Government investment for brighter future in food research

Tastier cheese, improved food security and disease-resistant rice are some of the possibilities from $310 million investment in research from the government.

Announcing the funding, Innovation Minister Senator Kim Carr highlighted food research as an area that would help secure a healthier future for Australians.

“Researchers at The University of Sydney will use a $333,000 grant to optimise starter culture strains in cheesemaking. Australia makes over $1 billion worth of cheese each year and this research will ensure its flavour and quality is of the highest standard, as increasingly discerning markets demand.

“The University of Sydney will use a $290,000 grant to understand the fundamental mechanisms that allow the rice blast disease to damage rice harvests. Combating this disease will result in a significant improvement in rice yields in Australia and worldwide.

“With global demand for nutritious, sustainable food set to double by 2050, researchers at the University of Queensland will use a $100,000 grant to undertake the first social-science-based study of food security in Australia. This will help us understand the networks that deliver food from the farm to our door, which could be put at risk from pressures such as climate change,” said Senator Carr.