A symbolic ribbon cutting ceremony
marks the official opening of a long
awaited and significant new
grains research facility in Western
Australia.
Borne out of a four and a half
million dollar GDC
infrastructure investment, and
with co-investment from two of
WA's leading universities
and the Department of Primary
Industries and Regional Development.
Oh look the grains research precinct
that we've developed here today
has been three years in the making.
And look, it's going to be concentrating
particularly around plant physiology
and plant pathology,
with our research partners Murdoch
University, DPIRD of course,
Curtin University.
The new $7.45
million dollar research hub is
mostly based at Murdoch University,
which contributed $2.25
million to the project.
The precinct also features a
collaborative research facility at
Curtin University near the Center
for Crop Disease Management.
Glasshouses, field plots and
additional quality infrastructure
and technology across both
campuses will facilitate
world class crop research
in WA.
I think for Western Australia, this
facility, if you look across the
full expanse of what it can do
and in addition to the disease
facility at Curtin, will help to
address some of the biggest
challenges for our grain producers
in Western Australia around both
the biotic stresses and also the
abiotic stresses that they face.
In addition to plant physiology
research, this is state of the art
center offers capacity for
a high level quarantine and analysis
of new plant pathogens,
disease identification and
management and genetic screening
and improvement.
The bottom line, to enable
research outcomes to reach growers
faster and to translate the
findings into the paddock.
It is about accelerating the
research and giving the best
facilities to the researchers
themselves so that we can ensure
that we actually get the outcomes
that growers need.
The WA government, which contributed
a quarter of a million dollars, is
confident these world facilities
will help researchers and growers
keep pace with and anticipate
the increasing challenges facing
the industry across the country.
We know that our farmers
are constantly having to
adapt to adapt to climate change,
adapt to changing geopolitical
conditions, adapt
to changing market conditions.
And they are only able
to do that if behind them
is a whole bank of science
that is producing
new opportunities and improving
their productivity.
The financial and academic
collaboration across two university
campuses positions the facility
to develop as one for the future
in which growers face increasing
climate impacts on production while
global demand for food increases.
The new grains research precinct
will help ensure GRDC's RD&E
partners have quality infrastructure
and the right tools to deliver
for the Australian grains industry.
It will also help maximise returns
on GRDC's investment of
grain grower levies and Commonwealth
government contributions.
We will always invest with the best.
Doesn't matter whether you're in WA
or South Australia or northern
New South Wales.
If you have the capacity and
capability, the best researchers,
we will invest with them to ensure
that we actually generate the
outcomes for growers but always
deliver to the growers regionally.