by Peter Reading
The Crop Doctor
Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC)

I was pleased to be able to speak to some 400 advisers and consultants at just two gatherings in recent weeks about the many changes occurring in the Australian grains industry.

They'd got together at the two-day, technically focused Research Updates for Advisers the GRDC organises at Dubbo and Goondiwindi every year.

Some 65 per cent of Australian graingrowers say they now rely on consultants as their primary source of agronomic advice, and the effort the GRDC puts into the Dubbo and Goondiwindi Updates reflects that reality.

Like all Updates, they drew on expertise from the GRDC's research partners - the NSW and Queensland DPIs, CSIRO and the universities - and the private sector

The principal point I made at both events was that the grains industry must get more bang for the research buck, because the total dollars spent is unlikely to get any bigger and it is essential that there is a more coordinated approach to grains research and development.

The GRDC estimates that about $250 million goes into grains research in Australia every year, about two per cent of farm gate value, with 47 per cent of the money flowing through the corporation.

A key point that I made at both events was that the state governments are still the biggest investor in grains research, taking into account what they put into their state departments of agriculture. Other key investors include the CSIRO, the CRCs, the universities and private capital.

That's on top of the funding that comes to the GRDC to complement our levy income; the Australian Government currently contributes 38 per cent of the corporation's budget.

GRDC has a strong commitment to achieving a national approach to grains research and development, working across state and regional boundaries.

The proposed national, barley breeding program is an example of that strategy. It proposes three hubs - northern, southern and western - committed to collaboration with one another and response to market signals.

Those signals will come from industry through a new collaborative organization, Barley Australia. It's a real example of the national strategy working, and we want to achieve the same thing in pulses.

The Crop Doctor, Peter Reading, is managing director of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC), Canberra.