2005 - Professor Ivan Kennedy

Ivan Kennedy, Professor of Agricultural & Environmental Chemistry at the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Sydney, has supervised around forty postgraduate students and research fellows. The cotton industry has made enormous progress in enhancing its rural environment, to the point where it is now regarded as providing a model for other agricultural industries. Research contributions of his group to this include:

• Cleaner rivers with less pesticide contamination. Our research on endosulfan helped set the stage for the development of Best Management Practice used by most cotton farmers today. Monitoring has shown that the rivers are now very much cleaner than they were.
• Industry-wide risk management of chemicals. We have analysed the risk that particular chemicals will do environmental damage or that they will contaminate livestock. A recent article in The Australian Cottongrower discussed how chemicals may be managed to reduce this risk.
• Environmental benefits of Roundup Ready cotton. Mainly because it replaces more hazardous herbicides with the safer Roundup, using Roundup Ready cotton not only gives good weed control and lint yield increases but it also reduces the risk to non-target species in the environment.
• Risk classification of gin trash. The project Angus Crossan and I recently concluded with the CRDC resulted in the cotton ginning industry being spared an estimated $1.2 billion of extra expenses over the next 20 years.
• Environmental benefits of on-farm wetlands in bioremediation of pesticides and how they can be managed in normal farming operations to deliver a safer environment for wildlife, without competing for water with cotton. Guidelines showing how to obtain some of these benefits will be issued in a Cotton CRC brochure in the near future.

His award of the ACGRA Cotton Researcher of the Year award was only possible because of the willing work done by my many research collaborators, the CRDC and CRCs and growers in the cotton industry.
 

2004 - Professor Peter Gregg

Peter Gregg is the son of one of the pioneering Australian growers of the Namoi Valley, in the early 1960’s. He was educated at the University of New England (B.Rur.Sc. Hons in 1972, M.RurSc. in 1976) and the Australian National University (PhD, 1981). After short stints working with CSIRO and on the family farm, he was appointed Lecturer in Agricultural Biology at UNE in 1980, subsequently being promoted to Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor. He developed and taught units for undergraduate students in Plant Protection, Applied Entomology and Agricultural Ecology, and supervised many postgraduate students at Masters and PhD level.

His research interests include the ecology of Helicoverpa spp., especially population dynamics in uncultivated areas such as inland Australia, and migration from there to cropping regions. He has also been involved in research on the ecology of beneficial insects, and PhD students he supervised in this field have gone on to make significant contributions to Integrated Pest Management. His recent research is focused on the chemical ecology of pests and beneficial insects in cotton, and has resulted in the development of Magnet®, the world’s first commercial moth attractant based on synthetic plant volatile chemicals. This work won the CRC Association’s Award for Excellence in Innovation in 2005.

Professor Gregg has been extensively involved in three successive Cotton Cooperative Research Centres, having been a Sub-Program Leader in the CRC for Sustainable Cotton Production (1993-1999), a Program Leader in the Australian Cotton CRC (1999-2005), and he is currently the Chief Scientist in the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC.

2003 - Dr. David Nehl

Dr David Nehl is a Research Scientist with NSW Department of Primary Industries based at Narrabri. During his PhD studies (UNE, 1991-95) he investigated interactions between cotton and soil microbes, including fungal pathogens, mycorrhizal fungi and rhizosphere bacteria.

In 1995 he joined NSW Department of Primary Industries at Narrabri for a postdoctoral fellowship investigating factors contributing to slow early season growth of cotton, including rhizosphere bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi.

His research interests since then have broadened to include annual surveys of cotton diseases in all production areas of NSW and development of integrated disease management practices, particularly for seedling disease, black root rot and Fusarium wilt of cotton. Developments include biofumigation crops, timing sowing to avoid conditions that favour disease and activation of disease resistance.

He has a keen interest in soil ecology and continues investigations of the ecology of mycorrhizal fungi in cropping systems.

Dr Nehl has been a Senior Editor of the international journal Australasian Plant Pathology for the past three years.

He is currently co-supervising four postgraduate students, with topics including the genetic diversity of the black root rot pathogen, the contribution of mycorrhizal fungi to very stable forms of organic matter in soil, decoy cropping and biocontrol for the black root rot pathogen and the impact of salinity on mycorrhizal fungi.

Dr Nehl lectures on plant pathology in the Cotton Production Course annually and provides extension material to the industry.

Recently he has contributed to the development of the Cotton Industry Biosecurity Plan by Plant Health Australia and the ACGRA.
 

 ACGRA  Researcher of the Year Award (established 1981)
 

David Kelly began his career in the cotton industry in 1995 as a technical officer for NSW Agriculture in Bourke. From there he spent 3 years in Macquarie Valley as Cotton Industry Development Officer with NSW Agriculture and Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), and between 1999 and 2004 was senior development extension officer for DPI Qld/ Cotton CRC in Central Queensland. David is currently Extension and Development Agronomist with Cotton Seed Distributors based in Goondiwindi.

In each of these roles he has been heavily involved in the Australian Cotton CRC National Cotton Extension Network and from 2001 to 2004 was team leader for the Insects Extension Focus Team, a team which he is still a part of.

Some highlights of his career have been his involvement in the development and implementation of a management strategy for Silverleaf Whitefly. This pest proved to be one of the greatest threats to the cotton industry in Central Queensland and through collaboration between growers, consultants, extension, researchers and the wider industry a successful management strategy was able to be rapidly developed and implemented.

David has always put a strong focus on ongoing communication of R&D issues in the cotton industry through ‘Cotton Tales’ newsletters, annual Cotton Trial & Yearbooks, CSD’s Web on Wednesdays, Facts on Fridays and the media.
 

2001 - Dr. John Triantafilis

John Triantafilis graduated from the University of Sydney with BScAgr in 1991 and PhD in soil Science in 1996. In 1996 he took a Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Sustainable Cotton Production, based at the Australian Research Institute. In 1999 he returned to the University of Sydney as a Senior Research Fellow (Australian Cotton CRC). In 2004 he accepted the position of Senior lecturer (Soil Science) in the school of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales

Since 1991 John has been working on series of projects entitled “Understanding the salinity threat in the irrigated cotton growing arrears of Australia”. The main aim has been to develop and apply ground-based Electromagnetic (EM) induction methods to generate natural recourse information for improved soil and water management in irrigated cotton growing areas. To this end he has been working in collaboration with a number of community groups in various cotton growing areas of Central and Northern New South Wales, including Macintry River Food and Fibre, Gwydir Valley Irrigators Association, Coordinating Committee of Namoi Valley water users association, Macquarie 2100 and Darling River Food and Fibre.

His research is focused on using geostatistical methods to supplement limited soil survey information in combination with ground-based geophysical instruments (i.e. EM) and satellite data. Their application to produce biophysical data (e.g. agronomy, geology, topograrphy, hydrology and climate) can be used to ascertain where soil and water salinisation may occur. At the field level he developed a Mobile Electromagnetic Sensing System (MESS) for field-scale investigations of soil salinity and irrigation efficiency assessment. At the district level (20,000-200,000 ha) he has used EM instruments to map groundwater recharge rate, identify deep drainage risk areas, and locate subsurface saline material.
 

2000 - Dr. Ian Rochester

Ian Rochester has worked within the cotton industry since 1983. He began by researching the processes of nitrogen cycling in cotton soils and followed this with an investigation of means to improve the efficiency of nitrogen fertilizer use.

Cotton nutrition is now the main area of Ian’s research. He was the final editor of the NUTRIpak manual of cotton nutrition and has assisted in the coordination of soils and cropping systems research through the organization of annual farming systems forum.

In recent years, Ian has investigated the soil fertility benefits from growing legume rotation crops, which not only improve cotton productivity and profitability, but also improve soil health.

Ian’s research has always been relevant to the needs of the cotton industry and his research outcomes have readily been adopted by the industry.
 

1999 - Dr. Joanne Daly

Joanne started working for the Cotton Industry in August 1983. This was hot on the tails of the outbreak of pyrethriod in Helicoverpa armigera at Emerald and its detection in the Namoi region. Her initial work (with Peter Gregg) looked at both Heliothis species to see if their different patterns of migration could account for why H. armigera but not H. punctigera developed resistance.

In early 1984 Joanne started her long term interest in resistance management strategies for heliothis in cotton, first for pyrethriod, then for endosulfan and more recently for Bt Cotton. Her contribution to this important area was to understand just how and when resistant insects survived more than susceptible ones. This story is a fascinating account of how the age of the larvae, the presence of adults, the breakdown of insecticide, and the time of year, all play in a role on resistance. This work was a collaborative effort with her colleagues in CSIRO and elsewhere.

The switch to studying the potential for resistance to single gene Bt Cotton saw her work expand into looking at the changes in “killing Power” of Bt cotton during the season. This work was a team project across CSIRO. This work revealed glimpses into complex world interactions between plant and insect and environment, an insight only possible when transgenic cotton is not able to kill all the insects that feed upon it.

Since January 2001 – February 2003 Joanne has been on secondment to the Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST). This allowed her to apply her knowledge and experience of the cotton industry to national priorities.

Since February 2003, Joanne has been Chief of CSIRO Entomology. She is enjoying her role in creating opportunities for the next generation of cotton researchers.
 

1998 - Dr. Joe Kochman

Joe Kochman’s association with the Cotton Industry started in1989 when the conduct of disease surveys in Cotton growing areas in Queensland was added to his responsibilities as a Senior Plant Pathologist with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries.

During the disease surveys in 1993, he identified Fusarium wilt in Cotton, in crops growing on the Darling Downs in Queensland, for the first time in Australia. As a result of these findings he formed a research team, which characterised the fungus causing the disease, and showed there were different levels of resistance in varieties. It was for this work that Joe received the 1998 ACGRA Cotton Researcher of the Year award.

The disease has proved difficult to manage and is now considered one of the most important constraints to cotton production in Australia. Joe and his team have continued research into management of this disease, investigating plant resistance and the role of crop rotations on disease incidence. Some of the outcomes of this research are as follows: the development of a Fusarium resistance-ranking system for varieties, which is the basis of the F rank, defined by the Fusarium committee, and the release of varieties with higher levels of disease resistance.

A resistant line, identified in one of the first trials, has been extensively used by the plant breeders to develop a variety with improved resistance to Fusarium wilt. The variety Sicot F1, released by CSIRO in 2004, is the result of extensive breeding by CSIRO and testing at ‘Cowan’. This variety produced 9.5 bales with a 43% gin turnout (about 25% more yield than the standard) in the variety comparison trials at the heavily infested ‘Cowan’ trial site. More germplasm, with improved resistance, is still in the developmental stage and not ready for commercial release.

The project team has analysed data from rotation trials and has published information, on the effects of certain crop rotations on Fusarium wilt incidence.

Joe was awarded an Australia Day Achievement Medallion in the Australia Day honours list on 26 January 2006, in recognition for his practical and common-sense approach to agriculture and its diverse challenges and his willingness to build effective relationships with growers and researchers to influence the sustainability and profitability of the cotton industry.
 

1997 - Dr. Robert Mensah

Robert Mensah was appointed to the Cotton Industry through NSW Agriculture in 1992. Soon after his appointment, Dr. Mensah realized that enhancing build up and use of beneficial insects (conservational biological control) could be an option to complement IPM programs in cotton because it is a self-perpetuating solution to pest problems. He found that use of monoculture practises in cotton production systems militates against the activities of beneficial insects because they lack ecological diversity. Therefore, Dr Mensah commenced research in habitat diversity and subsequently developed a cotton/alternative cropping or beneficial insect refuge system now practised in the cotton industry in Areawide management programs. He was the first to develop and use food sprays (Envirofeast®, first commercial food spray he developed) to attract and utilise beneficial insects in IPM strategies on cotton. He now holds an international or worldwide patent on food sprays and the use of food sprays in agricultural crops.

Furthermore Dr Mensah’s initiative and collaborative research with the Cotton CRC has resulted in the development of the first cotton industry IPM guidelines. These guidelines are used by over 70% of cotton growers in Australia assisting the industry to reduce its insecticide use by 50%. Dr Mensah developed the “Predator to Pest ratio” used by the industry as a decision support tool and the use of Petroleum spray oils (PSOs) for IPM strategies in cotton.

Dr. Mensah’s future interest will continue to include developing techniques to improve the efficacy of beneficial insects and also new environmentally benign pest control tools and strategies to support IPM in Bollgard® and conventional cotton crops in Australia.
 

1996 - Dr. Danny Llewellyn

Danny Llewellyn was born and grew up in Newcastle, NSW. He moved to Canberra to begin his University studies and received first class Honours and then a PhD. in Biochemistry at the Australian National University.
From these more fundamental research beginnings, he chose to follow an applied path into using the then emerging disciplines of molecular biology and biotechnology to try to improve Australian Agriculture. After a post-doctoral Fellowship at the Max-Plank Institute in Cologne, Germany, he moved to CSIRO Plant Industry Canberra. In the mid-late 1980s he began working on Cotton biotechnology and this area now dominates his research activities.
The first transgenic Cotton produced at CSIRO were those tolerant to the herbicide 2,4-D, and this trait was used as an experimental system to develop all the necessary skills in the production and analysis of transgenic Cotton that now forms the core of the CSIRO Cotton Biotechnology program.

Dr. Llewellyn gathered together a small team and in the late 80s this group formed the skilled core for the initial introduction of transgenic Cotton, particularly the Monsanto INGARD® and Roundup Ready® genes, and later Bollgard II®, into the CSIRO Cotton Breeding Program. They continue to provide the necessary molecular and biochemical support for on-going breeding, and commercialisation programs aimed at improving on the first releases of transgenic Cotton and have become an essential component of the CSIRO breeding team responsible for tracking transgenes in breeding material and Quality Assurance.

Dr Llewellyn’s research team continues to explore many new applications of biotechnology to Cotton production both at a fundamental and applied level.

In 2002 he was made a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in recognition of his contributions to biotechnology and with Dr Greg Constable was Awarded CSIRO’s prestigious Chairman’s Medal in 2003.
 

1995 - Dr. David Murray

David is an entomologist with the Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries at Toowoomba. Cotton was first introduced to David at Emerald in1980, where he was involved in SIRATAC evaluation trials and soil insect pest management. He was in Emerald when resistance to pyrethriods emerged during the 1982-83 season.

In 1985 he transferred to Toowoomba to complete a PhD study into the development and survival of Helicoverpa pupae, with focus on over-wintering.

Since 1990 he has been actively involved in Helicoverpa management, with a leaning towards integated pest management. His main interest has been in biological and microbial control, with recent emphasis leading a team incorporating IPM components into area-wide management programs.
 

1994 - Dr. Robin Gunning

Robin joined NSW Agriculture as an entomologist, in mid 1978, straight from the University of NSW. Her PhD studies, involved insecticide resistance in insects. She assumed responsibility of the Australian, Helicoverpa insecticide resistance monitoring, program, which had operated from Tamworth since the early 1970’s for the Australian Cotton industry.

In late 1982, life changed irrevocably when her assistant Clive Easton and she discovered pyrethroid resistance in H. armigera. Since then, Robin has studied many aspects of insecticide resistance in Helicoverpa armigera and Helicoverpa punctigera.

While she has always been involved in resistance monitoring programs and run conventional chemistry monitoring programs for Helicoverpa and whitefly species on Cotton, her particular area of interest is the study of insecticide resistance mechanisms. Over the last 10 years or so, Robin has researched biochemical, insecticide resistance in Helicoverpa species and whiteflies. This work is very exciting and has led to rapid biochemical, resistance detection methods, which can be used in the field as resistance detection kits. A wonderful team supports Robin.
 

1993 - Peter Reid

Peter commenced work with CSIRO Narrabri in 1976 and was involved in early entomological research, which contributed to the development of the SIRATAC Cotton Management System.

In 1979 he moved to the cotton breeding program, working with Dr. Norm Thomson. Peter’s major focus was on varieties for cool growing areas and late plantings. The first release from his program was the early maturing variety, CS 6S in 1989.

However his first major varieties were the first Australian Varieties with strong resistance to Verticillium wilt, Sicala V-1 (1991) and Sicala V-2 (1994). Other major varieties developed include Sicot 189, Siokra V-15, Siokra V-16, Sicala 40 and Sicot 71. INGARD®, BOLLGARD® and Roundup Ready® versions of a number of these varieties have also been released.

Currently Peter is working to develop varieties for the main central and cooler growing areas with special emphasis on disease resistance, particularly Fusarium wilt. Another major focus is the generation of two gene BOLLGARD® varieties and varieties with herbicide tolerance.

In October 2004, Peter was presented with the prestigious CSIRO Sir Ian McLennan Achievement for Industry Award for his outstanding contribution to Australia's major cotton breeding programs. I
Peter says over the years he has had tremendous working relationships which are the keys to any success he has had. He is particularly indebted to Dr. Norm Thomson (AM), Mr. Lindsay Heal and Dr. Greg Constable.
 

1992 - Dr. Lewis Wilson

Lewis began studying marine biology, but soon discovered he was ‘nautically challenged’ (seasick!), so he swapped to entomology and after graduating worked with CSIRO Entomolgyon cattle tick control for 3 years. He joined CSIRO Plant Industry in 1985 and the next 6 to 7 years were spent in fascinating but challenging study of mites in Cotton. An understanding of mite ecology emerged with important implications for overwinter survival of mites and the role of predators in population growth.

Sampling protocols, thresholds, the evaluation of new options for control, an understanding of physiological responses of Cotton to mites and a PhD followed shortly after. Thrips turned out to be predators of mites, which lead to an investigation of their pest status. Simultaneously, the lack of information on the non-target effect of insecticide was recognised and addressed over the last 10 years.

More recently the ability of Cotton to recover from pest damage has been emphasised. Development of IPM Guidelines, aphids, Bunchy Top syndrome, predation on Helicoverpa spp. and understanding the effects of emerging pests such as jassids, mirids and late season thrips have emerged as new challenges.

1991 - Dr. Gary Fitt

Gary came into Cotton Research without a background in Agriculture. An honours project on fruit flies whilst studying in the Dept of Zoology at University of Sydney provided an opportunity to gain a position with CSIRO Entomology in 1977 and work for three years in Darwin on tropical flies. In 1983 after having completed a PhD back at Sydney University he was appointed to the CSIRO Cotton Research Unit at Narrabri. He had no background in entomology, but training in ecology and genetics and an interest to provide a solid ecological basis for management of the key pests of cotton, Helicoverpa spp.

Work at the Australian Cotton Research Institute provided plenty of stimulation, with a dedicated group of researchers seeking to address some of the difficult issues facing the Industry. Gary’s research interests in insect population dynamics and migration, and in the potential of host plant resistance as part of IPM provided plenty of challenges. In 1990 he was appointed Program Leader for CSIRO’s Cotton research program and started to mix research management with research. During this period he feels he was privileged to be closely involved in the research effort which brought genetically modified cottons to the Australian industry, bringing as they have significant research issues and opportunities. Gary was instrumental in providing the research underpinning for the pre-emptive resistance management strategies now in place for Bt cotton. In 1999 he became CEO for the Australian Cotton Co-operative Research Centre (successor to the first CRC for Sustainable Cotton Production). While his personal research involvement was reduced, Gary then had the opportunity to help guide the future for Cotton research and the wider industry.
With many challenges facing the Industry the CRC seeks to provide a balanced approach to research, education and extension, related to issues in cotton production and a broader management of the farm environment.
After 5 years as CEO and having put in place the strategic framework for the next Cotton CRC – the Cotton Catchment Communities CRC, Gary returned to CSIRO full-time in 2003 to become Strategy Director in CSIRO Entomology based in Brisbane. He is now a Board Director of the CCC CRC so maintaining contact with industry R&D issues. In February 2006 Gary also became Assistant Chief for CSIRO Entomology with a broad research management responsibility but still with a soft-spot for cotton and its research needs.

Gary’s involvement in Science and management was recognised in (2001) by his election as a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE.) and in 2002 by the award of the Mackerras Medal from the Australian Entomological Society for excellence in entomological research.
 

1990 - Dr. Stephen Allen

Dr Allen was appointed as a Plant Pathologist with NSW Agriculture at Narrabri in June 1983 to develop, implement and evaluate control strategies for diseases of Cotton. A program of regular disease surveys in commercial crops in November and March of each season was established and has been maintained for the last 19 years. The results of these surveys have indicated the changing incidence and importance of the various diseases of cotton and given direction to the pathology research program.

With the assistance and involvement of the industry, a seed scheme was developed and successfully implemented to control Bacterial Blight. The increasing use of cultivars with resistance to Verticillium Wilt and the consequent significant decline in wilt incidence was also monitored.

The increasing importance of Black Root Rot and Fusarium Wilt has been reported and appropriate Research Programs initiated. Collaborative studies with staff/or students from four Universities, CSIRO and the
Queensland DPI have included Research into various aspects of mycorrhizas, microbial damage to cotton fibre, Alternaria leaf spot, bacterial stunt and induced resistance.

In March 1999 Dr. Allen accepted the position of Senior Plant Pathologist with Cotton Seed Distributors Ltd. and was seconded to work more closely with the CSIRO Breeding Program at Narrabri. He is currently serving as Chairman of the CRC’s Fusarium Wilt Research and Extension Coordination Committee. In this role he has led the production of the ‘Integrated Disease Management Guidelines’, Farm hygiene –‘Come clean/Go clean protocols and the ‘F.rank’ and ‘V.rank’ systems for quantifying variety resistance to disease.

In recent years Dr Allen has initiated formal disease surveys throughout Queensland and undertaken an extensive trial program evaluating control strategies for Fusarium wilt and black root rot of cotton.
 

1989 - Dr. Arthur Hodgson

Arthur graduated from the University of Sydney in 1970 with B. Sc. Agr. and started Research in alternative crops in 1971 with NSW Agriculture, based in Tamworth. After completing a M.Sc Agr on Oilseed Rape, he moved to Narrabri in 1975 to undertake Research into new irrigated crops for Northwest NSW. Originally this work did not include Cotton, but with the rapid expansion of Cotton around that time, especially in the Gwydir Valley, Research on aspects of crop management of Cotton was a high priority.

In particular, Arthur initiated Research into Waterlogging of Cotton. These experiments included a definition of aeration, the yield loss from Waterlogging and why Waterlogging occurred. The Research was particularly successful in defining ways of minimising Waterlogging to Cotton through tillage, irrigation design and layout and through crop nutrition. The use of foliar nitrogen to prevent Waterlogging damage and the discovery of Waterlogging-induced iron chlorosis were pioneered by this research project. Arthur was awarded a Ph. D. by the University of New England for this research.

Arthur died of cancer in 1990 and this marked a sad loss in our Research capacity of an enthusiastic Researcher and a great mind. His contribution remains in our understanding of Waterlogging and in his support and training of a number of people still in the industry.
 

1988 - Dr. Norman Thomson (AM)

In 1988 Norm received his second ACGRA Researcher of the Year Award for successfully breeding the first commercially successful OKRA leaf Cotton which importantly also combined high yield and quality along with resistance to Bacterial Blight.

Dr. Norm Thomson is the only researcher to have been recognised twice by the ACGRA Researcher of the Year award, an outstanding achievement.

Norm retired in 1994 from full time research, becoming a CSIRO post retirement Research Fellow.
Norm was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the  Australia Day Honours, 26th January, 1989.

Norm also received the Centenary Medal on the first of January 2001. The Medal was created to honour living persons who have made a contribution to Australian society or government. This includes those Australians who have lived through our first century of federation, "Centenarians".

1987 - Dr. David McKenzie

Dr David McKenzie commenced his career as a Soil Scientist with the cotton industry in 1981 when he joined NSW Agriculture at Trangie. Originally from Orbost Victoria, David attended University of New England, Armidale, where he obtained B.Nat.Res. and M.Sc.Agric. degrees.

David’s initial cotton research project was undertaken in conjunction with Auscott Warren. It evaluated deep tillage and gypsum application on compacted and sodic grey clay. Soil compaction was a major issue for cotton irrigators in the early 1980s. Subsequent experiments were established nearby to study controlled traffic and minimum tillage on well-structured soil and to assess the impact of winter rotation crops on soil structure. Post-graduate students from UNE were closely involved with this work, and with a series of experiments on hardsetting red soil.

David was a co-founder of the SOILpak concept. As part of his PhD studies at the University of Sydney, he developed improved methods for assessing soil structure in the field. He produced ‘SOILpak for Cotton Growers, Third Edition’, and has presented a series of soil management training courses for cotton advisors.

David is now a Soil Science Consultant based in Orange.
 

1986 - Dr. Neil Forrester

Neil Forrester graduated from Sydney University in 1971 as B.Sc. Agr. (Hons), specialising in Agricultural Entomology.

He spent 3 years working as a Government entomologist in Darwin in the Northern Territory (1972-74). Post Cyclone Tracey, he was seconded to Queensland Department of Primary Industries in Toowoomba for 6 months, after which he spent 7 ½ years (1975-82) as a field crop entomologist with NSW Agriculture stationed at Tamworth, working on all field crops other than Cotton.

In November 1982 Neil transferred to Narrabri, as Cotton Entomologist for NSW Agriculture. He worked principally on resistance management of conventional synthetic insecticides and Bt transgenic cottons.

1992 Neil obtained a PhD from the University of Queensland.

After 23 ½ years service he left NSW Agriculture to join Deltapine International as Vice President Entomology, based in Memphis, Tennessee.

Neil was selected in October 1999 for a 3-year term to the Board of the Cotton Research and Development Corporation and completed 2 terms in 2005.
 

1985 - Ken Brook

Ken Brook joined the CSIRO Cotton Research Unit in September 1980. Over a decade, Ken, with Brian Hearn and man y others, was involved in the development, programming, and Operations Management of SIRATAC online Pest Management System. He was instrumental in the development of the 1980s computing infrastructure at Myall vale, progressing the Research Station through four series of DEC minicomputer systems, dial-up telecommunications systems, and 12 on-line automatic Meteorological Stations sited from Emerald to the Macquarie

Ken conducted a number of large scale 100 ha Pest management trails investigating the effects of various levels of insect attack on the Cotton crop, and various detailed small-plot disbudding experiments. This work, published with Brian Hearn, indicated that yield compensation for the crop damage at 1980 five bale per hectare yield levels was quite possible; but did not make up for damage at the typical higher 10-bale/ yield level of the late 1980s. More complex Plant Damage Research is currently being undertaken by CSIRO Researchers, SITATAC has now evolved into Cotton LOGIC decision software

Although ken has left the Cotton Industry he still has contact with Cotton Researcher through DNR’s National Agro-Meteorological database system, SILO.
 

1984 - Dr. Greg Constable

Greg graduated from the University of Sydney in 1969 with B. Sc. Agr. and started Research in the Cotton Industry in 1970 with NSW Agriculture, based in Tamworth. At that time the so-called Narrabri Agricultural Research Station was relatively small and was being considered as a sub-station for Tamworth. With the creation of CSIROs Cotton Research Unit in 1972, NSW Agriculture Cotton Research Staff were also moved to Narrabri.

From 1970 to 1977 Greg completed a number of research projects on agronomic management of Cotton and Soybeans. These experiments include a four year study of plant density and ultra narrow row Cotton, the subject of his M. Sc. Agr. thesis in 1975. From 1978 to 1981, he completed a Ph.D. with the Australian National University in Canberra. From 1981 to 1991 his research on Cotton agronomy and management systems resumed with major studies on crop nutrition, irrigation systems and crop rotation.

In 1991 Greg joined the CSIRO Cotton Breeding program at Narrabri. He currently leads the CSIRO Cotton Research Unit Narrabri and Cotton Breeding team. He was Director of the CRC for Sustainable Cotton Production from 1993 to 1999. His current Research interests include variety development for special regions, host plant resistance and fibre quality.

1983 - Dr. Brian Hearn

Brian’s working life has revolved a passionate love affair with Cotton. It started 44 years ago in Malawi where his very first assignment as a newly appointed Agronomist was to tale a visiting cotton Specialist to inspect the crop. Before ever they reached it the specialist stopped him at a Boab tree to look at Cotton Stainers. He had met the pests before he had met the crop!

Brian’s most informative years were in the Yemen where the crop is grown entirely on the water stored from single pre-irrigation, which provided him with unique insight into the crop’s water relations. Here he also gained experience in Cotton breeding and selected K4, the Barbadense variety and introduced Acala types.
Interludes in Uganda, with experience in fibre quality, and the Ord, where Heliothis said “Boo”and everyone ran away in an act of professional cowardice, led eventually to Narrabri, where he has been occupied for 25 years with management of irrigation, nitrogen and pests. Here he led the team that developed SIRATAC.

Finally, he consummated his love affair with the crop by building the OZCOT computer model, incorporating the insight into the crop and response to management and to the environment that he has gained over the years.

OZCOT tries to answer two life-long professional challenges ‘How does Cotton Grow?’ and How to grow Cotton.

1982 - Peter Twine

In January 1970 Peter commenced work as an Entomologist with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries in Toowoomba. His principle interest was the economic significance of Heliothis on the Darling Downs and the Lockyer Valley, a task they was to quickly lead to close association with the Cotton Industry. This move was hastened with the development of DDT resistance in H.armigera and resulting problems in most field crops in Southeast Queensland.

During the early 1970s his work focused on aspects of the biology and ecology of Heliothis including work on Trichogramma pretiosum from California. Although never commercial reality at that time, the parasitism levels achieved by the wasps under heavy egg lays led him to believe in its future as part of an IPM program.

The introduction of Pyrethoids soon changed any interest by the Industry in biological control. However, efforts in the development of SIRATAC quickly focused the Industry’s attention on the significance of IPM. Together with Richard Lloyd, he was involved in the evaluation of the program in Queensland.

A major aspect of his work also involved the development and introduction of the Pyrethroid strategy in the late 1980s in cotton and all other Cropping systems of Queensland.

In 1991 he transferred to the Bureau of Sugar Experiment Stations.
 

1981 - Dr. Norman Thomson (AM)

Dr Thomson’s career as a cotton researcher began in 1958 at the Kimberley Research Station, (KRS) on the Ord River in the far North of Western Australia. KRS was established after the Second World War to investigate the agronomy and commercial possibilities of irrigated crops, in the well – watered but scantily populated Northern Australia. With no established industry serving as a basic background, his research was at first of pioneering nature involving time of sowing, variety, fertiliser requirements etc. Research at KRS formed the basis for subsequent successful research structure in CSIRO and new variety development.

Norm studied cotton breeding in the USA for a year. On his return he started a program at KRS to develop locally adapted cottons. Due to uncontrolled pest damage, cotton growing ceased in the Ord.

In 1972, as leader of the new CSIRO Cotton Research Unit based at Narrabri, he began a new program to breed cottons for eastern Australia. The first variety released from this program (Sicot 3) featured two insect-resistant characters-glabrous leaf and Frego bract, as well as high-yield.

In 1981 in recognition of this success in breeding and research leadership, Norm was the inaugural ACGRA Researcher of the Year. In 1988 Norm received his second ACGRA Researcher of the Year Award for successfully breeding the first commercially successful okra leaf cotton (Siokra 1-1) which combined high yield and fibre quality along with resistance to Bacterial Blight.

Norm retired in 1994 from full time research, becoming a CSIRO post retirement Research Fellow for a number of years.