Output Group 3—New Products
The New Products output group comprises New Grain Products and New Farm Products and Services. The two investment areas target opportunities both pre-farm gate and post-farm gate, by investing in research, development and commercialisation to provide growers with additional options in farm management and marketing.
To achieve its objective, the output group actively identifies national and international technology relevant to the Australian grains industry; builds partnerships to develop products and services and deliver them to growers; undertakes product development to meet market requirements; and develops robust business cases that demonstrate the market demand for and value of any product or service that the GRDC and its partners propose to invest in.
Table 16 summarises the achievements of the New Products output group against its performance measures for 2010–11 and its objectives and strategies for 2007–12. The following sections describe some of the results of the output group’s investments during the year.
New grain products
The New Grain Products portfolio identifies and develops opportunities for the use of grain for a range of markets, including human food products, animal feed products and industrial markets. Maintaining product integrity through improved grain hygiene is also a key theme for this portfolio.
Food products
GRDC investments in new grain food products focus on the development and commercialisation of novel grains with additional health benefits for easy incorporation into grain-based foods.
Highlights from the portfolio in 2010–11 include:
- Potential commercialisation partners showed sufficient interest in high-amylose wheat material to warrant field trials of the best high-amylose wheat lines at sites in North America. The field trials will generate data that will be useful in developing a data package to support deregulation should a decision to go to market in North America and Australia be made.
- The ultra-low gluten barley project reached a milestone in product development with the generation of a line in which no gluten can be detected (using current detection methods). The project also reached a significant step towards commercialisation with the submission of a business and marketing plan for a commercial product from an interested commercial partner.
- The GRDC, along with technology co-owner CSIRO, entered an alliance with Nuseed to use gene technology to develop and commercialise a canola plant that provides a sustainable alternative to the current marine sources of omega-3 oil. The new canola variety is targeted to be commercially available by 2016. The initial market for the oil will be in the aquaculture industry, where the oil may replace fishmeal, particularly for farmed salmon. Use in human food supplements is also an intended market for the oil.
Feed products
Interest in using near-infrared (NIR) calibrations grew, across the livestock feed manufacturing sector. The GRDC has licensed the commercial development of the NIR calibrations to the Pork CRC Ltd. In 2010–11, 17 licence holders, four commercial milling groups, six laboratories and five plant-breeding companies used the technology. A major feed manufacturer has taken the next step in implementing the calibrations by fitting them on the feed mill processing line to measure nutritive value in real time.
Sophisticated electronics and guidance systems dominate modern tractor cabs, but component complexity may be discouraging a lot of growers from adopting some of the related PA systems. Photo: Brad Collis
Industrial uses
The GRDC seeks to identify opportunities for the use of Australian grains for both existing and innovative industrial purposes.
The Crop Biofactories Initiative is a joint investment between the GRDC and CSIRO that aims to engineer safflower seeds with fatty acid compositions that match specific industrial applications, to replace products that are currently manufactured from petrochemical feed stocks. In 2010–11, the initiative made significant progress toward each of the three target oils in safflower. The initiative continues to engage with potential commercialisation partners to share positive results.
To assist with the commercialisation of a new industrial safflower variety, the GRDC accessed improved safflower germplasm from international safflower gene banks, and will multiply the lines during 2011 to generate seed for field evaluation in 2012. These lines may yield germplasm that is better suited to the Australian production environment and may fill the gap in available safflower varieties for growers.
A project with the University of Sydney is assessing the conditions required for, and chemical products that result from, the use of hot-compressed water technology to process cereal crop residues such as wheat and barley straws. The project has shown that a number of high-value chemicals can be made from cereal straws. The next step for the project is to determine the economic feasibility of using this processing technology to process cereal straws.
New farm products and services
The new farm products and services portfolio focuses on inputs for the grains industry that improve productivity and profitability. Those with the greatest potential to deliver benefits to the grains industry are subjected to careful market evaluation, and a business case is developed to justify each potential investment.
The three prototypes of the Harrington Weed Seed Destructor on the Harringtons’ farm at Wagin,WA, during harvest 2010. Photo: Nicole Baxter
Highlights from the portfolio in 2010–11 include:
- A third prototype of the Harrington Weed Seed Destructor was produced by CGS Engineering in Western Australia and tested successfully in the field. Enhancements included improvements to the chaff transfer system and a reduction in the overall weight of the machine by around 1,000 kilograms. An expression of interest process was launched to find a commercial partner.
- A scoping study to test the choice analysis theory on Australian wheat markets was undertaken. Key export partners submitted responses to a questionnaire designed to determine the relative value of specific grain quality and functional traits. A larger project will be contracted in 2011–12.
- Several PhD scholarships were awarded, in areas including entomology, plant pathology and agricultural engineering. These strategic placements are the start of a concerted attempt to ensure that core capacity in important research areas is maintained into the next generation and that senior researchers are involved in mentoring new students.
- Formulation and field trials for projects investigating snail biocontrol and Metarhizium biopesticide were begun in 2010–11.
Case Study
Extracting effective, affordable fertiliser from waste
Steadily increasing fertiliser prices—reflected in a 60 percent increase in the fertiliser price index since 2005—have placed significant cost pressures on Australian grain growers. It is likely that prices will continue to steeply increase, as global supplies of phosphorus, potassium and oil are diminished and suppliers find it increasingly difficult to satisfy the demand for fertilisers derived from those commodities for food production. This provides a strong incentive for the grains industry to investigate alternative nutrient sources.
The GRDC has invested in a project to locate nutrient resources (including manures) and assess their potential for processing into high-value fertiliser products ideally suited for agricultural usage. The project has focused on the use of new technologies and techniques to extract key nutrients from readily available waste streams.
Large quantities of biosolids and manures are produced in Australia. Although their use as a fertiliser substitute is common, because nutrients are present in relatively low concentrations the value of the raw materials as fertilisers is typically very low. Combined with factors such as limited availability of nutrients to plants, nutrient losses through volatilisation, high transport costs and difficulties with spreading the raw materials, this often renders the products economically unviable.
However, with assistance from emerging technologies, there is potential to concentrate the nutrients in these waste streams to produce high-value, easy-to-use products.
The first stage of the project, the identification of potential nutrient resources, was completed in 2010. The results indicate that almost 30 percent of Australia’s annual agricultural requirement for phosphorus could be extracted from waste streams, and that there is a supply of potassium in excess of current needs. The full report on the location, volume and analysis of waste streams will be made available on the GRDC website in late 2011.
In the second stage of the project, completed in late 2010, the nutrient resources were assessed for their potential to provide economically feasible fertiliser and energy products using newly developed processing techniques. Case studies were developed for the most ideally suited resources, to fully examine the investment potential.
In 2011–12, the GRDC plans to invest in several pilot plants for generating fertiliser from waste. The expectation is that industry will be an active partner in this process, guiding the types and quality of products to be produced to optimise the benefits for grain growers.
Nitrogen and phosphorus based fertilisers make up the largest part of most growers’ input costs. Photo: Kellie Penfold
Case Study
Supplying a fish-free alternative for long-chain omega-3
An Australian research alliance is leading the international race to break the world’s reliance on fish stocks for its supply of the vital dietary nutrient long-chain omega-3.
DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) and EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid) long-chain omega-3 fatty acids have well-documented roles in heart and brain health, child and infant development, reducing inflammation and other health functions. Fish are the primary source of these fatty acids.
Over the past decade, as awareness of their health benefits has increased, the inclusion of long-chain omega-3 extracts in diets—as supplements or in processed foods—has grown exponentially. The rate of growth in consumer demand can no longer be sustainably supplied from wild fish stocks, so the race is on to find potential new sources which can sustainably satisfy the demand.
The GRDC, CSIRO and Nuseed have joined together to bring pioneering Australian grains research into the race, through the Long-chain Omega-3 Canola Oil Research Collaboration, announced in April 2011.
The three parties have signed two major agreements to develop and market plant-made, DHA-rich long-chain omega-3 oils, using world-leading biotechnology. The first agreement is a collaborative research project to achieve a series of development milestones and complete a broad range of studies. The second agreement is a global exclusive commercial license to Nuseed for existing and co‑developed long-chain omega-3 intellectual property.
The new collaboration aims to have crop trials completed by 2014 and seed for the new canola commercially available in 2016.
This exciting Australian collaborative project takes a whole-of-chain approach, combining scientific, research and agricultural expertise with commercial support. The GRDC is pleased to play an important role in a project that will present growers with an exciting varietal opportunity in both domestic and international grain markets.
Tissue-cultured canola plants’ including omega-3 gene stacks. Photo: CSIRO
Output Group 3—New Products |
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Objective |
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Deliver new products and services (both on farm and off farm) that will assist growers to effectively compete in global grain markets |
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Strategies |
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Identify national and international technology relevant to the grains industry |
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Investment budget for 2010–11 |
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$14.90 million |
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Performance for 2010–11 |
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Performance indicators |
Targets |
Achievements |
| Identify national and international technology relevant to the grains industry | ||
Identify six new technologies and at least one new international supplier, including unsolicited offers |
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Move to pilot plant in 2011–12 based on the results of 2011 report and further design planning. |
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Completion of the scoping and presentation of the results to GRDC panels. |
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Launch of expression of interest. |
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New project contracted to examine the potential of modified grain protectant powders. |
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Planning sessions held in 2011 for work to commence in 2011–12. |
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Presentation to GRDC panels of a business case for a potential project based on gaining a better understanding of wheat use in Indonesia. |
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Determination of processing conditions for a number of cereal straws to generate high-value chemicals. |
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Completion of an initial survey of meal proteins from common canola varieties and development of methods for extracting proteins. |
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| Develop partnerships to deliver new technology | ||
Existing and new partnerships to deliver technology to growers |
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Contracting of an instrumentation development project based on the MEMS-IR technology along with investigation into the wider potential of the device. Commercial test for variety identification to be launched in 2012 based on work to date. Contracting of commercial groups to produce formulated product for the phased integration of the snail biocontrol product into farming systems. Continued engagement with potential commercial partners for outputs from the Crop Biofactories Initiative. Continued engagement by Arista Cereal Technologies with commercial partners for high-amylose wheat. A business evaluation agreement executed with a commercial partner for ultra-low gluten barley. A research collaboration agreement and commercial licence agreement executed with CSIRO and Nuseed to develop omega-3 canola. |
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Licensing contracting begun with a commercial partner. |
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Commercialisation plan completed and expression of interest launched. |
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| Undertake product development to meet market requirements | ||
New products identified and market assessments undertaken and new products tested under market conditions |
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Commencement of discussions with commercial companies. |
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Commencement of field trials of a commercially formulated product. |
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Termination of the program because the baits were not successful. |
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Business case presented by a commercial partner and further product development work to be undertaken. |
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| Build robust business cases that demonstrate stakeholder return on investment | ||
Development of robust business cases to justify GRDC investment and to attract co-investment |
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Commercialisation plan written with independent expertise. |
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Re-contracting of project and first milestones completed. |
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Fungal endophyte growing among cells of a cereal grain, viewed at 400 x magnification. Photo: David Hume
What’s in the RD&E pipeline for 2011–12?
- Development of a viral-based insecticide for the control of diamondback moth in canola.
- Research into biopesticidal options for the alleviation of crown rot in cereals.
- Evaluation of potential biological options for the control of pathogenic nematodes in cereals.
- The design and construction of a pilot plant for the conversion of liquid waste streams into economically viable fertiliser.
- A choice analysis approach to define end user needs for wheat functionality.
- Extension of variety identification technology into wheat.
- Evaluation of potential commercial opportunities for wheat with high lutein content.