Sustainable Farming

CSIRO provides research activities from quantitative genetics, to precision plantation management, to smart paper and wood products of the future.

 

CSIRO Plant Industry conducts research to promote profitable and sustainable agrifood, fibre and horticultural industries, develop new plant products and improve natural resource management.

The latest issue of ECOS provides expert analysis of the draft report of the independent Garnaut Review on emissions trading and the Federal Government’s Green Paper, which outlines the differing proposals for a ‘carbon pollution reduction’ scheme.

A unique Australian plant research centre designed to help tackle major global challenges such as climate change, sustainable agriculture, biodiversity conservation and future food production was launched in Canberra today by Senator the Honourable Kim Carr, Australian Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, and Mr Jon Stanhope, MLA, Chief Minister, ACT.

Australasia’s major livestock industries’ science and agribusiness conference – Horizons in Livestock Sciences – will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 28-30 October 2008.

A symposium in honour of Dr Albert Rovira's 80th birthday and 50 years of his rhizosphere research and leadership.

CSIRO's Healthy Terrestrial Ecosystems theme brings together multi-disciplinary teams to develop new technologies and approaches to promote ecosystem function and prediction to inform biodiversity management, planning and incentives.

Using leading-edge breeding and production technologies to boost the value, competitiveness and sustainability of Australia’s beef and seafood industries.

 

CSIRO’s Catchment Water and Salt Balance team increases our ability to predict changing levels of water and salt in large river basins, exploring the implications of land use change, climate change, salinity and groundwater balance.

CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems has expertise in the rangeland and savannas region of Australia. Current research will supply information to pastoralists to assist them to manage the land to achieve both greater productivity and sustainable use of the natural resources.

This five-minute video shows how Water for a Healthy Country Flagship is one of the biggest water research partnerships in Australian history. Find out how it is improving the management of our water resources.

Australia’s farmers are our climate change 'warriors', and many of them are already meeting the challenges of climate change, with major modifications to the way they produce our food. In this podcast, Dr Mark Howden from CSIRO’s Climate Adaptation Flagship, explains how farmers are dealing with challenges such as lower rainfall and irrigation allocations. (4.51)

The Gungahlin Homestead in the Australian Capital Territory, is an historic site in the north of Canberra that now serves as head office for CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems.

The CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems laboratory in Alice Springs conducts research that addresses regional futures, indigenous livelihoods, conservation planning and management, sustainable agricultural systems and knowledge management in arid and semi-arid rangelands.

Read and sign the licence agreement to use the software designed to assist people involved with effluent-irrigated plantations. (5 pages)

Scientists are researching the role of native vegetation as a means of improved pest management strategies for agricultural systems. (2 pages)

"Alpine grazing reduces blazing" is a widely and strongly held view, in both rural and urban regions, concerning fire in Australia’s high country. CSIRO along with its' partners tested this view following the widespread fires in Victorian high country in 2003.

Increasing market preference for grains free of chemical residues is driving research into potential alternative methods of insect control.