THERE’S a new team who’ll be getting the dirt on Australia’s underperforming soils – with our farmers to play a central role in driving research for at least the next 10 years.
On Thursday the sod was turned on the new Soil Cooperative Research Centre, the new CRC for high performance soils, headquartered at Newcastle University and backed by $164m in government and private funding through to 2027.
Immediately, it’s the country’s largest collaborative soil research initiative, representing a collaboration of 39 partners, including eight universities, 20 farmer groups, three state government agencies and eight industry partners.
The centre’s goal is to enable Australian farmers to increase their productivity and profitability, and give them the tools they need to make decisions on farm, be it in New South Wales or South Australia.
Soil CRC chief executive Dr Michael Crawford said the project would tie together expertise from social science, economics, chemistry, biology, agronomy and soil science to find practical fixes for complex soil problems.
Farmers will be crucial to the research, he said.
“We are listening to what they want, and our research programs are designed to address the issues outlined by them,” Dr Crawford said.
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Last year the Soil CRC was successful in its bid to become part of the Federal Government’s expanding Cooperative Research Centres Program.
It’s funded until 2027 with $40 million from the Australian Government, $20 million from Soil CRC partners and $104 million in-kind contributions.
Its headquarters is at the University of Newcastle, a leading science contributor to its programs.
Alex Druce
Politics and rural issues journo in Sydney. Give me a yell at adruce@fairfaxmedia.com.au
Politics and rural issues journo in Sydney. Give me a yell at adruce@fairfaxmedia.com.au
