Using robotics to surmount labour challenges in commercial horticultureFrom mobile platforms to deliver automated crop-tending services to banana de-handing robots, QUT's Dr Chris Lehnert is helping cut labour costs to Australia’s indoor cropping sector.
FFS project and program leads go globalFuture Food Systems Program and Project leads have been travelling in recent weeks, sharing knowledge, forging connections and promoting FFS’s collaborative research.
FFS PhD student finds cost-effective hands-free way to estimate plant height in protected cropping facilitiesNamal Jayasuriya’s research at Western Sydney University using machine vision to estimate crop-height, a proxy for vegetative growth, has been published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture.
PhD student pitches impress FFS Shark TankFive Future Food Systems-backed PhD students pitched their research to a 'Shark Tank'-style panel of experts at the annual Networking Night. Which was the most convincing?
Angus Dingley, PhD student: Improving warm-zone raspberry cultivationUNE's Angus Dingley is exploring how temperature extremes affect pollination in polytunnels to help growers produce more and better berries.
Gareema Pandey: Optimising nutritional content in polytunnel-grown blueberriesAs CRC Industry PhD student attached to the 'Blueberry nutritional optimisation' project, 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.
LLEAF takes its sunlight-shifting, growth-enhancing films globalSydney-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%.
Claudia Vacca, PhD student: Boosting resilience in Broccolini™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.
Future Food Systems represented at events around the worldIn July. Future Food Systems staff, research leads and PhDs represented FFS, our projects and our mission at conferences and agrifood events nationwide.
Mazadul Islam, PhD student: Making glasshouse fertigation more sustainableFFS PhD student Mazadul Islam is working with experts in two nations to find more sustainable ways to fertigate indoor vegetable crops.
Hort Innovation explores tech-enabled solutions to berry-sector labour woesHort Innovation consulted berry growers Australia-wide to identify viable, cost-effective technology to address one of the sector’s greatest challenges: harvesting labour.
LLEAF launches vast ‘solar lab’ on Sydney’s Northern BeachesFFS partner LLEAF has opened a large-scale ‘solar laboratory’ to trial its light-spectrum-shifting, crop yield-boosting agricultural films in commercial glasshouse conditions.
First national map of Australia’s protected cropping structures launchedLaunched 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.
FFS PhDs tour National Vegetable Protected Cropping CentreOn 14 June, FFS staff and PhDs visited Western Sydney University Hawkesbury campus and the $7m National Vegetable Protected Cropping Centre.
A fresh R&D agenda for crops grown under coverA new, stakeholder-set R&D strategy aims to address industry challenges and support smart, sustainable growth in Australia’s protected cropping sector.
Optimising CO2 use to boost tomato yield, cut inputsCosta 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.
Meet Onoriode Coast: Abiotic crop stress expertCoast’s expertise in crop responses to environmental stress has helped growers globally. Now he’s lending it to leading grower Costa.
Meet Brajesh Singh: Functional ecology & soil biology expertA world-leading plant microbiologist and Director of the Global Centre for Land-Based Innovation at Western Sydney University, Dist. Prof. Singh leads a FFSCRC project developing bio-based solutions to combat key root pathogens in Australia’s protected cropping systems.
National PC map proves its value in recent NSW varroa mite incursionThe 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.
Harvesting stakeholder insights on protected cropping R&DHort Innovation and Protected Cropping Australia held a Summit on 17 March to develop a fresh R&D plan for the sector.
