Table of contents

From our Chair and CEO
Spotlight on food and nutrition security
Connecting the NextGen
Mentoring grows
Master classes taking it to the next level
A snapshot from our State & Territory Programs 
Our people
Financial reports

INTRODUCTION

FROM OUR CHAIR AND CEO

Our public awareness program continued to bring national attention to important issues around food and nutrition security, to the impact of agricultural research for development and to the work of the Fund and our partners. Some key activities for this quick year in review were:

• the production of a successful 2018 Conference, “Reshaping Agriculture for Better Nutrition: The Agriculture, Food, Nutrition, Health Nexus,” which was addressed notably by The Hon Julie Bishop, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Prof Andrew Campbell, CEO of ACIAR and Dr Sandro Demaio, CEO of Eat Forum
• the staging of the 2018 Sir John Crawford Memorial Address, “Food, Climate Change and National Security,” by Ms Frances Adamson, Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
• the awarding of the prestigious Crawford Fund Medal to Dr Bob Clements
• organising a well-attended and nationally reported National Press Club event with Dr Shenggen Fan, Director General of IFPRI addressing “Is the World Food System Broken?”
• our Food Security Journalism Award and visit to ICARDA Morocco by two Australian journalists adding to the year’s significant national media coverage
• a new website and branding were developed and launched
• our monthly e-newsletter was maintained
• our social media audiences grew on our Twitter, Facebook and YouTube channels, and we added a new Instagram account to our online presence, so important to reaching the next generation.

It could be argued that new life has been brought to the Fund and our activities through our efforts for even greater involvement and encouragement of the next generation in agriculture for development, our 'NextGen'. During the year we:

• continued our training and networking events with the Researchers in Agriculture for International Development (RAID) network, who have separately reported on their year
• boosted our student awards from 14 to 22 opportunities for young Australians to incorporate an international component in their university studies, often with ACIAR or international research centres, for which they have all reported their experiences
• supported 24 of the 44 conference scholarships who all provided reflections on the benefit of what they learned from the conference and from the related mentoring and scholarship activities, for which we were ably assisted by RAID members and a wonderful set of volunteer mentors
• provided six volunteer placements in our long running mentoring program in Laos
• supported the inaugural AgriEducate Essay Competition, while our Queensland Committee continued another year supporting the Schools Plant Science competition.

The Crawford Fund’s mentoring initiative has grown with the support of our State and Territory programs. Our NSW Committee has supported mentoring for ten years in Laos, and more recently other States have supported work in Cambodia and Vietnam, with experienced Australians working to develop further capacity in technical and organisational skills and expertise on agricultural projects. In 2018-2019, we extended our mentoring into Timor Leste, supported by our NSW and NT Committees; in Tonga, supported by our Tasmanian Committee, and a scoping visit for mentoring needs in West Timor was supported by our SA Committee. Mentoring is now underway across plant pathology, agronomy, livestock, nutrition and forestry.
 
Learn more about some of our recent mentoring activities:

• Mentoring in Timor Leste to focus on improved nutrition
• Mentoring support around forestry in Tonga

Master Classes continue as the flagship training initiative of the Crawford Fund, with each class offering quality tuition to early and mid-career researchers to build a higher level of expertise as well as a supportive alumni network. Our flexibility means that we are able to respond to demand for repeat training or one-off classes where our partners identify a particular need. This was reflected in our 2018-2019 offering of six master classes, with repeat Master Classes in genebank management, agricultural research leadership and management, fish passages, plant biosecurity, communications and a new master class in land restoration. These involved over 180 participants from 30 countries, including Australians.
 
Read the reports from two of these master classes:

• Win-Wins with Fishways
• Biosecurity Champions Bootcamp

The Crawford Fund’s State and Territory Programs are the linchpins of our practical, short-term, hands-on training, tailored to the needs of an individual or for a group, to increase the practical skills of agricultural scientists or farmers in developing countries. Over the years, we have trained close to 13,000 people in 55 countries. An overview of all the master classes, training, mentoring, scholarships and awards funded this year is available online. The committees also provide significant support for our NextGen activities by funding 22 student awardees and supporting almost half of our 44 conference scholarships, who have all provided reflections; and as noted above, some committees also support mentors in the field. Snippets of the work supported in 2018/2019 are provided below.
 

ACT Committee

Our ACT Committee is led by the long-serving Chair, The Hon Margaret Reid, Former President of the Senate and Coordinator, Dr Tony Fischer, Honorary Fellow at CSIRO. The committee supported four scholars to our conference, with CSIRO’s Evie Packett finding “the conference explained that agricultural research needs to explore food quality, not just quantity”. Jacinta Watkins, an ANU PhD student, found getting out into the field to learn both traditional and modern methods of land preparation a real highlight during her special rice training in the Philippines.

NSW Committee

NSW supported three scholars, six awardees, mentoring visits and a diverse group of training programs. Harry Campbell-Ross, one of the conference scholars, reported he “came away with a stronger drive to pursue international agricultural development” and indeed, like other scholars and awardees, has gone on to be a graduate working at ACIAR. One of the NSW student awardees, Marisa Mitchell from University of Sydney, found her experience in Vietnam as part of the ACIAR SafePork project helped her better understand the challenges the country faces when trying to tackle antibiotic resistance. NSW training included Pig Nutrition and Management in Smallholder Systems in Lao PDR, Strengthening Impact Pathways through Understanding the Adoption Process, and Training on Advanced Bovine Embryo Flushing in Bhutan. And their Capacity Building Program in the Lao PDR in Trade, Crop Health, Biosecurity and Food Safety completed a tenth year with a positive cost-benefit analysis released.

NT Committee

Our NT program is chaired by Prof Helen Garnett, Former Vice Chancellor of Charles Darwin University and coordinated by Tania Paul from CDU. In 2018-2019, the Committee supported Samantha Nowland from the NT Government, with a Conference Scholarship that she found to be “an opportunity to meet a diverse range of passionate people”; a student award to research pearl industry businesses in the Pacific, as part of an ACIAR project, during which she ran training activities to connect researchers through oysters in the tropics.

QLD Committee

Through the Queensland student awards, nine passionate Queensland students were supported to add an international component to their studies. Sonal Channale travelled to ICRISAT headquarters in India, using NextGen sequencing to contribute to increased yields and ultimately increased profits for chickpea growers in Australia and other countries. Tamaya Peressini, who became a graduate student at ACIAR, journeyed to CIMMYT, to evaluate wheat varieties for resistance to tan spot disease. One of the Committee’s three international engagement awards enabled mentoring and training in the South Pacific on the devastating banana bunchy top virus - a biosecurity win for the banana industry.

SA Committee

Our South Australian Committee supported three scholars to our conference with Willa Matchett finding the mentoring “a great way to meet people and feel more comfortable within the space”. Their student awardee, University of Adelaide student Mathu Indren used the opportunity to research biogas. The training they supported included Statistics in Research and Teaching in Agriculture and Environmental Sciences, and Strengthening Impact Pathways through Understanding the Adoption Process.

TAS Committee

There were four conference scholars from Tasmania. For Claire Cunningham, it was her first-ever conference and we are pleased to note in her reflection she said, “it truly inspired me to continue to pursue my passion for international agriculture and nutrition research”. The Committee’s student awardee, Melinda Sward found in her time in Vietnam in an ACIAR livestock project that “farmers all over are still looking for solutions to feed their livestock when water is limited and always keen to improve how they farm”. They also supported Mentoring for the Head of Forestry and staff in Tonga; a visit to Timor Leste to investigate improved water supply and commercial horticultural production, and funded a study tour of sustainable forest management practices in Tasmania for forestry officers from Pacific Island Countries.

VIC Committee

The four Victorian Committee conference scholars all reported the positive experience for them of the mentoring component of the scholarship. And as the conference had a nexus focus, it was good to read from Stephanie Prado that as “a nutrition student, I felt elated in knowing that I had so much more to learn about agriculture science”. The Committee supported overseas project visits for two student awardees and we can well-appreciate this response by Kimberly Pellosis after her work in an ACIAR project in Timor Leste: “I leave with a heightened sense of appreciation and awe towards agriculture for development, and Australia’s engagement in international agricultural research and development”. Following the Committee’s commitment and repeat training around landcare over the years, they supported another exercise Building Landcare in Uganda, as well as training for Capacity Building for Intercropping legumes in Vietnam and Myanmar, and Enhancing Animal Disease Investigation and Post Mortem Skills through Practical Workshops in Thailand and Bhutan.

WA Committee

The WA Committee’s conference scholars’ reports reinforce the interest in addressing nexus issues with all three agriculture students noting the benefit of a nutrition lens, and James Bidstrup noting he “found it truly inspiring to be able to get to spend time with some of the brightest minds in agriculture”. The WA student awardee, Christian Berger, was another student who was deeply impacted by working in an ACIAR project in Timor Leste and noted “it won’t be the last time that I come to this country”. The Committee’s training during the year included work as diverse as soil fertility in Uganda, and biosecurity and postharvest management in Myanmar.

Here is our general-purpose financial statement (GPFS), containing the Directors' report, financial report and independent auditor's report for the period 1 July 2018 to 30 June 2019.