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Planning and reporting approach

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Michael Dodd from Buntine WA believes deep ripping provides improved access to nutrients and greater water holding capacity. Photo: Evan Collis

The GRDC is a statutory corporation, operating as a research investment body on behalf of Australian grain growers and the Australian Government. As well as its responsibilities under the PIERD Act, the corporation has accountability and reporting obligations set out in the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies Act 1997 (CAC Act) and in the Commonwealth Authorities and Companies (Report of Operations) Orders 2008. The GRDC is a portfolio agency of the Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Table 2 shows the elements of the approach the GRDC adopts to meet its corporate planning and reporting obligations as a statutory corporation.

In line with its enabling legislation, the GRDC Board communicates its strategic directions and performance objectives through a five-year strategic R&D plan that delivers:

  • a statement of the GRDC’s objectives and priorities
  • an outline of the GRDC’s strategies to achieve those objectives and priorities.

The GRDC’s Strategic R&D Plan 2007–12, Prosperity through Innovation, took effect from July 2007. The plan provides a framework for investment and delivery of outputs and outcomes that will address the Australian Government’s National Research Priorities and Rural R&D Priorities, as well as the priorities of Australian grain growers, over the 2007–12 period. These priorities, and the GRDC’s achievements in meeting them in 2007–08, are discussed in more detail in Part 2.

Each year’s planned activities are outlined in operational terms in an annual operational plan, and in terms of an outcome-based performance measurement framework in the portfolio budget statements. This annual report details the GRDC’s achievements against its planned outputs set out in the GRDC Annual Operational Plan 2007–08 and its planned outcomes identified in the 2007–08 Portfolio Budget Statements. The output groups used for reporting purposes correspond to the three lines of business and communication and capacity building programs that underpin the GRDC’s business strategy and operations.

The corporation uses the Australian National Audit Office Better Practice Guide: Public Sector Governance to assess its overall approach and ongoing development. The GRDC’s corporate governance in 2007–08 is discussed in detail in Part 3.

The GRDC’s drivers for action, outcomes to be achieved, detailed outputs and future directions are summarised in the performance framework shown in Figure 9.

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Table 2 Elements of the planning and reporting approach
Element Purpose
Strategic R&D plan Sets out the GRDC’s high-level goals, strategies and performance measures for a five-year period, developed in consultation with stakeholders and approved by the Minister
Annual operational plan Specifies the annual budget, resources and research priorities that give effect to the strategic R&D plan during a given financial year
Annual report Provides information on R&D activities and their performance in relation to the goals set in the annual operational plan and portfolio budget statements for a given financial year
Stakeholder report Meets legislative requirements for reporting to the grains industry’s representative organisation, the Grains Council of Australia
Growers’ report Provides performance information to growers on R&D activities for a given financial year
Annual procurement plan Makes procurement information publicly available through the Australian Government’s AusTender procurement management website
Investment plan Informs potential research partners about some of the GRDC’s new investment priorities for the next financial year and invites interested parties to submit research proposals
Portfolio budget statements As part of the Australian Government budget process, summarises the planned outputs, outcomes, performance information and financial statements for a given financial year
Overview About Image

In response to years of drought, growers will be focusing their limited financial resources in areas where the risk is lowest and the gain highest. Photo: Evan Collis

Figure 9 Performance framework
Drivers
Australian Government’s National Research Priorities + Rural R&D priorities + Ministerial directions
Pages 30–32
Industry priorities
Pages 26–29
Role of the GRDC described in the objects of the Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989 Page 102
     
Prosperity through Innovation: Strategic Research and Development Plan 2007–12 + Portfolio Budget Statements 2007–08 + Annual Operational Plan 2007–08
           
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
           
Future The GRDC be recognised as the leader in setting, coordinating and facilitating a national grains R&D agenda driven by market signals that would enable grain growers to compete on world markets, and deliver against Australian Government priorities
           
Objective

CORPORATE
STRATEGIES

Australian grain growers effectively compete in global grain markets

OUTPUT GROUP 1:
VARIETIES

Growers have access to superior varieties that enable them to effectively compete in global grain markets

OUTPUT GROUP 2:
PRACTICES

Better practices developed and adopted faster

OUTPUT GROUP 3:
NEW PRODUCTS

Deliver new products and services (both on farm and off farm) that will assist growers to effectively compete in global grain markets

OUTPUT GROUP 4:
COMMUNICATION & CAPACITY BUILDING

Increase the awareness and capacity to optimise adoption of grains research outputs
           
Strategies
  • Coordinate a national grains R&D agenda and portfolio
  • Deliver against Australian Government priorities
  • Grow and leverage total grains R&D investment
  • Ensure R&D is market-driven
  • Build and sustain world-leading breeding programs
  • Focus pre-breeding research on key traits
  • Develop a path to market for genetically modified crops
  • Facilitate faster adoption of superior varieties

Page 49
  • Identify and develop profitable, innovative and integrated practices and technologies
  • Ensure active grain grower involvement and commitment
  • Undertake targeted extension and adoption through appropriate delivery channels
  • Enhance sustainable management of natural resources.

Page 60
  • Identify national and International technology relevant to the grains industry
  • Develop partnerships to deliver new technology
  • Undertake product development to meet market requirements
  • Build robust business cases that demonstrate stakeholder return on investment

Page 69
  • Ensure planned, targeted, measured communication
  • Coordinate a national approach to building industry and research capacity
  • Leverage delivery through partnerships
  • Develop demand-driven publications and products

Page 77
           
Performance Indicators
  • Significant evidence of the GRDC taking a lead role in coordinating and facilitating a national grains R&D agenda which has major impact on grower profitability and sustainability
  • Key GRDC investments demonstrate national coordination with research partners
  • Ongoing endorsement by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister on meeting the Australian Government priorities
  • Significant evidence of leveraging total grains R&D investment
  • Significant evidence of market signals being taken into account in R&D investments
  • Average annual increase in yield (as measured in NVT trials) of:
    • 1.0 percent for wheat
    • 1.5 percent for sorghum
    • 1.0 percent for barley
    • 2.0 percent for pulses
    • 1.5 percent for canola
  • Research organisations that are responsible for at least 80 percent of the pre-breeding research having agreed to focus 50 percent or more of their resources on an agreed set of key national and regional traits
  • Evidence of excellent scientific pre-breeding research and effective collaboration, both nationally and internationally
  • Evidence that genes, germplasm and enabling technologies developed in GRDC-supported pre-breeding research are being used in breeding programs
  • Progress towards market entry for genetically modified (GM) canola in 2008
  • Availability of responsible stewardship protocols for GM crops (canola)
  • Increased rate of adoption of new varieties (measured by consolidating breeding program data)
  • National Variety Trials (NVT) results being used by 50 percent of paid advisers to assist growers to make informed variety selections
  • Participation in NVT by 90 percent of relevant breeding programs
  • Improved effectiveness of partnerships developed between growers, advisers and researchers
  • Improved coordination of grains industry natural resource management and environmental R&D, driven by a comprehensive environmental plan
  • Identification of the economic benefits of ameliorating subsoil constraints
  • The launch of a grower-friendly web-based benchmarking interface to benchmark best management practice and its impacts on farm profitability
  • Increase in the number of grower advisory committees and industry groups engaged within each agroecological zone
  • Completion of a national biosecurity surveillance plan for the Australian grains industry, including five specific emergency plant pest contingency plans
  • Improved information flow to and from growers, through enhanced relationships with consultants
  • Improved links with the Australian Government’s Agriculture Advancing Australia Program including the National Landcare Program, the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality
  • Six new technologies or products identified and market assessments undertaken
  • At least one new international supplier of research/intellectual property engaged
  • Five unsolicited offers of new technology made to the GRDC
  • A pathway to market identified for the technology emerging from the Crop Biofactories Initiative
  • A new soil inoculant technology delivered to the Australian market
  • A national stored grain research partnership established through the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity
  • At least one new commercial partnership established to deliver an output of the New Products research projects
  • A robust business case presented for any new investment greater than $250,000 per year
  • Increase (over established benchmarks) in national media coverage of research activities and outputs from the GRDC and its research partners
  • Demonstrated effective/innovative partnerships to deliver GRDC-related research outputs
  • Grower and industry satisfaction that publications, products and services are timely, targeted and specific to customer needs
           
Outputs  
  • The release of improved varieties of wheat, barley, canola, pulse crops and summer coarse grain crops that benefit the Australian grains industry
  • New advanced germplasm, with associated molecular markers, developed and used by relevant Australian breeding programs
  • New genes with potential importance to the Australian grains industry discovered and made available for proof-of-concept testing and further development
  • New breeding technologies developed and made available to researchers and crop breeders
  • An analysis of the delivery pathways for GM crops in Australia
  • Crop variety yield and performance data made available to Australian grain growers through the NVT program
  • A completed audit of current grain-growing practices and available technologies, identifying gaps and overlaps
  • A range of newly developed farming practices successfully tested and integrated into existing farming systems
  • Data collected from a free-air carbon dioxide experiment
  • Development of two autonomous agricultural machinery systems
  • Successful conduct of a number of forums that engage industry organisations and farming systems groups in planning on an agroecological zone basis
  • Effectively packaged information on integrated farm practices and technologies, delivered to growers
  • An economic model of irrigation farming in the southern Murray–Darling Basin developed for use by individual farmers to optimise the rotations on any given farm for any given seasonal water allocation
  • Implementation of the first elements of an RD&E plan
  • Promotion of the GRDC’s redeveloped, more accessible website
  • Training packages in precision agriculture developed for growers, advisers and tertiary students
  • Production of a comprehensive environmental plan
  • A national surveillance plan and contingency plans for high priority emergency plant pests
  • A feasibility study to determine whether the production of metal nanoparticles from grain crops is both economically and practically viable
  • A scoping study to review and assess existing research in the area of nitrogen fixation for cereals and canola, with a view to a major future investment in further research
  • Identification of opportunities for further investment in research on industrial feedstocks in Australia, with an emphasis on ethanol produced from either grain or grain residue
  • Establishment of the proof of concept for the use of Pseudomonas species as a biological control agent for snails
  • Establishment of a screening program for contact and short-residue herbicides
  • Development of a cross-grains industry research effort on grain hygiene, through the CRC for National Plant Biosecurity
  • Identification and engagement of a commercial party to deliver the outcomes (including tests for weather damage and grain staining) required from the Objective Grain Quality Testing project
  • Recruitment of a commercial partner to further develop a prototype mechanical grain disinfestation technology developed with CSIRO Entomology
  • Identification, with CSIRO, of potential commercial partners for the technology emerging from the Crop Biofactories Initiative
  • Development of protocols to allow registration of microbes for use in bio-control and bio-inoculation
  • Work undertaken through Philom Bios (Australia) Pty Ltd to continue the product development of phosphorus solubilisation and disease control inoculants
  • Development and commercialisation of a new ethyl formate–based grain pest fumigant
  • Development of a business case to attract commercial investment in the development of a microbial biological control agent for snails
  • Development of a business case to attract commercial investment in novel herbicide technologies
  • At least one new international supplier of research/intellectual property engaged
  • A national communication framework to facilitate the delivery of research outputs to a wide audience, building on existing regional delivery channels by broadening the content to include articles with a national emphasis
  • Targeted communication strategies to assist growers to manage season-specific issues, such as rust outbreaks, as they arise
  • A national audit and analysis of current grains research capacity, to determine its strengths and weaknesses and set the framework for a nationally coordinated research capacity strategy
  • An integrated program of education, training and technology transfer that will develop industry capacity, including a detailed study of the range, level, suitability, accreditation status and delivery mode of current programs
  • Identification of opportunities for the GRDC to work collaboratively with research partners, industry partners and governments to deliver information in ways that reduce duplication, better target stakeholders and are more cost effective
  • Publications, products and services that increase awareness of the GRDC’s research outputs in the grains industry and wider community and reflect the needs of different target audiences
  • A standardised reporting structure for research projects, developed and adopted to enhance their ability to deliver relevant information to identified customer segments
  • The GRDC developed and distributed over 500 targeted media products to communicate research and achievement

 

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