Weed Organisational Situation Analysis

Summary

Professor Weston was commissioned by Meat and Livestock Australia in the autumn of 2011 to develop a situational analysis and options paper. Specifically the paper summarizes the recent history in weed research and extension in Australia and reports on the status of initiatives of specific national funding programs supporting weed research in Australia. In addition, the report describes current or planned initiatives for weeds research and extension, the status of current research efforts including the active organizations, researchers and their general focus as this work relates to the needs of livestock producers. It also suggests potential areas for future research investment that will prove critical to successful IWM initiatives in pastures and rangelands. In recent years, the number of weed scientists performing weed management research related to the Australian meat and livestock industry has significantly declined, and capacity to perform related research may be limited in the future by lack of weed science expertise. Gaps have been identified in recent strategic and applied research efforts and delivery of research findings. Currently, research projects involving weeds of pastures and rangelands are performed independently and research efforts are not generally coordinated nationally or regionally. Although significant federal funding was provided for the 2010-2012 RIRIDC National Weeds Program initiative, a limited number of projects address research of relevance to the Australian meat and livestock industry, and project funding will lapse in 2012.
Three recommendations are made for MLA and PISC agency partners: 

1) that MLA and associated RDCs address the lack of national funding directed towards IWM programs in pasture and rangeland by developing a focused strategic planning process to initiate research in designated priority areas 

2) that new research initiatives be thoughtfully coordinated with pre-existing research programs to address both national and regional needs of the meat and livestock industry 

3) that new research initiatives focus on several priority areas which include:
better methods for surveillance and monitoring of weeds in pastures and rangelands,application of novel biocontrol measures in concert with IWM strategies for enhanced weed managementestablishment of competitive and resilient pasture crops and mixtures for each region resulting in long term reductions in weed infestationgeneration of critical information on the biology, spread and containment of recent weed incursions