Integrated farming practices and technologies

Integrated management of weeds, diseases and pests

Herbicide resistance management

• Work to establish an Australian national blackleg resistance rating system for canola breeding material and commercial varieties.
• Work to develop a blackleg disease resistance management initiative for canola, with strategies to reduce yield loss based on cultivars with a greater durability of resistance against the blackleg fungus.
• Support for a large number of integrated pest management, disease management and weed management (including herbicide resistance management) projects.
• Work on identifying diseases through molecular diagnostics.
• The registration of minor-use chemicals for the grains industry.
• Work to better manage rust by using fungicide strategically and understanding adult plant resistance.
• Applied research on necrotrophic fungal pathogens.

Biotechnology for improving genetic gain

Superior new varieties

• Germplasm enhancement projects to:
  • improve genetic resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus, crown rot and yellow spot in wheat
  • improve frost tolerance in wheat and barley
  • develop high salinity tolerance in winter cereals
  • identify the genetic and phenological basis of head loss in malting barley.
• Specific breeding projects to:
  • develop wheat varieties that have substantially higher yields and are better adapted to Australia’s harsh environments than existing commercial varieties
  • develop and commercialise high-amylose wheat suitable for growing in Australia and the United States
  • increase the yield and improve the reliability of durum grain production
  • develop pulses with better adaptation to water-limited environments
  • develop herbicide-tolerant pulses.

Responses to climate change

Improved water-use efficiency

• The identification of genes that enable crops to tolerate heat, frost and drought, and breeding to increase the rate of adaptation of crops to climate change.
• The extension of the Managing Climate Variability program, to improve multiweek forecasting, seasonal forecasting and tools for forecasting, and to establish the Climate Champions program.
• The adoption of a climate change communication strategy to ensure that knowledge, information and technology generated through research is provided to growers in preparation for the likely impacts of climate change.
• Crop breeding for improved water-use efficiency.

Sustainability and resource management

Soil health and biology

• Work to improve
  • soil quality, through greater use of pulses and pastures in the farming system
  • water infiltration, through better understanding of non-wetting soils
  • nitrogen-use efficiency, through better understanding of ammonia loss from surface-applied nitrogen fertiliser.
• Work to establish a national quality assurance system to improve industry confidence in microbial products, such as soil inoculants, and thereby promote their use in agriculture.

• Feasibility studies looking into new ways to produce fertiliser that are cheaper and more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable than current fertiliser products.
• Work to develop a probe for rapid on-farm soil testing, to enable the cost-effective, real-time collection of moisture and nutrient data.
• A project exploring a range of new technologies, for on-farm and commercial use, for their potential to control or eradicate insect pests of stored grain.

Improving skills, training and education in agriculture

Farm business management

• Work to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between grower groups.
• Workshops on particular topics such as precision agriculture, irrigation in grains and wide row spacing/stubble management.
• Vavilov–Frankel Fellowships to support researchers from developing countries to conserve and use plant genetic resources.
• Sponsorships of events such as the National Youth Science Forum and grower representative organisation conferences.
• Examination of the potential to expand training opportunities to engage a wider selection of Indigenous people in the Australian grains industry.
• Support to assist individuals or small groups to improve their level of understanding of particular issues by attending a conference or travelling to acquire knowledge to benefit the Australian grains industry.
• National Partners in Grain, which delivers training and mentoring programs to develop leadership and business skills in women and young people in the Australian grains industry.

A1:    Water—a critical resource
A2:    Transforming existing
          industries
A3:    Overcoming soil loss,
          salinity and acidity
A4:    Reducing and capturing
          emissions in transport
          and energy generation
A5:    Sustainable use of
          Australia’s biodiversity
A6:    Developing deep earth
          resources
A7:    Responding to climate
          change and variability

B1:    A healthy start to life
B2:    Ageing well, ageing
         productively
B3:    Preventive healthcare
B4:    Strengthening Australia's
         social and economic fabric

C1:    Breakthrough science
C2:    Frontier technologies
C3:    Advanced materials
C4:    Smart information use
C5:    Promoting an innovation
          culture and economy

D1:    Critical infrastructure
D2:    Understanding our region
          and the world
D3:    Protecting Australia from
          invasive diseases and
          pests
D4:    Protecting Australia from
          terrorism and crime
D5:    Transformational defence
          technologies

To generate new knowledge, which will lead to improved technology that will be adopted by producers to increase productivity

Through work to combat pests and diseases that can potentially be obstructive to trade and to guide production decisions in accordance with the requirements of consumers

Investment in research and development must extend beyond the farm gate to ensure the whole value chain is able to operate at optimum levels

To build and share our knowledge to ensure our soils, water and vegetation are managed properly and invasive pests are controlled

To reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve soil management, and assist producers to adapt and change farming practices whilst boosting productivity

Maintain our research capability to prevent and deal with disease outbreaks, particularly as such biosecurity threats are expected to become more prevalent with climate change

RDCs should be taking a stronger role in educating future scientists, improving the knowledge and skills of producers and encouraging people to work in the sector

RDCs should take a greater role in building strong leadership capacity in the sector and encourage a diversity of people in primary industries, including a greater role for Indigenous Australians, women and young people

The national Primary Industries Research, Development and Extension Framework has progressed well to date, but it is important to maintain the momentum in 2010, to finalise the sector plans, develop the cross-sectoral plans and work through implementation

RDCs should support the current joint RDC evaluation process, to demonstrate returns on investment and guide future investment decisions

RRDP: Productivity and adding value

• Projects focused on achieving quantifiable and measurable change through crop sequencing to manage water and nutrient cycles and break disease and weed cycles.
• Management and breeding to achieve yield levels and stability and grain quality objectives for wheat, canola and barley in the high-rainfall zones, under current climate conditions and future climate scenarios.
• Projects to:
  • increase the yield and improve the reliability of durum grain production
  • increase the profitability of cropping systems in Western Australia, using lupins, oats, oilseeds and pulses
  • develop wheat varieties that have substantially higher yields and are better adapted to Australia’s harsh environments than existing commercial varieties.

NRP: Promoting and maintaining good health

RRDP: Supply chain and markets

MRDP: Maintaining and improving international market access opportunities

• Market research to determine consumer attitudes, perceptions and dietary practices in relation to cereals, wholegrain foods and other products that contain wheat.
• Work to improve food quality and end-use market acceptance of Australian pulses.
• Collaborative research to develop and commercialise high-amylose wheat suitable for growing in Australia and the United States.

NRP: An environmentally sustainable Australia

RRDP: Natural resource management

• Crop breeding for improved water-use efficiency.
• Work to improve:
  • soil quality, through greater use of pulses and pastures in the farming system
  • water infiltration, through better understanding of non-wetting soils
  • nitrogen-use efficiency, through better understanding of ammonia loss from surface-applied nitrogen fertiliser.

NRP: An environmentally sustainable Australia

RRDP: Climate variability and climate change

• The identification of genes that enable crops to tolerate heat, frost and drought, and breeding to increase the rate of adaption of crops to climate change.
• The extension of the Managing Climate Variability program, to improve multiweek forecasting, seasonal forecasting and tools for forecasting, and to establish the Climate Champions program.
• The adoption of a climate change communication strategy to ensure that knowledge, information and technology generated through research is provided to growers in preparation for the likely impacts of climate change.

NRP: Safeguarding Australia

RRDP: Biosecurity

• A pre-breeding project to incorporate better genetic resistance to wheat streak mosaic virus into elite Australian wheat germplasm.
• Work to establish an Australian national blackleg resistance rating system for canola breeding material and commercial varieties.
• Work to develop a blackleg disease resistance management initiative for canola, with strategies to reduce yield loss, based on cultivars with a greater durability of resistance against the blackleg fungus.
• Support for a large number of integrated pest management, disease management and weed management (including herbicide resistance management) projects.
• Work on identifying diseases through molecular diagnostics.
• The registration of minor-use chemicals for the grains industry.
• Work to better manage rust by using fungicide strategically and understanding adult plant resistance.
• Applied research on necrotrophic fungal pathogens.

NRP: Frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian industries

RRDP: Innovation skills

MRDP: Workforce, skills, education

Diversity

• Work to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between grower groups.
• Workshops on particular topics such as precision agriculture, irrigation, and wide row spacing/stubble management.
• Vavilov–Frankel Fellowships, to support researchers from developing countries to conserve and use plant genetic resources.
• Sponsorships of events such as the National Youth Science Forum and grower representative organisation conferences.
• Examination of the potential to expand training opportunities to engage a wider selection of Indigenous people in the Australian grains industry.
• Support to assist individuals or small groups to improve their understanding of particular issues by attending a conference or travelling to acquire knowledge to benefit the Australian grains industry.
• National Partners in Grain, which delivers training and mentoring programs to develop leadership and business skills in women and young people in the Australian grains industry.

NRP: Frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian Industries

• Work to develop a probe for rapid on-farm soil testing, to enable the cost-effective, real-time collection of moisture and nutrient data.
• Feasibility studies looking into ways to produce fertilisers that are cheaper and more energy efficient and environmentally sustainable than current fertiliser products.
• Work to establish a national quality assurance system to improve industry confidence in microbial products, such as soil inoculants, and thereby promote their use in agriculture.
• A project exploring a range of new technologies, for on-farm and commercial use, for their potential to control or eradicate insect pests of stored grain.
• Pursuit of new technologies to significantly increase the yield of wheat.

MRDP: Collaboration

• Membership of the committee developing the Primary Industries Ministerial Council’s National Primary Industries RD&E Framework.
• A significant contribution to formulating the national strategy for the grains sector, including the provision of data about regional RD&E capacity and strategic needs by the GRDC regional panels.
• Planned significant investment to implement the national RD&E framework.

MRDP: Evaluation

• Evaluation (undertaken as a joint process with the other RDCs) of the longer term economic, social and environmental impacts of RD&E investments, including wheat breeding, crop agronomy, near-infrared calibration and a cluster from each of the GRDC’s New Products and Communications & Capacity Building output groups.
• Impact assessments of project clusters.
• Assessment of the feasibility of a predictive tool to estimate the impact that investing in certain priorities will have on grains industry productivity.
• Assessment of GRDC performance through stakeholder surveys.