The University of Western Australia is hosting 80 scientists from 13 countries whose skills will help revolutionise plant breeding – and vital food production.

It is the first time an OECD-sponsored conference has been held in WA.  UWA and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) are the event’s co-sponsors.

Kununurra born Christian Bloecker expects to return to his family’s 1100 hectare farm in the Ord River Irrigation Area at the end of the year, equipped with a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture and a Bachelor of Economics from The University of Western Australia (UWA).

At 24, he also expects to ‘hit the ground running’ and intends making an impact not only at the family farm level, but also with Stage Two of the Ord River Irrigation Area.

“I see the Ord becoming not just Australia’s food bowl, but South-East Asia’s food bowl and I want to play a role in helping it get there,” Mr Bloecker said.

Recent research conducted at The University of Western Australia (UWA) School of Animal Biology and Institute of Agriculture (IOA) has shown that when it comes to getting sheep in the mood and those reproductive juices flowing, nothing beats a little novelty.

PhD student Trina Jorre de St Jorre has been examining the ‘ram effect’ on ewes where the sudden introduction of rams has merino ewes ovulating within two to three days.

A new centre that recognises the crucial role of research in bringing environmental, economic and social benefits to Australia will be opened tomorrow by The University of Western Australia Professorial Fellow and former WA Premier, Dr Carmen Lawrence.

The Centre for Environmental Economics and Policy, in UWA’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, aims to develop and apply models and decision frameworks that push forward the frontiers of environmental policy design, focusing on scientific outcomes within an economic framework.

Its vision is to improve the management of Australia’s environment through research that leads to more appropriate and cost-effective environmental public policy.

Headed by Professor George Milne of the School of Computer Science and Software Engineering, researchers at The University of Western Australia (UWA) have concluded that a classical swine fever outbreak, starting in north Queensland, could spread widely through Australia’s 20 million feral pigs, potentially posing a risk to Australia’s domestic pig population.

“Our computer model simulated the effect of wild pigs moving across the landscape and showed how classical swine fever could spread among feral pigs in the right seasonal conditions, becoming endemic and almost impossible to eradicate,” Professor Milne said.

Finding it hard to juggle your cropping operation with your sheep operation?  Had enough of feeding sheep in the dark during seeding?  The University of Western Australia is working on some solutions.

UWA Masters student Gus Rose has been investigating the problems faced by time-pressed farmers in a project funded by Land and Water Australia.

“As farm sizes increase and labour gets harder to find, many farmers are focusing on cropping as their core business,” Mr Rose said.

Annaliese Mason, agricultural science PhD student at The University of Western Australia (UWA), has been awarded the prestigious 2008 Mike Carroll Travelling Fellowship.

She will spend six weeks in France researching how to combat potential problems of abnormal chromosome associations in Super Brassica plants.

Announcing the winner at a ceremony at UWA’s Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, Helen Carroll said the Fellowship honoured her deceased husband, former Director General of the WA Department of Agriculture, Dr Mike Carroll.

A series of innovative projects and initiatives have placed the Institute of Agriculture (IOA), The University of Western Australia (UWA), at the forefront of national and international agricultural education and research.

IOA Director, Professor Kadambot Siddique, said plant based food, fibre and industrial raw materials were essential for human survival against the backdrop of escalating input costs and climate change.

Recognising this has led to the development, earlier this year, of  the International Centre for Plant Breeding, Education and Research (ICPBER) at UWA within the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences

Professor Siddique said the Centre addressed the emerging global need for training first class scientists in genetics, biotechnology and plant breeding.

Long term strategies for adapting to climate change will result from a collaborative project between researchers at the Institute of Agriculture (IOA), The University of Western Australia (UWA) and Lanzhou University (LU) in west China.

Professor Kadambot Siddique, IOA’s Director, said the Institute was invited by LU to become a partner in a ‘111 Project’ on sustainable development of agricultural systems in dry and cold ecosystems of the Loess Plateau, Gansu Province, west China.

“The project’s overall objective is capacity building, by training researchers and postgraduate students in characterising dry and cold ecosystems and improving crop and pasture production technologies, land management and animal husbandry practices.