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About the GRDC
The Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) was founded in 1990 under the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989 (PIERD Act).
The corporation has two key customer groups: Australian grain growers and the Australian Government. Its role is to invest in R&D and related activities to benefit grain growers, other grains industry participants and the wider community. In doing so, the GRDC invests in research where obstacles to industry's progress exist and where R&D may be effective in overcoming such obstacles.
This includes:
- investigating and evaluating the requirements for R&D in the grains industry
- coordinating or funding R&D activities
- facilitating the dissemination, adoption and commercialisation of the results of R&D.
The GRDC determines its priorities in consultation with industry, government and research partners, and acts in partnership with public and private researchers, other R&D funding organisations, agribusiness and grower groups.
The GRDC is funded jointly by a levy collected from grain growers based on the value of grain they produce, and contributions from the Australian Government. The industry levy is collected on 25 crops, spanning temperate and tropical cereals, oilseeds and pulses.1
The GRDC's organisational structure and objectives recognise the complexities of the grains industry and its investment needs. Planning, delivering and communicating R&D outputs occurs in an environment that embraces governments, industry groups, research partners, other R&D investors and those operating in the industry itself-particularly Australian grain growers.
Organisational outcome
In a dynamic environment, the GRDC addresses R&D priorities to meet national, regional, commodity and multicommodity challenges, in order to achieve the following overall outcome:
Through its commitment to innovation, an Australian grains industry that is profitable and environmentally sustainable for the benefit of the industry and wider community.
The outcome reflects the corporate vision in Driving Innovation: the GRDC Five Year Research and Development Plan 2002-07, and is consistent with the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry's portfolio goal of achieving more sustainable, competitive and profitable Australian agricultural, fisheries, food and forestry industries.
1. Leviable crops are: wheat; coarse grains-barley, oats, sorghum, maize, triticale, millets/panicums, cereal rye and canary seed; pulses-lupins, field peas, chickpeas, faba beans, vetch, peanuts, mung beans, navy beans, pigeon peas, cowpeas and lentils; and oilseeds-canola, sunflower, soybean, safflower and linseed. The levy for all crops is 0.99 percent of the net farm gate value of grain produced, except for maize, which is levied at 0.693 percent of net farm gate value.
Structure
The organisational structure of GRDC is shown in Figure 7.
Figure 7 GRDC structure, 2006-07
Note: For the purposes of reporting against the GRDC Annual Operational Plan 2006-07 and the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Portfolio Budget Statements 2006-07, each of the four lines of business represents an output group.
Board and Executive Management Team
As described in more detail in Part 3, a board of directors governs the GRDC, while a team of executive managers based in Canberra leads the corporation's business activities.
The GRDC Executive Management Team. L-R: Back-Vic Dobos (Communication and Customer Services), Vince Logan (New Products), Peter Reading (Managing Director), Greg Fraser (Practices). Front-Gavin Whiteley (Corporate Services), John Harvey (Varieties), Iftikhar Mostafa (Corporate Strategy and Program Support).
National Panel
The National Panel includes the chairs of the GRDC's three regional panels, the GRDC's Managing Director and the GRDC's executive managers. It is the key body for developing and recommending to the Board the GRDC's overall corporate strategies and direction, and assists the Board in maintaining links with its two key customer groups-Australian grain growers and the Australian Government-as well as research partners.
The National Panel also develops and recommends investment proposals for the national elements of the GRDC's research programs. In doing so, the National Panel considers advice from the four program teams that manage the GRDC's R&D investment portfolio. The program teams are discussed in more detail in Part 3.
Regional panels
Recognising variations in local conditions, the GRDC has three separate advisory panels to cover the northern, southern and western grain-growing regions of Australia. Figure 8 illustrates the geographical spread and characteristics of each region. Part 3 provides details on the membership of the regional panels.
The three regional panels develop regional investment priorities and make recommendations on the allocation of investment budgets to meet regional needs. This is also achieved through their representation on program teams that advance recommendations on investments to the Board through the National Panel. Regional panels also identify investments that may respond to national priorities.
An additional core function of the regional panels is to provide an interface with grain growers and researchers, to promote awareness of GRDC investments and research outcomes and the corporation's strategic direction.
Figure 8 GRDC regions
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Northern Region characteristics include:
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Southern Region characteristics include:
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Western Region characteristics include:
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