AID Review: Research for Development So Vital

Vital role for agricultural research in proposed new International Development Policy

As part of our mission to encourage Australian support for and involvement in agriculture for development, the Crawford Fund is pleased to provide a copy of our submission as part of the process to guide a new Australian development policy. We argue that getting agriculture, food and nutrition ‘right’ in Australia’s overseas development aid provides the underpinning foundations for improving the livelihoods of the poor, environmental sustainability, public health and national economic benefits.

Our chairman, The Hon John Anderson, has had national media coverage to argue the case with an interview on Radio National Breakfast and a national report in ACM papers and online.

Climate Change and Food Security

The impact of climate change denial on food security

Following his opinion piece on inadequate investment to transform agricultural and food production systems, our CEO Dr Colin Chartres spoke with the international development news portal, Devex, on the impact of climate change denial on food security. He explains that Australia is in a prime position to be leading in research and strategies for climate-smart agriculture to create a sustainable industry that will support a food-secure future, but climate denial is impacting this potential.

Student Awards - Application Deadline Extended

Our student awards application deadline has been extended to 26th June

With the disruption to the university year caused by COVID-19, we are extending the closing date for our 2020 student awards to Friday, 26 June.

We proudly support the NextGen with each of our State and Territory Committees providing student award opportunities to university students in their region. These awards have been developed specifically to enable your practical, feet-on-the-ground, involvement in an overseas project as part of your university studies.

So if you haven’t already applied, you now have plenty of time to do so. As we require successful applicants to comply with DFAT travel advice for safety and health purposes and do not know when it will be deemed safe to travel, we will be open to a travel date beyond 30 June 2021 if necessary.

News

Our 2020 Crawford Fund Annual Conference Postponed to March 2021 For our next annual conference, we have a topic that is certainly in the news! The working title is “Food & Nutrition Security - The Biosecurity, Health, Trade Nexus.” Scheduled for 10-11 August 2020, it will now be held in Canberra on 22-23 March 2021 due to  the uncertainty about how long the impact of the COVID-19 virus will be felt. Our scholars program will of course remain a key feature of the event in March. Continue reading

2019 Crawford Fund Annual Conference Proceedings Out Now If you missed the 2019 Crawford Fund annual conference, a key event in the development and food security calendar in Australia, or you want to rediscover the speakers and their presentations, we’re pleased to release the full conference proceedings. These proceedings provide an enduring record of the keynote speeches, overview presentations and case studies, and includes the conference papers. Continue reading

ACIAR: An institution of Which We Can All Be proud A special issue of Agricultural Science, the journal of the Ag Institute of Australia, features the work of Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), to which our mentoring, training and NextGen activities have a close and enduring association. Our Director of Capacity Building Prof Shaun Coffey provided an introduction which noted the contributions that Australian agricultural science is making to improve the productivity, sustainability and resilience of farming systems. Continue reading

The ‘Moving Target of Sustainable Agriculture’ Our Board Member, Professor Tim Reeves, recently addressed a GRDC Update meeting held at Wagga Wagga, responding to the question “Is sustainable intensification of cropping systems achievable?” In opening, he noted that he was drawing on over 50 years’ experience working on sustainable agricultural systems, in Australia and in many countries around the world and the continuing pursuit of the ‘moving target of sustainable agriculture’. Continue reading

Training, Mentoring and Awards

GOAL Master Class in Vietnam Focussed on Asia-Pacific Genebanks The Crawford Fund’s 5th GOAL Master Class, hosted by the Plant Resources Center (PRC) at the Vietnam Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Michael Mackay, Honorary Associate Professor at the Centre for Crop Science at QAAFI, University of Queensland ran the The Crop Trust-supported workshop focused on IT and data management in Asia-Pacific genebanks. Continue reading

Silviculture Mentoring For Forest Action The Crawford Fund’s SA Committee funded the Silviculture Mentoring and Study Tour Program for forester Madan Bashyal, from ForestAction Nepal. Mr Bashyal is working on the ACIAR-funded EnLiFT2 Project in Nepal. The mentoring program provided him with the opportunity to observe and experience both small and large-scale forestry operations. Continue reading

A ‘Fruitful’ Collaboration Dr Chat Kanchana-udomkan, a research fellow at the Environmental Futures Research Institute of Griffith University, received one of the QLD Committee's 2019 international engagement awards to train Mr Andres Godwin C. Sajise, a researcher at the University of the Philippines, on “characterisation of PSRV-P resistance gene sequences for stable molecular selection”. Continue reading

Insects As Aquafeed As part of his Masters of Development Studies, Daniel Waterhouse from Murdoch University recently travelled to Myanmar, with support in-country from Spectrum Sustainable Development Knowledge Network and our WA Committee to investigate the potential of insects as a viable aquaculture feed source that could augment traditional aquafeed ingredients such as fishmeal. Continue reading

Upcoming Training

While it won’t be possible for more mentoring, training or student awards to be undertaken until the threat from COVID-19 passes and DFAT advises it is safe to travel, we will be posting new reports on master classes, training and mentoring carried out prior to us having to restrict all our activities that involve international travel. Check our website from time to time or follow us on our social media channels.

Boosted NextGen Powers Along

Our NextGen project is powering along! 

Our NextGen project is powering along and will continue into a second year, thanks to support from ACIAR. There have been seven NextGen events since our last e-Highlights, with our WA coordinator Prof Lyn Abbott organising a panel for the Science Teachers’ Association in WA; our SA coordinator Roger Wilkes addressing a Rotary event, and RAID members working with us to hold a number of panels and talks around the country including at the Primary Industry Education Foundation Roadshow in Adelaide and the National Association of Agricultural Educators at Yanco.
 
Seven blogs and opinion pieces have been produced around opportunities and advice for young Australians interested in international agricultural research and development, and we've value-added to our outreach by having others use the pieces in Australia, and internationally. Here's some highlights:

How to Get Your Foot in the Door of the CGIAR Centres We came across Dr Brendan Brown as a PhD student at the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine, University of Adelaide when he was awarded a 2014 Crawford Fund conference scholarship. He is now an agricultural innovation scientist at the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT). In this blog he explains his career path from university student to working in a CGIAR centre, part of the world’s largest global agricultural innovation network, and he gives his tips and ideas for navigating the opportunities and challenges along the way. Continue reading

NextGen Event That You Won’t Want To Miss! To continue to boost our work supporting the Next Generation, we partnered with Future Farmers Network to host a webinar on making a global difference through agricultural research for development. The webinar discussed working in developing countries and its benefits to our neighbours and Australian agriculture, as well as discussing professional and personal pathways for NextGen agricultural scientists and researchers. Meet the all-star webinar panel and watch the discussion on our website. Continue reading

RAID Network News

RAID at Uni Open Days As part of the Fund’s NextGen activities, RAID put out the word to State reps around having a presence at University Open Days. Being at UQ Orientation Week, along side the UQ Students Associations for Plant Sciences and Animal Science provided a great opportunity to spread awareness about ag for development, RAID and Crawford Fund Student Awards to university students and early career researchers.

Networking in Perth Our networking event at the Australasian Agricultural and Resource Economics Society 2020 conference in Perth brought together early career researchers with industry leaders, senior academics, Crawford Fund and RAID representatives for a night of short-presentations and networking. The Fund assisted AARES with media again, managing to arrange a radio interview for RAIDer Nikki Dumbrell amongst other notable international economists!

Research Leadership and Management workshop Also in Perth was the latest RAID-Crawford Fund Research Leadership and Management workshop. Lynne O’Brien was once again on hand with RAID members to run the show. ACIAR’s Dr Peter Horne did a wonderful job filling in for the Crawford Fund’s Shaun Coffey and it was great to have our WA Coordinator, Em Prof Lyn Abbot involved - their insights were greatly appreciated by everyone.