There is an truism of journalism that the founding, and very successful, executive producer of 60 Minutes, Gerald Stone loved to repeat to his staff. It is one that will have special resonance for cotton growers. It is 'no-one is interested in flood control. Everyone is interested in Noah'. In other words, it is people and their experiences, which capture the media's interests, rather than the explication of issues. Tragedy will draw interest, but so too should good news stories, though they can often work well when you least expect it.

Soils of high acidity are a major limitation to crop productivity in much of the world. In Australia acid soils covers about 40% of the total land area. Although soil acidification is a natural process but modern agriculture practices have accelerated acidification of soils compared with natural ecosystems in southern Australia (Bromfield et al 1983; Lewis et al 1987). Approximately 30 million hectares of acid soils have developed after land clearing since European settlement. Among various soil acidifying processes, leaching of nitrate produced by legume nitrogen fixation and from the application of ammonical fertilizers, and removal of bases in crop harvests, are the most important factors in increasing soil acidification rates in Australia. Heavy clays, predominantly used for growing cotton in northern NSW, are generally alkaline and contain some free calcium carbonate in subsoil. Therefore, presently there appears to be no cause for concern from soil acidification in such soils. Other soils particularly, lighter textured Red Earths and Red Brown Earths characterised by neutral or slightly acidic pH, are also used for cotton production. These soils may have a potential acidification problem.

The textile industry is well aware of the different bleaching conditions for cotton and wool. For the bleaching of cotton/wool blends, techniques that are efficient for both fibre components and cause minimum fibre damage, are essential. In order to minimise the damage to the wool component, industrial jig bleaching procedures for cotton/wool blends are based predominantly on the conventional wool bleaching process with hydrogen peroxide under mildly alkaline conditions, followed by a reductive bleaching treatment. Under these bleaching conditions, the cotton component in the blend cannot be adequately bleached, leading to an overall unsatisfactory bleaching performance and product quality of the blend. In addition, due to the relatively tight structures of woven substrates, a longer treatment time and/or more severe conditions are often required for wovens to achieve an equivalent white to the corresponding knitted goods. Although slight modifications of the peroxide bleaching conditions have been attempted in industry to improve the bleaching effectiveness, they often compromise the product quality.

Fusarium wilt was identified on the Darling Downs in the early 1990's and the disease has now been found in most cotton growing areas. The extreme levels of plant death and yield decreases from the disease, coupled with the rapid spread, have seen Fusarium emerge as a major threat to the future of the cotton industry in Australia. Soon after the disease was recognised CSIRO began screening our locally bred lines and numerous introductions from all around the world. Unfortunately we found very little resistance to the disease. The best of our varieties was SiCot 189, but it could not cope with high levels of Fusarium. Some of our varieties such as Siokra 14 were extremely susceptible. There was some correspondence with Verticillium wilt resistance (SiCot 189 and SiCala V-2 have some resistance to both) but not in all cases (Siokra V-16 has some Verticillium resistance but is very susceptible to Fusarium). Amongst the introductions tested only MCU-5, a variety from India, showed significantly better survival. Using the results of the screening nurseries a large crossing and selection program was initiated to tackle Fusarium.

For many years researchers have espoused the view that nature's helpers (natural enemies, beneficials, predators and parasitoids) are a free resource that has not been well utilised in our pest management approaches. We have over-relied on insecticides, many of which were highly disruptive to non-target species. The past few years have seen a remarkable transition where integrated pest management (IPM) has been embraced and successfully applied by many in the industry. Nature's helpers have finally gained some well-deserved recognition. This recent transition is not unlike that which occurred when resistance to pyrethroids first occurred. To place any reliance on endosulfan was almost unthinkable. Some perceived endosulfan as not much better than 'lemonade' (Murray and Cull 1984), yet almost 20 years on, endosulfan still has a very important role in pest management. Such are the changing fortunes in pest management.

The CSIRO breeding program at the Australian Cotton Research institute at Narrabri alms 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 a wide range of conventional and Ingard varieties available through Cotton Seed Distributors (CSD) for 2000 planting. Key advances from the CSIRO breading program include the development of varieties with okra leaf (for insect and mite tolerance), better disease resistance (particularly bacterial blight and Verticillum wilt), improved fibre quality and good adaptation to cool growing areas As a continuation of this program of regular release of new high performing varieties we are pleased to announce the introduction of three new conventional varieties: Sicot 70, Sicot 72 and Siokra S-102

Cotton plants expressing the CrylAc toxin from Bt are near to commercial release. These plants have been developed to aid in the control of heIiothis caterpillars (both Helicoverpa armigera and H punctigera ), the primary targets of insecticide usage in cotton production. While it was hoped that these plants would give high enough expression of toxin to control heliothis throughout the growing season, it is now clear that some larvae can survive to pupation late in the season. The decline, however, is more of a problem for resistance management, because of the chance that at some stage during the growing season. the level of Bt toxin in the plants will be at a level that allows preferential survival of resistant, but not susceptible, individuals. We are examining the potential of transgenic Bt cotton plants to select for resistance in H. armigera. In particular, we need to understand what environmental factors influence the expression of the Bt toxin. At the beginning of our study in 1993, nothing was known about the cause of the decline in toxin levels, nor were techniques available that would enable us to quantify those levels. Thus, we have had to focus on developing the necessary techniques to study the performance of transgenic plants grown under field conditions.

Irrigators are frequently accused of causing a deterioration of water quality in the Murray Darting Basin. For many catchments, such as the Gwydir in Northwest NSW, little reliable information is available to assess the impact of irrigation on water quality. The aim of this research is to measure the water quality (in terms of sediment, salts and nutrients) of the Gwydir Valley Watercourses. By monitoring water quality above, within and below the irrigation area, any changes in water quality within the irrigation area can be examined to determine the impact of irrigation. Water quality data was also combined with river now data to determine the quantity (load) of sediments, salts and nutrients that may leave the Gwydir Valley and enter the Murray Darting Basin.

There is no doubt that water is the limiting factor on an farms. It is argued about passionately and has entered a very public arena with demands from environmental, political, community and agricultural sectors. The cost of the cuts in entitlements, at a time when volumes in storage and flows are minimal has multiplied the impact. None of us should be in any doubt as to the value of every litre however, we need to be wise and careful about how we are going to utilise the water we have. Assure as night follows day there will be experts and wizbang solutions that will solve your every problem. If you scratch just about anyone who has installed an alternative irrigation system, you will find a wiser, often poorer, usually very tired and disillusioned irrigator. There are good results being achieved both with improvements in management of surface irrigation systems, as well as successful alternative systems. What makes the difference and how are we to determine the best for our farm?

Two years ago we rolled into a new century, a new millennium. That magical roll from the year 1999 to 2000 gave many of us the reason to sit and reflect on the past, and then to dream of the &quote;what if's&quote; that the future may hold. There is no doubt that our past has developed us into the achievements of today. Just as our situation and decisions of today will develop our tomorrow. Reflection and prediction are a key part of a business plan. We assess our past, calculate our current position, and then have a short-term look into the future, followed by a longer-tern view. Current and short-term are relatively easy to predict, the trick is in the long-term view. This is the magic ball zone! Let's ask some simple questions about cotton.