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Cotton growers continue to face increasing pressure to manage resources more cost effectively and to be more accountable for the impact their decisions have on the surrounding environment.  In addition to this there are significant changes in technology such as new transgenics (Bollgard II and Roundup Flex) and an increasing need to improve fibre quality and water use efficiency.   There was a dedicated commitment by research organisations in the industry (CSIRO, CRDC and Cotton CRC) to develop tools and techniques for decision making from the best information available from research to help all sectors of the industry to meet crop production, social and environmental imperatives.  The cotton management support systems team in Narrabri, in consultation with Telstra, sought to indentify and develop decision support tools utilising wireless broadband and handheld technologies.  Telstra provided 6 JasJam portable handheld devices and 1 notebook modem with broadband capabilities for testing and development purposes. 

To undertake this project’s activities we took the opportunity to attract young IT students to Narrabri and expose them to opportunities in IT that were available beyond capital cities.  During the course of the project we employed Aman Dayal (Sydney University of Technology) and Geremy Farr-Wharton (Griffith University). To meet the aims and objectives of the project the following activities were conducted:

• A scoping document outlining current and future opportunities in industry data collection and decision support utilising wireless broadband internet access was completed.  The document also detailed: the extent of broadband coverage in cotton growing regions; the costs associated with use; and the hardware requirements.
• A scoping document investigating the use of handheld and voice recognition for field data collection was completed.
• Production of document that outlines the development requirements for information and web tools delivered on internet enabled phones and handheld devices.
• Produced a report that assesses the use of the handheld devices and broadband wireless network access in the cotton industry.
• Developed new handheld enabled web tools for assisting with: information dissemination; data collection; and analysis.

Both students completed the requirements of their industrial training at Narrabri and provided various detailed reports for this project (their reports are available on request from the CRC).   Information generated from this project has provided crucial insights for current and future direction of web and handheld extension tools being developed by CSIRO and the Cotton CRC.