Greater sustainability and improved nutrition through smart technology and supply chain logistics
Hilmer Building E10, UNSW Sydney
Gate 2, High Street, Kensington, NSW 2033
NSW DPI Agriculture has appointed the head of its Northern Horticulture division, Matt Adkins, as its new Leader for Industry Adoption in a bid to boost farmer uptake of its scientifically based business solutions.
QUT researchers will lead the $6.5 million ARC Training Centre for Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (BITA) that aims to accelerate Australians’ adoption of innovation technologies in health, agriculture and cybersecurity.
In this thought-provoking paper, Sydney academic and urban planner Steven Liaros contends that ‘the transition to a fully circular economy will require a paradigm shift … away from large-scale industrial agriculture to a decentralised network of circular food systems’.
MMI Round 2 grant recipients in the food and beverage manufacturing sector include a pie-bakery keen to expand production, a recycled-packaging manufacturer, a soon-to-be-greener brewery, a supplier of beekeeping systems, and a business looking to install new freeze-drying and processing equipment and technology.
Under its Modern Manufacturing Initiative, the Australian Government is offering $800m in grant funding for large-scale collaborative projects in priority manufacturing areas, including food and beverages.
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.
Hort Innovation, NSW DPI, WA DPIRD and SARDI, have teamed up in a five-year, $28m program to boost quantity and quality in five of Australia’s key fruit and nut crops – starting with citrus.
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 produce products in sizeable quantities.
Discussion at RDA’s Food in the Capital event centred on what’s needed to reposition Canberra and the surrounding region as a sustainable, economically viable agrifood hub.