The contribution of local knowledge and intellectual property to agricultural innovation and food security has been examined in a book published this week by researchers from The University of Western Australia.

Local Knowledge, Intellectual Property and Agricultural Innovation published by Springer was compiled by Professor Michael Blakeney from UWA’s Law School and Hackett Professor of Agriculture Kadambot Siddique, Director of The UWA Institute of Agriculture.

The peanut originated 450,000 years ago, not 10,000 years ago according to research published in this month’s issue of Nature Genetics. This research is expected to put an end to a year-long scientific debate over the timeline of the cultivated peanut.

Researchers from The University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture and University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute have discovered that high levels of genetic diversity and dominant genes in grain crops such as wheat, barley or rice leads to the production of greater yields in hybrid varieties.

A research collaboration led by The University of Western Australia has created a new technique that speeds up the development of seeds, producing better quality and more abundant pulse crops.

Research carried out by The University of Western Australia has found that the most profitable sheep breeding lines for broadacre farming are Merino ewes mated with Merino or crossbred rams, with the biggest earners being market-weight Merino lambs and crossbred lambs.

A mechanical weed chipper designed by engineers and researchers from UWA and The University of Sydney last night won the Rio Tinto Emerging Innovation award category at the 2019 WA Innovator of the Year awards.

Scientists from The University of Western Australia are part of a worldwide team of almost 200 plant scientists that has mapped the gene sequences of more than 1100 plants, the culmination of a nine-year research project.

Director of The University of Western Australia’s Institute of Agriculture, Hackett Professor Kadambot Siddique, has been awarded a prestigious Friendship Award at a ceremony in Beijing today.

A global team including researchers from The University of Western Australia has assessed the impact of fungal contamination in maize and peanuts on the health of women and children in Timor-Leste and found that it was unlikely to cause stunting in children.