In this November edition:

• November Director's message
• Talking irrigation and agritech adoption with J. Matthew Pryor
• CSIRO and ANU Digital Agriculture PhD Scholarships
• Gondwana Genomics publish study on eucalyptus traits
• Plant Biology meets Computer Vision – interdisciplinary ANU research project reimagines plant phenotyping
• Agriculture and the Circular Economy
• The benefits of Agrivoltaics in agriculture
• Ecosystem approach to food insecurity a first for Australia
• Did we underestimate the health effects of the Black Summer bushfires?
• Opening the farm gate to diverse careers in agriculture
• Funding Opportunities

In October the Australian Government released the most recent edition of the National Agricultural Innovation Policy Statement. The Statement provides an up-to-date overview of the Agricultural Innovation Agenda and how a range of investments are being deployed to help greatly increase Australia’s annual agricultural productivity growth. 

In this Director’s Message, I briefly explore some of the key pillars of the Agricultural Innovation Agenda and areas where further development is needed. Read on for more information.

Recently Sarah Biggerstaff from the CEAT team caught up with J. Matthew Pryor to talk about the Up Stream Ag Insights and Agtech so what? report ‘The agtech adoption dilemma: irrigation’ which outlines barriers to irrigation technology adoption among farmers.

The efficient and effective irrigation of crops is essential to the agriculture sector, however only 16% of the world’s croplands are irrigated today, as much as 60% of the water withdrawn for irrigation does not reach the crop, as it is lost through canal leakage, spillage, infiltration and unproductive evaporation*. The report notes that ‘despite the potential benefits, changing irrigation behaviour has proven to be very challenging at scale’, and argues that this is primarily due to human psychology.

CEAT EvokeAG 2022 Travel Grant

CEAT is partnering with AgriFutures to bring six researchers from ANU to the country’s biggest agri-food tech event in Sydney on 14 and 15 March 2022. evokeAG. will bring the agri-food innovation community together in the heart of Sydney, where delegates will explore what’s next in agri-tech and food innovation.

Six award recipients selected from ANU researchers and postgraduate students will get the chance to immerse themselves in the innovative agri-food tech on display at the event, connect with industry leaders and explore the hot topics and conversations happening in the global agricultural space, including how research in a number of fields in science and technology can help tackle agricultural challenges.

The program for the event includes a day of workshops on the 14th and the evokeAG conference on the 15th followed by an evening of networking.

This is an excellent opportunity to build connections in the agri-tech sector, listen to successful entrepreneur’s stories, and find out about potential sources of funding.

Successful applicants will receive a ticket to evokeAG valued at $580 each, their travel and accommodation costs will be covered up to $1,000. 

Find out more here.

CEAT Strategic Investment Program

CEAT is pleased to announce the Strategic Investment Program (SIP). This is a funding opportunity open to ANU researchers looking to engage with industry partners to translate their research into solutions that address agricultural sector challenges. The program has three different streams: Scoping, Engagement and Collaboration. You can find out more about the program on the CEAT website.

The Program is open to all ANU researchers and research students. For information about the application process please see the SIP website.