Agrifutures Australia, formerly the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC), is an Australian

statutory corporation A statutory corporation is a corporation, government entity created as a statutory body by statute. Their precise nature varies by jurisdiction, but they are corporations owned by a government or controlled by national or sub-national government ...

set up by the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

in 1990 to help fund

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

in Australian rural industries.

Origin

The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation was originally formed as a statutory corporation in July 1990 under the ''Primary Industries and Energy Research and Development Act 1989'' (later renamed the ''Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989''). It was set up by the

to work with Australian rural industries on the organisation, and funding of their research and development needs, in particular for new and emerging industries and for national rural issues.

RDCs

The organisation is one of 15 Rural Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) in Australia, and one of the five that is a

, along with

Wine Australia Wine Australia is an Australian Government statutory corporation that promotes and regulates the Australian wine industry. It was created as the Australian Wine and Brandy Corporation (AWBC) in 1981 to replace the Australian Wine Board by the ...

, the

Cotton Research and Development Corporation Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus ''Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cel ...

, the

Fisheries Research and Development Corporation The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) is a statutory corporation that manages research and development investment by the Australian Government and the Australian fishing and aquaculture commercial, recreational and Indigeno ...

and the Grain Research and Development Corporation (the rest are industry-owned). They are funded largely by the government for the purposes of investing in R&D (research and development), with the aim of improving "

profitability In economics, profit is the difference between revenue that an economic entity has received from its outputs and total costs of its inputs, also known as surplus value. It is equal to total revenue minus total cost, including both Explicit co ...

productivity Productivity is the efficiency of production of goods or services expressed by some measure. Measurements of productivity are often expressed as a ratio of an aggregate output to a single input or an aggregate input used in a production proce ...

competitiveness Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, individ ...

and long-term

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

of Australia's primary industries".

Function

Agrifuture's focus is

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

, aiming to improve and grow the profitability of the sector. Australian rural industries and the Australian Government (through the

Department of Agriculture and Water Resources The Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources was a government department that existed between 2015 and 2019, which was responsible for developing and implementing policies and programs that contribute to strengthening ...

) are major partner-stakeholders. It works to attract and help train agriculturalists and future rural leaders, engages in research into important issues for the sector, and helps to develop the potential of new industry, such as

camel milk Camel milk is milk from female camel, camels. It has supported nomad and Pastoralism, pastoral cultures since the domestication of camels millennia ago. Herders may for periods survive solely on the milk when taking the camels on long distances ...

. In addition, it performs R&D for established industries without their own RDCs, such as the

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

, thoroughbred horse, and

tea tree oil Tea tree oil, also known as melaleuca oil, is an essential oil with a fresh, camphoraceous odour and a colour that ranges from pale yellow to nearly colourless and clear. It is derived from the leaves of the tea tree, '' Melaleuca alternif ...

industries. The organisation also hosts the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award to support the role women play in rural and regional businesses, industries and communities.

Funding

Apart from the annual appropriation from the government, funding comes from industry levies and voluntary industry contributions, and government-specific programs, private companies, rural RDCs, state and territory governments and other research providers.

Past research

RIRDC was involved in early work on developing

canola file:CanolaBlooms.JPG, Close-up of canola blooms file:Canola Flower.jpg, Canola flower Rapeseed oil is one of the oldest known vegetable oils. There are both Edible oil, edible and industrial forms produced from rapeseed, the seed of several ...

in Australia, which has gone on to become a major crop, and research for the

tropical fruit There are many fruits that typically grow in warm tropical climates or equatorial areas. Tropical fruits Varieties of tropical fruit include: * Abiu * Açaí * Acerola (West Indian cherry; Barbados cherry) * Achachairú (Bolivian mangosteen; ...

industry saw it expand to more than 400 Australian commercial growers by 2005. RIRDC's research helped improve

yields by 87% per

megalitre The litre ( Commonwealth spelling) or liter ( American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ℓ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cu ...

while reducing water use by 45%. RIRDC's

chicken The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated subspecies of the red junglefowl (''Gallus gallus''), originally native to Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated around 8,000 years ago and is now one of the most common and w ...

meat research led to a new live MG vaccine which holds 40% of that global market and reduced losses in the industry. It also developed three new oaten

hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticate ...

varieties – Wintaroo, Brusher and

Kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

– which are contributed to an export hay market that grew by 200% over the ten years up to around 2005/6. AgriFutures provided a grant of $405,000 in 2019 to Essential Oil Producers Association of Australia for the development of Australian

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the ...

s. In December 2021, AgriFutures Australia created an ''Australian Emerging Tropical Fruits Strategic RD&E Plan'' to identify and promote five tropical fruits with market growth potential; the five fruits were

jackfruit The jackfruit or ''nangka'' (''Artocarpus heterophyllus'') is a species of tree in the Common fig, fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family (Moraceae). The jackfruit is the largest tree fruit, reaching as much as in weight, in length, and in d ...

rambutan Rambutan ( ; ; ''Nephelium lappaceum'') is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae. The name also refers to the edible fruit produced by this tree. The rambutan is native to Southeast Asia. It is closely related to several other ed ...

durian The durian () is the edible fruit of several tree species belonging to the genus ''Durio''. There are 30 recognized species, at least nine of which produce edible fruit. ''Durio zibethinus'', native to Borneo and Sumatra, is the only species ...

dragon fruit Pitaya () or pitahaya () (common names strawberry pear or dragon fruit) is the fruit of several cactus species indigenous to the region of southern Mexico and along the Pacific coasts of Guatemala, Costa Rica, and El Salvador. Pitaya is cult ...

and

longan ''Dimocarpus longan'', commonly known as the longan () and dragon's eye, is a tropical tree species that produces edible fruit. It is one of the better-known tropical members of the soapberry family Sapindaceae, to which the lychee and rambu ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Rural organisations in Australia 1990 establishments in Australia Commonwealth Government agencies of Australia Agricultural organisations based in Australia Funding bodies of Australia Research in Australia