Highlights this month include a new four-year project to optimise wheat grain drying and a cross-national collaboration to develop cost-effective, sustainable fertigation regimes for greenhouse vegetables. We also profile Charles Darwin University’s Dr Sean Bellairs, and Gareema Pandey, CRC Industry PhD.
Sanitarium teams with UNSW scientists to optimise its wheat-grain drying operation
In the ‘Art of grain-drying’ project UNSW experts in food processing and heat and mass transfer will work with Sanitarium’s R&D division to analyse, then develop protocols that help operators optimise the firm’s whole wheat grain drying process, a critical step in Sanitarium’s manufacturing of favourite breakfast cereal Weet-Bix™. “Understanding the role different variables play in the drying process and how these affect grain properties is important for reducing the residence time – the time for which each batch of grain stays in the dryer – which in turn reduces the cost to the manufacturer,” says project lead and UNSW School of Chemistry Professor, Cordelia Selomulya. “It’s also important for the design of the dryer itself.” Read more
Australian and Qatari scientists collaborate to develop sustainable fertigation solutions
Protected cropping specialists at Western Sydney University have teamed with Qatar University in a project to develop fertigation solutions that reduce fertiliser inputs and promote healthier, higher-yield greenhouse crops. The research “is important to shaping a sustainable food system that cost-effectively addresses food security and quality, and environmental challenges,” says project lead Prof. Zhonghua Chen. “The project findings and our collaboration will help Qatar establish its own sustainable food production system. In the long term, both countries will benefit – in economic return, food security, consumer health and reduction in food production footprints.” Read more
Peter Schutz wins AIFST President’s Award
CRC Board member Peter Schutz AOM has received the 2021 Australian Institute of Food Science & Technology President’s Award for his outstanding contribution to the Institute and to the Australian food industry. Read more
Meet Sean Bellairs: native crop and revegetation specialist
Charles Darwin University’s Dr Sean Bellairs specialises in breeding and establishing plants indigenous to Australia’s north. He’s also the research lead on the CRC’s ‘Native rice commercialisation’ project. “Northern Australia needs to develop high-value crops. Australian native rice offers this opportunity, as well as economic benefits for Aboriginal people,” he says. Read more
Gareema Pandey: Optimising nutritional content in polytunnel-grown blueberries
Industry PhD Gareema Pandey is working with crop scientists and sustainability experts at Western Sydney University and NSW Department of Primary Industries to improve the nutritional profile of blueberries grown undercover as the post-doc attached to the CRC’s ‘Blueberry nutritional optimisation’ project. Read more
Partner news
Costa Group’s berry venture wins Asia Fruit Award
A joint venture between Costa and Driscoll’s has netted the Impact Award in the 2021 Asia Fruit Awards, with Costa bringing ‘cutting-edge berry varieties, growing technologies and agronomic expertise’ to Driscoll’s blueberry operation in China’s Yunnan Province. Read more
CDU to establish renewable energy microgrid hub
Charles Darwin University has received $2+ million in federal government funds to establish a Renewable Energy Microgrid Hub, leading research into developing innovative, cheap, reliable green power systems. Read more
QUT’s Mackay biomanufacturing facility
Mercurius Australia is set to begin operations at its pilot plant within QUT’s Biocommodities Facility in Mackay. The plant will use the firm’s patented REACH technology to produce valuable renewable chemicals, diesel and jet fuel from sugarcane waste. Read more
UNSW academics embrace sustainability training
UNSW has launched two training modules exploring the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals to support academic staff in adopting SDG principles at work, aiding the university’s sustainability efforts. Read more
Weet-Bix packaging now 100% recyclable
From October 2021, all Sanitarium’s Weet-Bix boxes will include the Australasian Recycling Label, letting customers know the packaging is fully recyclable. Other Sanitarium products will follow. Read more
Events
WSU Research Week symposium: Innovation in Sustainable Food Production
Friday 29 Oct 2021, 1-3pm AEST
Join five experts in the field to learn how innovation and technology can solve key challenges to producing more food sustainably in a climatically uncertain world. The symposium is supported by the CRC. Read more
Potential Pathways to Carbon Neutral Food
3 Nov 2021, 12 noon-1pm AEDT
The focus of ATSE’s latest carbon-neutrality webinar is on reducing major farm sector emissions, methane and nitrous oxide, and the potential for sequestration to help Australia reach net zero emissions by 2050. Read more
APAC Agri-Food Innovation Summit
Tue 16-Thu 18 Nov 2021, noon-8pm AEDT
Explore the role technology plays in building efficient, resilient, sustainable agrifood supply chains to cater to today’s fast-changing consumer market at this year’s hybrid-format Summit in Singapore. Read more