Newswise — The University of Adelaide has established a new research institute to help overcome the major threats facing world agricultural production.
The new Waite Research Institute aims to ensure profitable and productive agriculture in the face of climate change, increased costs of energy, limited natural resources, urbanization and environmental degradation.
"Agriculture must meet the challenges of the future against a background of declining land and water resources and the impacts that climate change will bring," says the Director of the Waite Research Institute, Professor Roger Leigh.
"The new Waite Research Institute builds on the outstanding research achievements of the University's Waite Campus, which is internationally recognized for research of the highest quality, focused on innovative solutions for improving agricultural systems.
"The research that the Institute will provide – in partnership with government, industry, and research collaborators – is exactly the kind of innovation needed to help the world's agriculture and related sectors to overcome the challenges of today and of the future.
"We need to address these issues from paddock to plate. It's a big challenge for researchers to do this. We've already discovered a lot of the easier solutions to the problems faced to date – we now have to be even smarter," Professor Leigh says.
Research activities in the Waite Research Institute include: plant and pest biology, plant genetics and breeding, integrated farming systems, soil science, food science, wine science, agronomy and agricultural economics.
Outcomes of the Institute's work will include improved farming practices, new plant varieties better able to cope with climate change and disease, greater food security, more nutritious food, improved profitability for farmers, and a decreased environmental footprint for agriculture.
The Waite Campus is Australia's leading agricultural research, education and commercialization cluster. It has the largest concentration of expertise in the southern hemisphere in the areas of plant biotechnology, cereal breeding, sustainable agriculture, wine and horticulture and land management.
As well as University-based research, the campus is home to a number of partner research organizations. Collectively the co-located partners have more than 1000 staff and postgraduate students and an annual research income of more than $110 million.
Vice-Chancellor and President Professor James McWha says the Waite Campus "remains the envy of many universities around Australia and the world".
"The co-location of the University of Adelaide with industry and government partners at the Waite Campus produces unique outcomes that will ensure continued benefits for primary producers, industry, and consumers," he says.
RSS