| The cotton management
support systems team at the CSIRO Cotton Research Unit, Cotton CRC Narrabri,
has been actively developing tools to deliver the latest research and
provide information for complex management decisions.
Some big decisions are presently being made about the future of cotton
decision support, and this article aims to bring you up to speed on
some of the current and potential developments.
CottonLOGIC on Palm
Using ‘cutting-edge’ technology, the team has developed
a handheld version of CottonLOGIC that will run on the Palm operating
system. Released in August 2002, the system has been designed for in-field
electronic insect data collection and decision-making. Incorporating
models of pest development, this system has been recognised as a world
first for handheld applications of this nature.
HydroLOGIC
With water availability and water use efficiency an ongoing issue for
the Australian cotton industry, the team has re-developed a prototype
version of HydroLOGIC, an irrigation scheduling and management tool.
Industry development officers, water use efficiency officers, a handful
of growers and some consultants now have a copy of HydroLOGIC and are
test-driving it before the first version is formally released later
this year.
Improved web site
The continued popularity of the internet to access information has stimulated
the re-development of a functional and visually improved Cotton CRC
website. The site is much easier to navigate, has an improved Day Degree
calculator, and includes a weed identification and information guide,
just to name a few features.
User-friendly Ozcot
Ozcot is a computer simulation model pivotal to providing information
for changes in farming systems, crop compensation and fibre quality
research — and is currently the core of HydroLOGIC. The team has
recently re-developed a user friendly Ozcot not only for research purposes
but as a tool that can be used across the industry. Ozcot has been delivered
to industry development officers who are now trained in its use and
application.
Future plans
The number of registered CottonLOGIC users has steadily increased from
200 in 1995 to over 1100 presently. A recent survey (August 2002) showed
that CottonLOGIC had been used across 51 per cent (207,000 hectares)
of the total area of cotton grown in Australia in the 2001–02
cotton season. Given the current substantial use of the software, it
is vitally important to make careful plans for the future development
of CottonLOGIC.
We aim to maintain and develop decision support software to ensure that
it remains useful, up-to-date and compatible with the latest computer
systems. The main CottonLOGIC software and its structure is considerably
dated (nearly 10 years old) and the team has a challenge to ensure it
will run with future operating systems.
Major revisions to CottonLOGIC are required in the short term to modernise
the software, although resources to undertake the task of re-development
are limited, especially given the reduced area of cotton during the
drought.
But CSIRO is investing significant resources into future decision support
tools and planning for the long term sustainability of their products.
One direction that has already been taken is the preservation of some
key tools that were once provided in the CottonLOGIC software.
These developments include a streamlined version of NutriLOGIC (nitrogen
management software), and an ‘easy to use’ electronic pest
and beneficial guide which is much more comprehensive than CottonLOGIC’s
insect pictures — both delivered on the internet. Also in development
is a new tool to support Bollgard II management, known as the Early
Season Diagnosis (ESD). ESD graphically compares cotton fruiting branch
numbers with the optimum rate of development to assist with agronomic
management. An example output from ESD is shown in Figure 1.
The team aims to maintain strong links with research and industry and
is working on new initiatives to enhance new and existing research material
— for example, assisting with upgrading the IPM Guidelines. Linking
the CottonLOGIC software with other commercial software packages that
focus on farm record keeping is also one possible solution that is currently
being explored to allow us to maintain focus on developing decision
support from cotton research.
Making decisions about the future of CottonLOGIC has not been easy and
requires considerable feedback from industry in order to arrive at the
best solutions. Currently, an independent consultant (Peter Van Beek),
is evaluating the industry’s perceptions regarding the directions
and decisions that the Cotton Management Support Systems team is facing.
This information, along with a number of other mechanisms to gain feedback,
will assist the team in developing tools that are not only useful but
sustainable for the future.
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