The chairmen of the eight committees that advise the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Northern Panel on research directions for Queensland and northern New South Wales will learn more about stripe rust during their regular, annual meeting with the panel this week.

The annual meeting between the Research Advisory Committee chairmen and the panel will be held in Camden, outside Sydney on June 1, with the agenda including a visit to the University of Sydney’s Plant Breeding Institute at Cobbitty.

The institute is the base for the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program, whose scientists have led the campaign to control the spread of stripe rust in recent years.

Northern Panel officer Shona Tidswell said the formal meeting, and the presentation to the panel of each year’s annual Priority Issues Paper, were designed to feed the northern region industry’s research concerns and priorities through to the GRDC.

“The paper ranks grower research priorities in each sub-region – four each from Queensland and New South Wales – and the GRDC makes a formal reply to each submission,” Ms Tidswell said

“Each RAC has six to eight grower members, one researcher and three industry personnel, all appointed for three years.

“As well, nominees from the Queensland and NSW departments of Primary Industries, CSIRO, universities involved in grains research and the GRDC’s Northern Panel also attend meetings.

“Each RAC holds two meetings a year, usually in February and July/August, where members debate and prepare the annual Priority Issues Paper, which is produced in June and presented to the GRDC to assist in the process of recommending investment priorities for future years”

Ms Tidswell said the four Queensland RACs – Central Queensland (Dawson/Callide and Central Highlands), the Darling Downs, the Western Downs/Maranoa and South-East Queensland (the Burnett, Lockyer and coastal regions) operated under the auspices of Queensland’s Grains Research Foundation (GRF).

The NSW Farmers Association supported a total six RACs, with four in the northern region:

• NorthWest (west of the  Newell Highway , including Narrabri and Moree, and north of the Castlereagh Highway, including  Coonamble & Walgett),

• North East (east  of the Newell Highway, from the Liverpool Range to the Queensland border),

• Central West  (west of the Newell Highway, including Gilgandra to Dubbo, and south and west of the Castlereagh  Highway, including  Collie, Warren and  Nyngan ), and

• Central East (east and south of the Newell Highway, including Coonabarabran, Coolah and Merriwa, to the Macquarie Valley, including Gulgong & Wellington).

“Grains representatives from the NSW Farmers Association, the chairman of Queensland’s Grains Research Foundation and relevant GRDC officers will also attend the Camden meeting,” Ms Tidswell said.