Meeting the Government’s Priorities
 

National and Rural Research Priorities

In December 2002 the Prime Minister announced a set of National Research Priorities and in March 2003 the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry wrote to the Chairs of the RDCs detailing the Government’s priorities for rural R&D. RIRDC is revising its current Five Year Plan to build these priorities into its future strategies. In addition, the Board has agreed to set aside $365,000 in this Annual Operational Plan to give further emphasis to the Government’s National Research Priorities. An additional $200,000 has also been allocated to enhance RIRDC’s commercialisation activities.

The following section indicates how RIRDC will meet the Government’s research priorities over the next year..

RIRDC has a wide mixture of research activities which focus on sustainable natural resource management. These range from new industry areas such as agroforestry to important activities in existing industries such as rice. These are highlighted below.

RIRDC manages the Joint Venture Agroforestry Program (JVAP) on behalf of a range of funding partners. The program’s guiding objective is to integrate sustainable and productive agroforestry within Australian farming systems. Its strategies recognise the role of trees in promoting sustainable natural resource management. In line with the national research priorities an emphasis has been placed on achieving outcomes related to water quality management, salinity control and biodiversity research. A new five year plan is being developed for the program and the Government’s priorities are being further addressed in this plan.

With regard to the Government’s priorities on improving the delivery of science and information to support the regionally driven approach to natural resource management and developing user friendly solutions, the program is taking the following initiatives:

  • The program has developed an Agroforestry Design Guideline Series targeted mainly for use by land managers and advisors. These include:
  • Trees, Water and Salt: an Australian guide for using trees to achieve healthy catchments and productive farms
  • rees for Shelter: a guide to using windbreaks on Australian farms (in print)
  • Trees and Biodiversity: a guide to increasing the benefits of farm trees to native biota (forthcoming)
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  • The program is also developing a series of manuals, including:
  • Forestry Site Selection Manual
  • Establishing Field Trials and Demonstration Plantings for Farm Forestry
  • A Field Guide to Growing Rainforest Timber Trees in North Queensland
  • Guide to Design and Reporting of Plantation Silvicultural Research Trials
  • Irrigated Eucalypts Incorporating Salinity Impacts.
    •      Future research that is proposed to advance the promotion of agroforestry in medium to low rainfall areas will include the following:
  • Continue a lead role for the program in managing the FloraSearch project and the Australian Low Rainfall Tree Improvement Group (ALTRIG) - focussing on selection and development of native trees and shrubs for new industries and sustainable farming systems in lower rainfall areas;
  • Undertake research to field test the guidelines in the recent JVAP publication Trees, Water and Salt;
  • Continue to support the Master Tree growers’ Program; and
  • Undertake a consultancy to consider what is known about the use of trees in addressing salinity and where there are major knowledge gaps.
    •  The JVAP has also recently tendered for a consultancy to develop a knowledge broking strategy to improve the quality and availability of information to existing agroforestry participants and stakeholders and to identify strategies for knowledge brokering to promote JVAP R&D outputs to a wider audience (particularly farmers and natural resources and agricultural businesses, decision and policy-makers).

    Future R&D priorities for RIRDC’s Resilient Agricultural Systems Program will include the following:

  • The redesign of farm production so that it is more compatible with the environment, sustains viable enterprises and supports viable rural communities;
  • Support for the development of environmental management systems (EMS) that are operationally effective at minimal cost and avoid duplication of audit and certification procedures;
  • Investigating alternative land tenure arrangements, improved financial systems, and alternative capital structures that enhance sustainable production and encourage reassignment of land that is unsuitable; and
  • Investigating innovative agri-industry, including the sustainable use of wild plant and animal resources particularly in the rangelands and the productive use of saline land/water.
    •  Work in both native food plants, part of the New Plant Products Program, and in the Wildflowers and Native Plants Sub-Program, is aimed firmly at developing agricultural systems which use species that come from the Australian environment and therefore are better adapted. New species of food crops and flower crops have been produced and are under development in many parts of Australia with environmental friendliness as a central aim. As well in New Plant Products introduced species capable of dealing with Australia’s saline, sodic and arid soils are under development ranging from spice foods such as capers to new oil seed crops in WA developed from arid crops in Ethiopia and the Sudan.

    The rice program funds a range of research activities which are supporting the Rice Growers Association’s (RGA) innovative Environmental Champions program. This Environment Champions program has been acknowledged widely as one of the most progressive programs for an industry in Australian and RGA has recently established an international group of rice industry organisations who want to learn from this activity.

    The RIRDC program is the major partner in the CRC for Sustainable Rice Production. The CRC program is finalising research on issues such as predicting soil suitability, integrated management strategies for regional and local ground water management and water quality management. The RIRDC program is funding important projects aimed at improved water use efficiency and developing strategies for improved on farm biodiversity management. Many of these technologies have been adopted and are being implemented by the three major irrigation companies in the rice growing regions.

    The innovativeness of these rice research activities has been recognised internationally through the Murrumbidgee catchment being nominated as the initial reference catchment for UNESCO’s Hydrology Environment Life Policy (HELP) program. This is the only catchment in the world to be given this highest recognition of a model for effective integration of science and policy change to improve sustainability of resource use.

    The Pasture Seeds sub-program will commence the second stage of a water balance study which incorporates salinity issues for lucerne seed production in South Australia.

    With respect to improving the links between research providers and users in the Natural Resource Management (NRM) area, the RIRDC application guidelines will now require proponents to show how their research findings will be delivered to, or captured by, potential end-users and, in outlining plans for dissemination and/or commercialisation, to describe what linkages and partnerships are in place to ensure uptake and foster innovation.

    Program managers have been asked to incorporate the environmentally sustainable goals into their selection processes for new projects.

    Rural: Improving Competitiveness through a Whole of Industry Approach
    All RIRDC’s industry programs will encourage a whole of industry approach with emphasis being placed on developing supply chains.

    Proposed research projects will address the national and rural research priorities by:

  • Encouraging researchers to develop active links in the value chain when putting forward new crop proposals and increase the emphasis on marketing strategies for new crops.
  • Analysing the adoption of logistics chain technologies from farmgate to port and benchmarking these applications with other countries.
  • Identifying strategies to overcome supply chain inefficiency and lack of market information in the organics industry.
  • Developing processing and product benchmarking for the cashmere industry in an endeavour to meet market requirements.
  • Reviewing contract development in agriculture, links with deregulation activities and implications for farmers and others in the supply chain.
    •  National: Promoting and maintaining good health

    Rural: Maintaining and improving confidence in the integrity of Australian agricultural, food, fish and forestry products

    All the RIRDC Programs that involve food production or food additives have developed strategies that recognise the importance of managing food-borne hazards associated with pathogens, agri-chemical residues and contaminants.

    Proposed research projects that will contribute to this objective include:

  • Identifying and prioritising any risks associated with pathogen emissions from chicken sheds and the use of chicken litter as fertiliser, so that strategies can be developed and adopted to minimise them.
  • Investigating new techniques for minimising the possibility of contamination of chickens or chicken products with organisms capable of producing food-borne disease in humans.
  • The Tea Tree Oil Program will undertake further work on tea tree oil related efficacy and safety issues in human health.
  • Food safety resources for members of the Native (Bush) Food Industry value chain are being researched along with EMS systems and QA systems for the olive industry.
  • Work will continue on pre and postharvest protocols that give greater shelf life to the growing wildflower industry including managing ethylene production in waxflowers our principal native flower export.
    •  RIRDC has a Farm Health and Safety Program which it manages on behalf of a number of RDC partners. The program’s mission is to coordinate and support R&D to develop, implement, monitor and evaluate safe systems of work on farms across all rural industries.

    The primary objective of the current strategic plan for the program is to increase the adoption of safe systems of work on farms. To advance this objective it has now been decided to undertake a consultancy that will identify options for financial and other incentives that may encourage farm enterprises to adopt effective on-farm occupational health and safety risk management.

    Rural: Improved trade and market access

    RIRDC has a separate Global Competitiveness program that supports research on ways of removing impediments to the development of a global competitive Australian sector. Key long term strategies for the program include:

  • Developing options and strategies to improve the current set of trade policies and therefore remove trade barriers.
  • Evaluating existing and alternative policies and institutions affecting the development of a globally competitive agricultural sector.
    •  Future investments proposed to further these strategies will include:
  • An analysis of the implications of geographic indicators and traditional expressions in promoting or hindering free trade.
  • An assessment of adjustment assistance support schemes used in Australia and their implications for facilitating international trade policy reform.
    •  National: Frontier technologies for building and transforming Australian industries

    Rural: Use of frontier technologies

    RIRDC’s strategies recognise the importance to Australia’s global competitiveness of innovation and the development of new technologies and products.

    RIRDC recently published a report on New Pharmaceutical, Nutraceutical and Industrial Products – the Potential for Australian Agriculture. As a follow-up to this project, RIRDC has contracted an overseas expert to review recent developments in food and health and to recommend future research strategies on functional foods for the Corporation.

    Proposed research projects relating to new technologies and products include:

  • Continuing to support R&D into the use of agroforestry to produce bioenergy and bio-products including
  • Investigating novel approaches to enhance the sustainable production of quality chicken products through the manipulation of bird physiology and metabolism and through the development of new health products.
  • Developing new biodegradable adhesives from native tree species that could facilitate the use of wood and bamboo products.
  • Exploring novel extractives from waste streams in olive processing and new chemicals from native plants for the natural therapies market.
  • Investigating new biological control options for chalkbrood, a disease of beehives.
  • Developing genetic markers for hygienic behaviour of bees.
  • Support for a world integrated rice functional genomics research effort.
  • Use of near infra-red (NIR) technology to enhance precision crop management for rice.
  • Supporting trials of aquaculture in inland saline water and sea weed production.
  • Investigating the sustainable use of wild plant and animal resources particularly in the rangelands.
    •  In addition, RIRDC’s resilient Agricultural Systems Program will include a priority next year on identifying the implications of new technology systems for agri-industry such as precision farming, information management and genetic engineering of plants and animals.

    National: Safeguarding Australia

    Rural: Protecting Australia from invasive diseases and pests

    A number of RIRDC programs will support research relating to this priority. Proposed future research which will incorporate national and rural research priorities includes:

  • Investigating novel approaches for developing improved vaccines for the control of diseases of current and ongoing economic importance to the chicken meat industry.
  • Developing a protocol for a Market Assurance Program for Johne’s disease in deer.
  • Introducing a major program of support for improved management and control of the recently introduced exotic pest of the honeybee industry – the small hive beetle.
  • Improving the understanding of the sensitivity of American Foulbrood (AFB) to antibiotics in the honeybee industry.
    •  Rural: Creating an innovative culture

    This priority is integral to both RIRDC’s industry and generic R&D roles.

    All future RIRDC programs will seek to develop the skills and ability of the people in their industries by including a specific strategy on industry development and communication.

    Specific future initiatives adopted in relation to this priority include:

  • Further developing the Cooperative Venture for Capacity Building for Innovation in Rural Industries which RIRDC manages on behalf of a number of RDC partners. The Venture invests in R&D that focuses on enhancing the understanding of learning, improving organisational arrangements to support rural human capacity building, and inspiring innovative farming practices.
  • Continuing to focus on innovative use of the internet for rural industry and community development including internet use to help retain professionals employed in rural Australia, and using the internet for a ‘virtual field day’ for improved decision making.
  • Continuing to support the RIRDC Rural Women’s Award.
  • Providing support a post-doctoral fellowship at the Australian Centre for Intellectual Property in Agriculture.
  • Awarding three postgraduate scholarships;
  • Support for several participants in the Australian Rural Leadership Program and Nuffield Scholarship scheme.
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    Last updated: July 2003  Copyright © RIRDC
    http://www.rirdc.gov.au/aop03-04/govtpriorities.html