Pastures Australia will manage and coordinate future investments in pasture improvement and drive increased returns from pastures in Australian farming systems.
Pastures play a vital role in the production of meat, wool, grains, milk and fodder, and it is the generic nature of pastures that provides an opportunity for coordinated effort by the five reseach and development corporations: Australian Wool Innovation, Grains Research and Development Corporation, Meat and Livestock Australia, Dairy Australia and the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation.
Pastures Australia will provide a mechanism for increasing communication and cooperation along the value chain for pastures: from breeder to commercial seed company to producer.
It will make strategic investments to increase the efficiency of that value chain, but will not invest in activities that will compete with the private sector. Future investments in plant breeding will be subject to analysis of the market demand for the product and evidence of market failure in the private sector.
Pastures Australia will be the vehicle for future investment in annual and perennial grasses and legumes, shrubs and herbs. Early investments will be focussed on increasing the adoption of new pasture varieties in farming systems by:
- Increasing knowledge and understanding of the agronomy and management requirements of new
- Providing a “one stop shop” website where producers can source information on pasture varieties, their adaptation and performance under different environmental conditions.
Pastures Australia will also be investigating the potential to utilise new genetic tools and breeding technologies to reduce the time taken to develop new varieties and demonstrate their genetic gain over standard industry varieties.
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