Research

The $13 million Next Generation Simulator project at Waurn Ponds will allow students, researchers and industry to do cost-effective prototype testing, engineering and commercial product design of driver and driverless cars.

In a first for the Southern Hemisphere, researchers have shown a bacteria can successfully sterilise and eradicate the invasive, disease carrying  Aedes aegypti  mosquito which is responsible for spreading dengue, yellow fever and Zika.    The breakthrough could support the suppression and potential eradication of Aedes aegypti worldwide.

Australian agricultural land prices are set to continue to climb for at least the next five years – with the sharpest growth to 2023 – Rabobank says in its newly-released annual Agricultural Land Price Outlook.

Robert Onfray. Before I started our travels, I recall hearing and reading stories about the parlous state of the Murray River and its basin. These calls are always louder when there is a drought. On our trip, I have spent a lot of time on the Murray, the Lachlan and Edward Rivers, as well as the Murrumbidgee Irrigation area. We also stopped at Wentworth to observe the mouth of the Darling into the Murray River.

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, has purchased a 77-hectare property in Queensland to continue its research in support of agriculture in the north, including new and improved crop varieties, agricultural tools, and agronomy.

The professional association representing some 1,000 forest scientists, researchers and forest land managers in Australia has welcomed the paper  Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness  by Associate Professor and Wiradjuri man Michael-Shawn Fletcher. The Institute of Foresters of Australia and Australian Forest Growers President Bob Gordon said the paper provided an opportunity for solution focused dialogue regarding how we manage our forests, and highlighted the need to engage and work closely with Traditional Owners.

Mark Knowles. A new scientific project, dubbed SpaceCows, aims to help Indigenous rangers track and manage feral herds on their land in Cape York and northern Australia. The joint project, a partnership between Aboriginal land management groups, universities, CSIRO, a satellite company and Microsoft, uses artificial intelligence and data from satellite tracking to predict herd movements.

CSIRO, Australia’s national science agency, the Northern Territory Government, industry and engineering companies have joined forces to develop a path towards rapid emissions reduction across the energy sector in Northern Australia. CSIRO will lead the new consortium in the development of a business case to assess the viability of a large-scale low emissions Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage (CCUS) Hub outside of Darwin.

Once limited to science-fiction, drones and facial recognition technology have since become part of modern life and now the technology is being harnessed to help save Australia’s koalas. In new research being undertaken by Flinders University in partnership with conservation charity Koala Life and the SA Government, non-invasive koala monitoring techniques are being developed using drones and facial recognition technology to count, identify and re-identify koalas.

Widespread global disruption to supply is set to see Australian farmers again move to lock in fertiliser and other inputs early for the season ahead, Rabobank says in a recently-released report. This is despite global fertiliser prices at near-decade highs and expected to remain elevated in the short to medium term.

The World Fisheries Congress might be over, but all of the presentations will be available online for another six months, so it’s not too late  to register. In the meantime, if you missed it, here are some spoilers for you.

A Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) investment has identified the importance of combining cultural weed management tactics with robust herbicide packages in driving down the weed seedbank.

Images beamed back from space are helping Territory farmers plan their harvests including to predict the equipment and number of staff that may be needed. The 3-year trial is winding up this harvest and has studied images of mango trees at different stages of growth to help estimate whether farmers are in for a productive season.

John O'Donnell. The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the state of Victoria, Australia, on 6 February 1851, burning up 5 million hectares. This was 170 years ago.

Minister for Agriculture Adam Marshall will lead a statewide forum bringing together key farming, research and industry players to help farmers manage a spring surge in mouse numbers across NSW.

150 new species have been named in the past year by Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, and its partners. They include tributes to RuPaul and Pokemon to help Australians understand, protect and benefit from our nation’s biodiversity.

Australia's agricultural production is anticipated to reach a record gross value of $73.0 billion in 2021-22, breaking the $70 billion mark for the first time in history ... Herron Todd White’s latest Month in Review report further highlighted the gains being made across Australian agribusiness and the regions which are leading the industry in innovation.

According to the latest ANZ Agri InFocus report, rural land value growth has been outperforming national residential property value growth by a 3% average for the last five years. While the ABS has found that rural land has increased in value by more than 30% in the three years to June 2020.

“For over a century, CSIRO has been working with farmers and governments to improve life on this great land – but today we’re bringing all of our newest science and technology, from Artificial Intelligence to genetics and smart materials, to bear on overcoming our oldest national challenge – drought,” CSIRO chief executive Dr Larry Marshall said.

For the first time in more than 20 years, farmers are having to rethink their strategy for managing flystrike. Recently documented chemical resistance, coupled with wet and warm conditions this spring, means there is the threat of a big flystrike season ahead.

Australian horticulture growers are being urged to contribute to the creation of a high-tech mapping tool to improve biosecurity preparedness and natural disaster response efforts. The National Protected Cropping Map, an initiative being delivered through Hort Innovation and led by the University of New England’s Applied Agricultural Remote Sensing Centre, will capture the location of commercial, polytunnels, shadehouses, glasshouses and permanent nets in every State and Territory of Australia.