EIGHT University of Western Australia (UWA) postgraduate students presented diverse PhD research projects at The UWA Institute of Agriculture ‘Frontiers in Agriculture Postgraduate Showcase 2010’, proving to an audience of farmers, academics, scientists, industry and government representatives that agriculture’s future is in very capable hands.

WITH over 45 years of farming experience, Ray Harrington has invented the Harrington Seed Destructor to potentially save Australian agriculture billions in its fight against herbicide resistance.

THE development of the Harrington Seed Destructor (HSD), which processes and pulverises common weeds, is a story of scientific trial and error coming together with serendipitous relationships.

WITH increasing population placing food high on the global agenda, WA researchers are at the forefront of sustainable, profitable, high-yield agriculture.

As part of its Woody Crop Harvesting System project, Future Farm Industries Cooperative Research Centre (FFI CRC) will officially launch the prototype Mallee Harvester in Narrogin on 13 April 2010.

IN the past 10 years 38 agricultural science graduates have successfully completed fourth year honours research projects with The University of Western Australia (UWA) based Western Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI).

AS the major managers of turfgrass in suburban Perth, local government authorities are under increasing pressure to reduce water use and improve water use efficiency, while still providing and maintaining quality community recreational and sports facilities.

FOR his contribution to herbicide resistance research, pioneering plant scientist UWA Winthrop Professor Stephen Powles is the recipient of the 2010 Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Western Region Seed of Light award.

A PERTH company has developed a process that will deliver water supplies, renewable energy for the power grid and increased crop yields, while potentially addressing issues of soil salinity and fertility.

PERTH-based agricultural biotechnology company NemGenix has finalised a Federal Government grant this month under the “Climate Ready” funding program, to develop drought resistant sugarcane – the world’s leading biofuel crop.

NEW research shows that several weed species have grown resistant to the most widely used herbicide in farming, glyphosate.

A RECENT reunion of 1972 agricultural science graduates from The University of Western Australia (UWA) revealed the diversity of career paths taken.

MELILOTUS siculus is shaping up as the new plant that will make salt-affected land a more productive part of the farm – a productive legume that produces high quality feed and fixates nitrogen to enhance compliment grasses.

BY increasing levels of organic carbon (OC) in soil farmers may be able to benefit from emissions trading schemes to offset greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improve soil fertility.

A SHEEP farm in WA’s wheatbelt region has been selected as the site for a unique salinity containment study being carried out by the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA) in conjunction with Wheatbelt Natural Resource Management.

ACCORDING to University of Western Australia (UWA) Winthrop Professor and Institute of Agriculture director Kadambot Siddique, one of the most pressing questions in his field is “Can agriculture adapt to climate change?”

PLANT breeders around the world have highlighted the need to develop plants with the ability to become dormant over the summer months and survive the expected hotter and drier climates of the future.

A GROUP of researchers at Edith Cowan University are developing a weed identification system for the farming industry that aims to specifically detect and target weeds, eliminating the need for blanket spraying.

Genetically modified (GM) canola trials have begun in WA and pro-GM scientists say the debate, which surrounds biotechnology as a whole, needs to be based on sound science and widely-available information.

According to Professor Mark Tester, director of the Australian Plant Phenomics Facility, traditional techniques for gene modification limited modifications to those occurring between closely related organisms. Pro-GM advocates believe a firm scientific grounding ensures the safety of GM foods / Image: Istockphoto

“New GM can be used for similar types of gene modifications, but it also enables the transfer of genes between any two organisms, including between a plant and an organism from another kingdom,” Professor Tester says.

Professor Tester says the risks from many GM applications are not too different to their conventionally-bred counterparts but it would be wrong to say differences did not exist.

“Each GM case must be considered separately by plant scientists and concerns raised that are unique to new GM should be seriously considered to assess their validity.

Professor Tester says even if a particular concern is valid, it is important that neither side of the debate resort to over-simplified generalisations or opportunities for the wider use of new GM technologies could be permanently lost.

“One can question some of the current commercial applications, and I think it’s fair enough to ask those questions, but this doesn’t mean that all applications of GM will necessarily have these types of DNA for which questions can be asked.”

According to Richard Oliver, professor of molecular plant pathology at Murdoch University, GM crops are likely to increase health by reducing yield loss, herbicide and fungicide use, and mycotoxin contamination.

Professor Oliver says as a plant scientist, consumer and parent, he is happy to eat GM foods because all reasonable testing has been done.

“You can always speculate that the fourth generation of people who use a dash of GM-grown canola oil on the fourth Tuesday of every month might get more cold sores, in 80 years’ time.

“We can’t formally rule it out but we also can’t readily do an experiment to test the idea.

“Some ideas don’t lend themselves to experimental testing - do we need to test that using a parachute is a safer way of jumping out of aeroplanes than not using a parachute?”

Professor Tester says scientific research often involves a level of assumption-based reasoning.

“I guess the issue with GM crops is that you do tests, more tests than any other food products, but they still haven’t demonstrated absolute certainty about safety.

“Sure we could always do more food testing but where do you stop?”

Professor Tester says people are right to ask questions about GM because it’s a new and powerful technology.

“When it comes to GM, it is important to give people as much information as possible and we really need to have this type of dialogue to try to chip away at people’s conceptions.  “All of this discussion is much less relevant if we think we are just changing genes that are in the plants at any rate and not producing a product that is significantly any different to what a breeder would produce.”

Professor Tester says in his own work he is trying to make plants more salt-tolerant.

“We’re actually messing with plant genes in plants and turning them on with promoters which are DNA that come from plants.

“It’s just plant genes in plants and I really don’t think that’s hugely different to what breeders have been trying to do for 10,000s of years.

“If you get something like Monsanto’s BT toxin, you can ask hard questions about that, and I think that’s fair enough, but when it comes to me messing with salt transporters in the roots of wheat plants, well… I really think you should be asking me a different set of questions.”

Historically, many controversies over scientific advances are based on ethical concerns and some research into GM foods raises deeply-felt objections by scientists, medical practitioners and consumers. An international agreement on bio-safety, the Cartagena Protocol, defines a genetically modified organism (GMO) as any recipient of manipulated nucleic acids, including DNA.