High Value Crops in Sustainable Rural Landscapes

Top crops
Profitable crops adapted for the Victorian landscape

The challenge
Modern farming methods using existing plant varieties are based on the supplementary use of fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation water, often resulting in high production costs and environmental impacts.

The strategy
To breed varieties that require fewer inputs and are less limited by environmental constraints, reducing the costs of production, and often environmental degradation. To produce higher value differentiated products.

The project

• Use genomic technologies to develop varieties with improved tolerance to unfavourable environmental conditions such as drought, salinity and toxic levels of aluminium in acid soils.
  
  
• Develop varieties with an improved uptake of nutrients from soils to reduce the need for fertilisers.
  
  
• Develop pasture legume varieties with concentrated tannins for improved animal health and nutrition, and varieties with natural biocides to reduce the need for pesticide application.
  
  
• Develop varieties with nutritional and nutraceutical characteristics to generate new high value, differentiated food product industries.