University of New England mapping experts are again teaming with Hort Innovation in a significant collaboration to extend the national tree-crop map.

In the picturesque coastal city of Coffs Harbour, the collaborative spirit was in full swing as the Coffs Agrifood Living Lab (CALL) launched at Yarrila Place on October 25

Sydney-based SME LLEAF has secured a global distributor for its innovative light-spectra-shifting agricultural film, shown to boost crop yields by up to 20%.

NSW DPI is collaborating with QUT and farmers state-wide in research that aims to establish what drives consumers’ fresh-produce purchases – knowledge growers can use to craft personalised marketing messages.

Could a six-month dose of free fresh produce lead to improved health in food-insecure Australians with type-2 diabetes? The George Institute and UNSW are working with Harris Farm Markets to find out. 

In August, FFS team members flew west for a series of stakeholder meetings, visits to Mt Lindesay and Melville Park farms and delivery of an FFS-FIPWA workshop.

Western Sydney University PhD student Claudia Vacca has spent their career studying plant pathogens, from trees to potatoes, developing new ways for early detection and intervention.

Industry partner FP Paradigm is teaming with UNSW scientists in a series of projects that aim to develop food and beverage packaging that is smarter, safer and more sustainable.

A new Future Food Systems project will establish Australia’s first food-focused ‘Living Lab’ to foster creative collaboration among stakeholders in Coffs’ agrifood ecosystem, including co-designing the concept for a dedicated food innovation and logistics precinct for the region.

Darwin-based FFS PhD scholar Gehan Abdelghany’s research is contributing valuable agronomic information to the FFS-backed ‘Commercialising native rice’ project.

Launched in mid-July, Australia’s first national map of PC systems enables accurate yield forecasting and speedy, targeted response to natural disasters and biosecurity threats.

A UNSW-EcoMag project team is exploring cost-effective ways to turn agricultural and industrial waste into low-carbon plasterboard and cladding.

On 14 June, FFS staff and PhDs visited Western Sydney University Hawkesbury campus and the $7m National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre.

A grades in high-school science turned into a career path for Sumitra Saha, who recently joined Murdoch University as a PhD student on the’Novel microbiome technology’ project team.

A specialised Food Science and Nutrition campus run by Murdoch University has launched at the Food Innovation Precinct WA.

Costa Group is teaming up with UNE, NSW DPI and ANU scientists, and FFS to help it reduce carbon use and increase yields in its Guyra tomato glasshouses.

UNSW scientists have developed a new web-based decision-making tool to aid agribusiness development in one of NSW’s richest food-producing regions.

Mahesh Galappaththi’s BSc thesis was on elephant-human conflict in Sri Lanka; now, he’s looking to ascertain optimal conditions for truffle cultivation in WA.

The AARSC’s near-completed map of all commercial protected cropping systems across Australia is already proving its worth as a rapid-response alert system for biosecurity breaches. The team behind it is calling for further feedback before finalising the national baseline map for release mid-year.

UNSW mapping experts have sought stakeholder feedback on a tool developed to aid agribusiness planning in the Namoi.

A new, $6.8M FFS project links vertical farm operators, data solutions providers and seed distributors with crop, sensor and IoT experts to develop tools that monitor and manage crop performance, pests, pathogens and pollination in near-real-time, enabling automated indoor production.

QUT robotics experts have developed a self-guiding robotic platform that enables hands-free pollination in a commercial greenhouse, paving the way to cost-effective automation of labour-intensive tasks.

A UNE team’s groundbreaking research for Costa Group into hydoponic tomatoes’ root-zone microbes has garnered international media attention. 

Dr Rona Chandrawati is a Scientia Associate Professor within UNSW’s School of Chemical Engineering and one of the Faculty of Engineering’s most awarded academics.

FFSCRC Industry PhD student and Western Sydney University student Sonali Koundal is exploring sustainable ways to fertigate glasshouse-grown vegetable crops for the benefit of growers and the environment.

A new FFSCRC project aims to develop a cost-effective way of delivering methane-reducing feed additives to ruminants in the field.

A $3.5m FFSCRC project with Hort Innovation and LLEAF is trialling two greenhouse-film prototypes that have the potential to boost crop productivity, slash input costs and shrink the environmental footprint of Australia’s PC horticulture sector.

UNSW Sydney PhD student and FFSCRC PhD student Yi-Ya Hsu is developing a tool to help planners and policymakers formulate a smart, sustainable mixed-use strategy for available city office space.

Murdoch University’s Food Futures Institute has appointed key leaders to drive operations at its Food Technology Facility. Future Food Systems CRC is a major partner in the operations of the FTF.

Early results from the CRC’s ‘Food metabolomics library’ project, set to appear in prestigious academic journal Food Science, detail a fast, simple method for measuring lipid components that accurately distinguishes free-range from cage and barn-laid eggs. 

The Summit mini-expo, a mix of future food innovations, Indigenous ingredients, upcycled products, agricultural robots and healthy pulse-based snacks, was a chance for Future Food Systems CRC and QUT to showcase their capabilities in the sustainable agrifood space.

Experts in infrastructure planning and transport logistics, advanced nutritional analysis and innovative, Indigenous-led agrifood systems from the Netherlands, UK and Canada gave attendees of the 2022 Future of Food Summit much food for thought.

Four fascinating guided tours, free to Summit delegates, showcase QUT’s world-class capabilities in robotics and automation, agrifood innovation, tropical crops, advanced analysis and Indigenous ingredients.

On 14 October 2022, the Australian National Phenome Centre (ANPC) and Centre for Computational and Systems Medicine (CCSM) organised a successful inaugural research symposium on precision nutrition at Murdoch University that featured early findings from Future Food Systems CRC’s ‘Food […]

In a Hort Innovation-backed project part-funded by the CRC, Murdoch University scientists are exploring the specific combinations of microbes required to cut chemical use and boost yields in some of Australia’s most valuable fruit and veg crops.

A new Future Food Systems CRC project helmed by world-leading crop scientist, Western Sydney University’s Professor Brajesh Singh, will explore novel ways to combat common root pathogens in Australian protected cropping operations. 

Future Food Systems CRC PhD student Rishi Naik has won the runner-up People’s Choice award in this year’s AIFST Poster Competition. Congratulations, Rishi!

Sydney-based natural ingredients manufacturer Baker & Co is drawing on UNSW’s expertise in spray-drying and encapsulation to turn liquid taste ingredients into equally flavourful, but more adaptable and easily exportable powdered equivalents.

SME partner EcoMag and UNSW scientists have teamed up in a CRC project to upcycle waste from industrial processes, agriculture and salt production into a sustainable building material, helping to shrink the construction industry’s carbon footprint.

Eleven of the CRC’s PhD scholarship holders met up recently for their first-ever catch-up, with each presenting their research findings.

Andrew Tilley studied food science and technology at Perth WA’s Curtin University, but took the long way round to a CRC-backed PhD at Murdoch via the food manufacturing industry.

New CRC industry partner All G Foods is teaming with UNSW scientists in an exciting four-year project that seeks to precisely mimic the nutritional and functional attributes of dairy proteins using no dairy-cow inputs. 

In the recently completed ‘Smart Glass’ project, scientists at Western Sydney University showed the energy-saving ability of SG ULR-80 and the yield-increasing potential of LLEAF. Next steps? To combine the strengths of both.

The National PC mapping project team is calling for peer review of its draft maps of protected cropping operations across Queensland and much of Northern NSW.

Putting Australian native rice on our plates and in restaurants is one step closer after a successful harvest of three species sourced from Northern Australian wetlands.

CRC supporting partner Qatar University is drawing on the expertise and state-of-the-art greenhouse facilities at Western Sydney University to help it develop sustainable fertigation solutions for indoor growers. 

Sri-Lanka-born, Western Sydney University-based Eranda Namal Jayasuriya is one of two PhD students attached to the CRC’s ‘IoT for indoor cropping’ project. 

Premium WA food supplier Silverplace is looking to Mt Lindesay farmers and Murdoch University scientists to help develop the know-how required to expand Australia’s high-value truffle industry.

Western Sydney University post-doc researcher Sachin Chavan’s CRC report ‘Protected cropping: Current technologies and target crops’ is the cover feature for the June 2022 issue of peer-reviewed journal Crops.

Western Sydney University scientists are trialling LLEAF P/L’s new ‘light-spectra-shifting’ agricultural films on horticultural crops in a trio of CRC projects that are the focus of a recent ABC Landline segment.

WA DPIRD, Murdoch University and the CRC are teaming up to deliver R&D to agrifood firms via a purpose-built food-tech facility at FIPWA.

Costa Group is constructing a scaled-down version of its commercial glasshouse at UNE to house CRC project trials seeking cues to crop stress that can alert growers to act, preventing costly losses. 

On 4 May, CRC stakeholders met at the soon-to-be-completed Food Innovation Precinct Western Australia (the Precinct) in the Shire of Murray to sign lease agreements for core facilities within the precinct.

The National Protected Cropping map is expanding, with draft mapping of PC facilities for the Adelaide and Tasmanian growing regions now completed and published online, ready for peer review. 

A new CRC project pairs UNSW mapping expert Dr Hoon Han with Namoi Unlimited, a group of five Northern Rivers-area councils keen to boost agribusiness development in this rich agricultural region.

Project lead Ozgur Dedehayir’s presentation at the 2021 CRC Showcase outlined the key findings of the ‘Coffs Harbour food ecosystem’ project, which lays the foundation for development of a future food cluster in Coffs.

Terrific results from the UNSW project team regarding new processing protocols for high-grade Mg organics are enabling EcoMag to scale up rapidly to meet initial orders from major US clients including Walmart and CVS.

Relentless rain did little to dampen the spirits of the estimated 450 delegates, 40 virtual attendees, 60 exhibitors and large CRC-cohort contingent at this year’s PCA conference in Coffs Harbour.

Hear BeefLedger Chair Warwick Powell discuss the ‘Smart trade’ team’s blockchain-backed digital platform and its potential to streamline cross-border trade.

Research leads, PhDs and project collaborators from government and industry are among the CRC-affiliated presenters at this year’s PCA Conference.

The CRC’s ‘Smart trade hubs’ collaboration, involving QUT and SME BeefLedger, was one of just two finalists for ICT Research Project of the Year in the ACS’s 2022 Digital Disruptor Awards’.

Murdoch University scientists are using cutting-edge methods and equipment to profile the nutritional makeup of high-value produce from across Western Australia, including truffles, artichokes and olive oil.

Western Parkland City Authority has released its concept for a 24-hour, state-of-the-art Airfreight Interface at Western Sydney International Airport. Now it’s seeking stakeholder comment via an online survey open until 8 December.

The final report of the ‘Coffs food innovation ecosystem’ project proposes four pathways to help the region’s agrifood firms transition to a new state of production marked by greater output and higher-value products.

Protected cropping experts at Western Sydney University are embarking on a CRC project with new partner Qatar University to deliver novel fertigation solutions that optimise indoor crops.

In a project starting mid-February 2022, UNSW scientists will work with Sanitarium to develop protocols for optimising the firm’s Weet-Bix grain-drying process.

New South Wales’ peak agricultural association encourages members and non-members to contribute their views to a CRC project that aims to boost farmers’ contributions to state coffers – and their own hip pockets.

A just-commenced CRC project involving Murdoch University’s ANPC, WA DPIRD, global scientific equipment firm Bruker and SMEs across WA will develop unique chemical fingerprints to validate health claims, expanding markets for premium WA products.

Involving SME grower P’Petual and QUT robotics experts, this CRC project aims to automate not just pollination, but all sorts of indoor-grown crop-tending tasks. 

Horticulture Innovation Australia, University of New England’s AARSC, Protected Cropping Australia, NSW LLS and Future Food Systems CRC have teamed up to develop a high-tech tool to map Australia’s protected cropping facilities, thereby aiding biosecurity preparedness and natural disaster response efforts.

QUT and Smart Trade Networks have just launched the world’s first fully blockchain-enabled credentialled marketplace. In their next ‘Smart trade hubs’ project, just commenced under the CRC, they plan to extend it to other commodities and markets.

Mark Cardamis has graduated from making mini greenhouse prototypes to joining a collaborative university-industry project team as a CRC Industry PhD, exploring mobile sensing systems for remote monitoring of crops in advanced indoor greenhouse systems.

To attain its 30×30 goal, NSW Farmers needs the state’s primary producers to expand their contribution to the state’s coffers. So it’s teamed up with UNE researchers in a farmer-focused project that aims to identify obstacles to growth and find ways to overcome them.

In stage 2 of the Smart Trade Hubs program, QUT and SCP Capital will extend their blockchain-backed digital trading platform, developed for premium beef exports to China, to high-value fruits, wines and artisan liquor destined for markets across Asia.

Innovative Queensland developer HydroREC, a spinoff from CRC industry participant Smart Trade Networks, has become a Founding Partner in the Smart Energy Council and Hydrogen Australia’s Zero Carbon Certification Scheme.

This CRC report canvasses the latest developments in phenotyping for advanced protected cropping facilities. It assesses tools and tech used by commercial growers to monitor and manage crop inputs impacting attributes including growth, health and yield.

In stage 1 of this multi-year collaboration, two CRC partner universities, NT Government and three First Nations enterprises have joined forces to collect, analyse and develop protocols for the world’s first broadacre plantings of native wild rice in Northern Australia.

The ‘Tomato rhizobiome project’, designed to find ways to foster robust microbial colonies in the root zones of hydroponic greenhouse tomato plants, is proceeding well, with initial findings ‘very promising’, says industry partner Costa Group.

The first in a series of CRC-commissioned reports on this fast-growing horticultural sector investigates target crops and technologies for commercial protected cropping in Australian conditions.

In an initial trial in the UNSW-EcoMag project, chemical engineers at UNSW were able to produce very high-purity Mg citrate using their state-of-the-art spray dryer. It’s a first, successful step towards EcoMag’s goal of scaling up to commercial production using the new process.

A new CRC project is comparing two novel light-spectra-shifting films on energy-efficiency and crop productivity in greenhouse-grown lettuce.

Western Australian globe artichoke producer Mt Lindesay has teamed with researchers at Murdoch University in a project to validate key properties of their artichokes.

For UNSW Associate Professor and networked embedded sensor expert Wen Hu, automated farms supplying ‘smart cities’ with premium fresh food are the way of the future. And IoT systems are paving the way to this new, networked reality.

For Egyptian academic Gehan Abdelghany, who’s spent much of her career to date finding beneficial uses of indigenous plant species, undertaking a PhD with the FFS-backed ‘Commercialising native rice’ project was a natural progression.

EcoMag Ltd, which turns Pilbara sea-salt waste streams into 99% pure magnesium compounds, is working with UNSW scientists to scale up production and, potentially, produce base ingredients for high-value foods, drugs and nutraceuticals.

Australia’s iconic health-food brand is working with UNSW food-technology experts to optimise the formulations and protocols for its dairy- and additive-free Barista milks so that they’re creamier, foamier, silkier and ‘stretchier’.

On 2 December 2020, the CRC hosted its first online Research Showcase, highlighting projects approved, in progress and completed under our three Research Programs (RPs) over the CRC’s first full year of operation.

QUT-based robotics engineer Dr Chris Lehnert specialises in solving commercial automation challenges, developing novel solutions for an array of real-world applications. Right now, he’s developing components for high-tech vertical farm modules in a CRC collaboration with Greenbio.

For this IT-pro-turned-UNE-microbiology post-grad, the chance to study the root microbiome of greenhouse-grown tomatoes with Costa Group under the CRC was one too good to refuse.

With support from Liverpool City Council, The George Institute for Global Health will extend its successful FoodSwitch platform to include food-service providers from the Liverpool area south-west of Sydney, helping event organisers make healthier food choices.

Hydroponic tomato grower Costa Group and scientists at UNE and WSU will explore microbial diversity in tomatoes’ root zones in a bid to find novel ways to combat disease in humid glasshouse environs.

The ‘IoT for indoor cropping’ project under the CRC’s Research Program 2 has commenced after a months-long delay due to COVID-19-related lab closures. Now, the first trials are underway at WSU’s newly opened experimental glasshouse facility, reports project lead and […]

To gain the edge in global markets, Australia needs to produce blueberries with superior quality and health benefits. This project will ascertain the production conditions needed to maximise key ‘nutraceutical’ traits in polytunnel-grown berries.

A four-year, multi-disciplinary project under the CRC’s Research Program 1 will help ‘prepare the ground’ for commercialising Australian native rice, at same time creating new opportunities for indigenous enterprise.

The Western Sydney Agrifood Mapping and Analytics project will contribute to the evidence base for specialised food industry clusters in the region.

A new CRC project involving Coffs Harbour City Council and researchers at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) will construct a detailed overview of food production in the Coffs region of NSW and explore prospects for its growth through expanding output […]

BeefLedger and an interdisciplinary research team at QUT will work with food-buying groups across Australia and China to explore blockchain-based approaches to streamlining cross-border trade, in the initial proof-of-concept stage of a multi-stage Future Food Systems project that will develop the soft and hard digital infrastructure needed to support the growth of smart trade.

Inefficiencies in supply chains are exacerbated by disruptions to demand, such as the recent panic buying at supermarkets worldwide following COVID-19-related shutdown announcements. UNSW’s Professor Sami Kara explains how the ‘bullwhip effect’ typically resulting from sudden changes in demand impacts […]

Innovative Brisbane-based company Austgrains is working with pulse-crop experts at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) and food scientists from universities across Australia to develop tasty pulse-based products with proven nutritional and prebiotic credentials. It is hoped the research will benefit […]