John Harvey discusses the International Wheat Yield Partnership, a 12-country effort to boost wheat yield by 50%. GRDC is investing AUS$10 million over three years. Five of eight global projects include Australian involvement, with three led by Australian researchers.
Questions this video answers
12
50% increase in yield potential
AUS$10 million over three years
Eight projects identified globally; five involve Australian researchers, of which three are led by Australian researchers
About 40%
Chapters
John Harvey, thanks for joining us on Groundcover tv. Good to see you again.
Afternoon.
The International Wheat Yield Partnership. What's that all about?
Well, the International Wheat Yield Partnership, or IWIP, is a partnership of 12 countries that have come together to set a target of increasing wheat yield potential by 50%. And that's a challenge which we can't do here on our own in Australia, and requires the best of the best researchers from around the world to come together to achieve that target.
To what extent has GRDC invested in the partnership?
Well, we're putting $10 million into that project over three years, and eight projects were identified globally, of which five of those eight projects have got Australian involvement, Australian scientists, research scientists involved, and of those five, three are actually being led by Australian researchers. And I think that really demonstrates the calibre of our researchers here in Australia and how they are esteemed and recognised right around the globe.
As a result of Australian researchers success in being selected, what's GRDC's investment in iWip going to be?
Look, we will be supporting the Australian component of the research, the Australian stream, but the real advantage for us is that our best of our best researchers are now working with the best of the researchers from other countries. So bringing that effort together, I mean, these challenges are bigger than any one country, they're bigger than one organisation. So building that international collaboration, getting these people to work together, really gives us a much, much stronger confidence that we'll actually be able to achieve that really ambitious goal of increasing wheat Yield potential by 50%.
Where does this kind of research fit into GRDC's overall strategy?
About 40% of our portfolio is in what we call longer term investments, investments which typically involve international collaboration, but other sort of technologies that will give you that sort of improvement in yield, like the 50% we're aiming for here. We've got to be investing for those sort of returns and on those scales. And that's really looking to the future, looking to the current growers that are currently farming in Australia, but also the next generation coming through and making sure that they've got the tools, the genetics, to ensure that the Australian grains industry continues to be profitable right through into the future.
Tell me about that problem. Have we run out of steam in pursuing yield improvements with the genetics that we have?
Well, if you look back over the last 20 years in Australia, wheat yields have doubled over that time frame, but it's not good enough. We can't stand still. We've got to be looking for new genetics, we've got to be looking for varieties that have that higher yield potential. And in this case, we're going for a really substantial, significant goal of increasing it by 50%.
So it must be pretty exciting to be part of an internationally collaborative effort of this calibre.
Well, there's a couple of things that are exciting about it. First thing is, we've got not only Australian scientists, but the best of the best in the world, focused on a problem which is really significant to Australia. So that's pretty exciting. It's great to see our researchers here in Australia being recognised, being recognised on the international stage for their skills and their expertise. But ultimately, what we're about, at the end of the day, is improving growers profitability. And I think these are the sort of projects which do excite me and are the future of the industry.
John, thanks for joining us once again on Ground Cover tv.
