A nationwide outbreak of foot and mouth disease; an invasion of a devastating wheat disease; our honeybees completely wiped out. These are just three possible disastrous scenarios facing Australia; they’re…
Improving wheat is a major challenge for agricultural scientists. The world’s population continues to grow – and so does its appetite. Sanjaya Rajaram, winner of the 2014 World Food Prize, used an innovative…
If you’ve stepped outside at lunchtime in Sydney over the past few days, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was more like early summer than the beginning of winter. On each of the past 23 days, the temperature…
Should Australia aim to become Asia’s “food bowl”? How can we help farmers earn more for what they produce? And how can Australia best contribute to global food security? Those are some of the crucial…
Long a favoured model for Australian farmers operating in a risky and precarious industry, cooperatives seem increasingly anachronistic as greater numbers move toward demutualisation. This is a mistake…
Rusts are a type of fungal disease that affect many plants, including wheat and some fruits. In Australia, rusts are a particular concern to wheat and barley farmers, with whole seasons’ crop sometimes…
Changing climate, drought and urban expansion threaten the yield of Australia’s wheat. But changes in cropping methods could address reduced water and lead to a jump in yield not seen since the late 1980s…
Australia’s status as a major wheat exporter means we have a special role in helping the rest of the world eat. But with a changing climate, and so much of the world’s wheat being used as animal feeds…
A new type of wheat bred with a gene that removes sodium from water can outgrow conventional strains by up to 25% in salty soils, Australian scientists have found. The breakthrough by a team from CSIRO…
The Conversation asked CSIRO scientist, Richard Richards, to look at the top five myths about genetic modification (GM), and correct the public record. Myth one: GM is just haphazard, imprecise cross-breeding…