from Cotton Communications Pty. Ltd.
Staff writer: Donald Turner

Australian cotton growers are confident their concerns about the suitability of Bollgard II varieties, fibre quality and management will be reflected in the introductory price, soon to be announced by Monsanto Australia.

Monsanto delayed the price announcement after meeting members of the Australian Cotton Industry Council Pesticides and Biotechnology Committee on April 16.

Monsanto executives could not be reached for comment at time of publishing, but it is understood growers at the meeting were informed of the proposed price, subject to commercial in-confidence.

The company had planned to announce the price early in May.

Pesticides and Biotechnology committee chairman Bruce Finney says the meeting was productive and was conducted in a spirit of conciliation.

Monsanto also agreed in principle to review the transition process from Ingard to Bollgard next year.

"Monsanto agreed to consider not only the latest information on resistance but also the availability of varieties, agronomic performance, including Fusarium wilt tolerance, and fibre quality in reaching its decision," Mr Finney says.

"The phase out of Ingard is Monsanto's commercial decision, as is the price of Bollgard II."

Mr Finney says the grower representation group's goal is to influence these decisions

through the consideration of the full range of benefits, additional costs and risks.

Monsanto cotton business manager Roger Boyce told Cottonworld recently that Monsanto has been encouraged by early indications of the efficacy of the two different insect-control genes in Bollgard II, with reports now common of crops requiring no sprays for heliothis.

"We see Bollgard II as an opportunity to remove variables in production brought about by heliothis, so growers can focus more on crop management," he said.

One such challenge is management of higher early fruit loads in hotter areas, compared with conventional cotton in which tipping out helps to manage fruit load.

But Dr Greg Constable, Program Leader, CSIRO Cotton Research Unit, says neither variety nor Ingard can be solely blamed for high micronaire in the past two seasons.

Trends with micronaire in the past 18 years for old control varieties DP16 and Namcala show that climate and management have had a strong influence on high micronaire in the past two seasons.