two Australian researchers on the update on the defoliating strain of Verticillium dahliae VCG1A in Australia to an international audience of 88 participants from 22 countries.

Verticillium wilt is one of the most important pathogens many cotton growers are facing at this time. Two highly virulent strains of Verticillium dahliae are widespread and current management strategies such as crop rotation (cotton/wheat/long fallow/cotton rotations) are not effective and host resistance is temperature sensitive and therefore fails to manage this pathogen effectively. A better understanding of pathogen/host interaction, soil population and disease development, and practical strategies to manage this disease are needed. International collaborators, Prof. Jiménez-Díaz, and Prof. Subbarao are key note speakers at this symposium and attendance will enable professional relationships to be further developed, as well as developing new relationships with researchers who are developing management strategies for Verticillium wilt.

The closing session finished at 2.30pm with the news the next Symposium will be held in Wuhan, China in 2019.

The Upper Namoi Cotton Growers CGA showed particular interest in the water savings and water efficiency infrastructure available. The project involved exploring their potential implementation, in order to use less water and produce higher yields in their cotton production.

Furthermore, the CGA facilitated a bus trip to visit for growers in the Upper Namoi Valley to the Macquarie cotton, to explore how these innovations have improved their operational efficiencies, as well as more efficient water use.

The bus trip was completed on the 5-6th March 2019. Upper Namoi Cotton Growers had 15 growers participate. The trip exposed the cohort to many ideas and new innovative farming methods, such as provoking thought for implementing strip tilling, groundcover and water application rates.

The focus of the project has been to provide support for growers and consultants of broadacre crops, as they attempt to implement IPM. The major pest species that attack cotton, are for the most part, not specific to cotton. Therefore, cotton‐growers and their advisers are managing these pests across their farms, not just in cotton.

Similarly, populations of natural enemies which are a vital component of IPM, breed, take refuge and feed across the landscape. With most cotton‐growers also being grain‐growers, they need ready access to information that encompasses the range of crops they grow. The aim of this project has been to facilitate the implementation of IPM throughout the farming system, raising awareness of the benefits, challenges and implications of different tactics. A farming systems approach was made possible through the joint funding of the project by CRDC and GRDC.

Achieving outcomes in a farming‐systems context has been possible through having a multifaceted project bringing together research, development and extension simultaneously. Working with groups of growers and advisers, maintaining regular two‐way communication with growers, consultants, agribusinesses and extension colleagues have been critical to facilitating the awareness of pest management strategies. Building on this awareness, the project has undertaken targetted research, and extension activities to provide detailed technical information that can be used in making management decisions. Critically, the project provided further support to growers and consultants attempting to implement IPM by ensuring access to researchers at industry meetings, field days and in person, to discuss the issues and respond to specific enquiries.

Collaboration with colleagues in research and extension, has been essential to achieving outcomes for industry in a range of area (an IRMS that accommodates both cotton and grains, SLW and other pest outbreaks). The industry networks and extension activities of this project have ensured the dissemination of research outcomes to industry as they have emerged, facilitating their uptake by industry. In addition, the project has facilitated discussion amongst researchers and industry via the annual IPM Forum, strengthening relationships and sharing research findings.

Farmscaping

Whilst many components of pest and natural enemy management on farms have

been explored, it is difficult to determine whether the implementation of these on individual farms will result in significant direct benefits. It seems likely that in highly cultivated regions, a landscape approach will be necessary to achieve quantifiable benefits. However, the extent of knowledge in Australia of the ecology (particularly hosts, movement) of even our major pest and natural enemy species is currently insufficient to design farmscapes or landscapes that may deliver benefits.

Following the introduction of transgenic, herbicide tolerant varieties, the Australian

cotton industry has developed glyphosate-centric weed management systems which

are less reliant on residual herbicides and non-herbicide methods of weed control,

such as cultivation and hand hoeing, than has been the case in the past. These

systems have contributed to improved crop yields, while reducing the

environmentally negative aspects of cotton production. However, farming systems

which rely too heavily on a single weed management tool are not sustainable, with

inevitable shifts to weed species that are tolerant of the management tool. Where the

single management tool is a herbicide, such as glyphosate, selection of herbicide

resistant weed species is also likely.

The primary aim of this project was to develop “intelligent” weed management

systems for transgenic cotton to optimize herbicide use, achieving better yields,

while maintaining the value of glyphosate to the farming system by minimizing the

selection pressure for species shift and glyphosate resistant weeds. This was

achieved using a series of field experiments to develop a weed control threshold

based on the critical period for weed control concept.

Information on the weed control threshold and sampling techniques has been

extended to the industry through articles in the Australian CottonGrower and in

WEEDpak on the Cotton CRC website. Ongoing work is looking at developing a

simplified sampling technique for the threshold using an electronic sensor to

estimate weed biomass and hence weed competitiveness.

Information on weed growth, development and seed production has also been

produced to provide guidance for the control of weed populations which are below

threshold, ensuring that weeds are controlled before they set seed.

The 2nd aim of the project was to provide cotton growers with information to allow

them to assess the likely effects of herbicide damage on a cotton crop in terms of

final yield and maturity, and subsequently to make better informed management

decisions for herbicide damaged crops.

A series of field experiments explored the effects of a range of phenoxy and other

herbicides on post-damage crop growth and development, including leaf, square

and boll production, crop maturity and final yield. Herbicides have been applied at

varying rates and stages of crop development. This information has been published

in WEEDpak on the Cotton CRC website, along with information assisting cotton

growers to compare the post-damage symptoms for a range of herbicides.

Experiments have also explored post-damage crop management options, but to date

have found no options which improve crop recovery.

These outcomes significantly progress the science of weed management in the

Australian cotton industry, providing guidelines for best practices for weeds.