COGGO chairman, Rhys Turton, said COGGO is pleased to announce a new round of funding for innovative research and development projects aimed at improving the profitability and sustainability of the WA grains industry.
Projects can target any part of the WA grain supply chain that benefits WA grain growers. Funding for projects can be in the range of $20,000 to $75,000 per annum over a project life of one or two years, to a maximum of $150,000.
"We are set up for another stellar year, but the shine is definitely tempered by the huge rise in input costs. This reinforces the need for continuing research to help grain growers improve the productivity and sustainability of our farming systems," Turton said.
"COGGO has a long history of providing catalytic funding for new research and development ideas and have seen many past recipients make a significant impact on returns for WA grain growers," he said.
Examples of COGGO-funded projects already underway include:
- Mingenew Irwin Group: A project to build a biobed prototype and demonstrate the principles of biobeds for use on farm with the aim of containing waste contaminated spray liquid.
- Edstar Genetics: A project aimed at developing higher protein wheat varieties that are entered into the National Variety Trails (NVT) with the accompanying data on protein content, dough extensibility and dough strength.
- Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development: Using high throughput sequencing technology to transform disease surveillance.
- CSIRO: Identifying opportunities to integrate a spring-sown summer crop into winter wheat-based cropping system in WA.
- Murdoch University: Identifying and combine the best alleles from two genes to achieve maximum pod shattering resistance in narrow-leafed lupins.
The Expression of Interest applications close 1 July and the form can be found at https://www.giwa.org.au/industry-hub/coggo/
