A new project at Narrabri aims to develop methods of breeding cotton varieties that per/ orm better under dryland and limited water situations.

There is a saying that you should &quote;begin with the end in mind&quote;.

This talk is heavily dependant on slides, so the following 1s really only a &quote;background&quote; paper.

The computer based decision support system, entomoLOGIC was first developed five years ago as a basic prototype. The first release of the DOS version for commercial use was at the Cotton Conference in 1992.

Most pest management practitioners agree that our current approaches are not sustainable and integrated pest management (IPM) is the way of the future.

To grow in this environment, an environment in which external forces have traditionally driven and shaped the agenda, the Industry needs leaders who have the knowledge skills and networks to address the important issu

Fungal diseases, in particular Verticillium wilt, and, more recently, Fusarium wilt, have the potential to cause major losses in Australian cotton production.

In this paper we present data on the effects of N fertilizer application to a wheat rotation crop on soil strength, nutrient uptake by the following cotton crop and cotton lint yields which were obtained from two stud

The cotton whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest of fibre and horticultural and ornamental crops worldwide.

Nutgrass (Cyperus rotundus) remains one of the major problem weeds of cotton production.

Australian cotton production relies heavily on insecticides for the control of the major pests, Helicoverpa spp. , mites and sucking insects (Fitt 1994).

Growing concern in recent years about the effects of pesticides and fungicides on the environment has led to an increased interest in alternative plant protection methods worldwide.

Weed management systems in cotton are continually evolving, particularly in response to reduced cultivation and chipping and increased use of herbicides.

Farmers have probably always realised that soil is alive. Good soil seems to have certain intangible qualities, over and above its physical structure and chemistry. There is something special about topsoil.

In cotton, the best known of the secondary metabolites isolated, Gossypol, have been found to have antifungal and antitumour activity (Harborne and Baxter, 1993) and to target enzymes in the signal transduction system

The CSIRO breeding program at the Australian Cotton Research Institute at Narrabri aims to develop locally adapted varieties for use by Australian farmers.

Australian cotton production areas are prone to significant damage by hail storms. Following a hail strike, a grower is left with trying to make the most out of what remains of his crop.

While among researchers simulation models are consider to be useful tools, modelling has a badreputation in the industry. Many people feel it has very little connection with what happens in the field.

The cotton fields are considered to be a biologically 'sterile' environment because of the constant use of pesticides and herbicides, however little work has been done to document the potential benefit

A three-year project to obtain baseline data describing the average soil condition in the lower Macintyre, Gwydir and Namoi valleys.