From the CEO
This month we welcome two new Board members. Mark Prendergast is a senior executive and non-executive director who brings more than two decades’ international experience in the food industry to the CRC. Tony Cull has extensive board-level experience within multinational corporations, large cooperatives and family-owned businesses across Australia, South-East Asia and East Asia. Read more
After collaborating in CRC projects over the past 12 months, smart film developer and manufacturer LLEAF Pty Ltd has now formally joined the CRC. We are also pleased to be working with Australia’s peak indoor horticulture industry body, Protected Cropping Australia, which will be making important strategic and industry engagement contributions to Program 2 of the CRC.
On the food innovation front, it’s great to see a third project with Sanitarium Health Food Company underway with plant protein experts at Queensland University of Technology.
In the ‘new normal’ of video conferencing, we are using virtual workshops to help progress CRC strategic outputs. This month, we brought together industry stakeholders and researchers from our Liverpool City Council and Coffs Harbour City Council projects to discuss findings and share learnings, and also held a national workshop on sustainability indices for food clusters.
Finally, this month, we farewell Board Member, Professor Valerie Linton. Valerie is crossing the Tasman to become the inaugural Provost at the University of Auckland, New Zealand’s top-performing academic institution. On behalf of the CRC staff, I thank Valerie for her expert counsel during her time as a Board Member and wish her all the best in her new position.
David Eyre
CEO, Future Food Systems
Project news
QUT scientists to develop new healthy protein opportunities for Sanitarium
UK-trained QUT biochemist Robert Speight is leading a new CRC project with Sanitarium Health Food Company exploring proteins for plant-based products. “The future food ingredients space can be challenging from various perspectives: technical, legal, regulatory, social licence etcetera,” Professor Speight says. “But the potential benefits – environmental, nutritional, and in terms of securing market share and making a profit, can be transformational.” Read more
Research team ready for world’s first broadacre plantings of Australian native rice this spring
Researchers at CDU, NT DITT and QUT have prepared the ground for the world’s first broadacre plantings of indigenous Australian wild rice species this spring. Wild rice seed collected from the region will be planted on the properties of Indigenous enterprises and project partners Pudakul Aboriginal Cultural Tours, in the Northern Territory, and Olive Vale Pastoral in Far North Queensland. Initial agronomic trials suggest the wild rice species respond positively to fertiliser, auguring well for commercial cultivation. Read more
Smart cropping advice: CRC publishes new report for indoor growers
The report, ‘Smart crop monitoring: Precise phenotyping for improved quality and protected cropping management’ canvasses the latest developments in plant phenotyping – the assessment of expressed traits – for crops grown in greenhouse facilities. It looks at tools and technologies used by commercial indoor growers around the world to monitor and manage crops so as to optimise their growth, health and yield. Read the report
InProfile
Meet Vicky Solah: food science & nutrition expert
Murdoch University Associate Professor Vicky Solah specialises in the roles of dietary fibre, resistant starch and inulin in creating feelings of satiety and maintaining digestive health. Currently, she’s working on a CRC project to assess nutritional and sensory properties of globe artichokes and looking forward to working at the new WA Food Innovation Project, turning grade-2 fruit and veg into value-added products. Read more
Featured
CRC Association seeks early-career researchers for conference showcase
In the lead-up to its ‘Collaborate Innovate’ conference (9-11 August), the CRC Association is seeking submissions from early-career researchers. Winning entries get free conference registration and the chance to showcase their research at the event and compete for $5,000 prize money. Read more
Grants
New-look Export Grants Funding Scheme (EGFS)
The federal government’s export support grants have been rejigged to help first-time exporters and SMEs, with new rules from 1 July. Check out the revised application guidelines and your eligibility. Read more
Partner news
Organic growers team with QDAT to reduce waste in exported fruit
Banana grower cooperative Pacific Coast Produce Marketing, recently acquired by CRC partner Perfection Fresh, has been working with QDAF to find ways to cut in-transit waste and deliver optimal quality fruit. Read more
FASTer connections for Western Sydney?
iMOVE CRC’s FAST project will investigate traffic patterns and explore potential congestion-busting solutions for Liverpool CBD and the route connecting it to the planned Western Sydney Airport. Read more
Smart supply-chain tech tool cuts food loss, boosts producer profits
Escavox co-founder and CEO Luke Wood talks with AgFutures about the company’s Blue Box, a smart supply-chain tracking device dubbed ‘CCTV for food’. Read more
QUT Mackay Renewable Biocommodities Pilot Plant gets a capabilities upgrade
The federal government has pledged $5.2m to upgrade the capability of QUT Mackay’s biomanufacturing scale-up facility, used to demonstrate the viability of new technologies and to manufacture products in sizeable quantities. Read more
WA discoveries pave the way to an algal boom
Navid Moheimani, director of algae research and development at Murdoch University, is excited about the commercial opportunities in microalgae, with its small carbon footprint and array of potential uses – from livestock feed to high-value fish oil supplements. Read more
Green goals: QUT students target Australia’s food and plastics waste
Extending conservative ‘use by’ dates, banning supermarkets from trashing edible food and developing re-useable meal kit packaging are among the ideas being brainstormed by research students at QUT’s Centre for a Waste-Free World, launched last year to develop ‘circular economy’ ideas and technologies. Read more
Getting the good oil on olives via remote sensing
In a project co-funded by Hort Innovation, scientists from UNE’s Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre and NSW DPI have been mapping groves and validating sensor data to help growers improve yield forecasting, water use and disease detection. Read more
UNSW: record number of Fulbright Scholars
Ten UNSW academics, PhD candidates and alumni – half undertaking research in the agrifood, health and renewable energy sectors – will travel to esteemed US research institutions, post-pandemic, under the flagship foreign exchange program. Read more
Trending
Woolworths to launch health and wellness platform
Woolworths Group is gearing up to launch a new digital platform offering products and services that cater to increased customer interest in health and wellness. Read more
Pre-sales healthy for Australia’s first plant-based, certified-organic infant and toddler formulae
Online pre-sales are strong, at home and worldwide. The bad news? The formulae’s base ingredient, certified-organic rice, has to be imported. Read more
HelloFresh to open sustainable production complex
Next month, the world’s largest meal-kit company will open its third Australian production and distribution hub just south-east of Melbourne. HelloFresh claims its new ‘Tuckerbox’ will exemplify sustainability. Read more
Cows switch diet to seaweed in new South Australian facility
A novel algae-based feed that curbs cows’ methane emissions by up to 99 per cent and is sustainable to produce is just one of the ‘green’ innovations at Pirie Meats’ $90m processing facility. Read more
COVID-19 adds fuel to four big beverage trends in APAC region
Four major trends are driving beverage innovation across the Asia-Pacific co, and they have only been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic driving increased interest in healthy products. Read more
Singapore to offer first undergrad course on meat alternatives
A new course to be offered by Nanyang Technological University from August will explore sustainable alternatives to conventional meat and key technologies including cultivated meat, plant-based protein and fermentation. Read more
Events
A thirst for solutions: Achieving water optimisation in cities
Wed 30 June, from 7pm
The focus of this free webinar hosted by The Economist is on conserving water resources in the cities of the future. Read more
Healthy Ageing APAC Summit
13-15 July, from 11am
The third Healthy Ageing APAC Summit in Singapore will address the opportunities inherent in this growing market sector. Read more
IFT’s FIRST 2021
20-22 July, from 12.30am
Hosted by the US-based Institute of Food Technologists, FIRST explores the science and business of food technology. Register as an attendee or join for free as a ‘Solutions Exchange VIP’. Read more