September is Biodiversity Month, an opportunity to reflect and promote the importance of nature in all its diversity. Maintaining plant biodiversity in nature and increasing the diversity of agricultural crops are core aims of the Centre for Plant Success and we look forward to celebrating our achievements in this space in September each year. It has been an exciting and successful time down
Captivated by carnivorous plants from a young age, Francois Barbier never doubted that he would one day become a plant scientist. Years later, with a PhD on the role of sugars in triggering shoot branching in the rose, he had a chance encounter with Prof. Christine Beveridge in Paris, which led to him taking up a post-doctoral position in 2015
It is with pleasure that I welcome you to the first edition of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture newsletter. This newsletter will be one of the ways we will keep you up to date with all the activities happening in the Centre and we hope that you find great value in it. Since
Plant Success Chief Investigator, Eloise Foo was announced as the co-recipient of the Royal Society of Tasmania MR Banks medal in 2020 for her work on plant-microbe interactions. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the ceremony was delayed until 16 August 2021, with Eloise invited to accept the award at Government House in Hobart. The Governor of Tasmania, the Honourable Barbara Baker presented
Professor David Jordan’s outstanding dedication to the Australian grains industry and the advancement of sorghum as a versatile and profitable crop has been recognised this year with his win of the Kondinin Group and ABC Rural 2020-21 Award for Excellence in Agricultural Research. Prof Jordan’s impact on the sorghum industry both within Australia and globally, through his leadership at the
Even the largest crop breeding companies are wondering how to meet demands for food supply given a projected 25% increase in global population over the next 30 years. How can we do it sustainably without destroying more land? The Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature & Agriculture will produce technology to enable existing and
The ARC CoE for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture will make significant advances in the emerging fields of evolutionary systems biology (how plants work and evolve) and predictive analytics (mathematics) to deliver novel strategies for improving ecosystem management, crop resilience and yield. Parallel advances in legal and social frameworks will modernise outdated precedents in these areas, enabling greater scope
Better understanding plants’ complex environmental and food-producing roles is the focus of a new global research program being led by The University of Queensland. The University of Queensland is spearheading an ambitious global research program to fundamentally change the approach to plant breeding to lift the performance of food crops and the sustainability of plants in nature. The intention, under
Reproductive failure in maize has long been studied in plant science. Now, for the first time, it has been quantitatively synthesized. Maize is the most important food crop in Sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, and is a key Asian crop. By 2050 the demand for maize in the developing world is expected to double, while yields are expected to decline due
Parsimony and biological reality are often seen as antagonistic goals in plant modelling. Hammer and colleagues argue that isn’t always the case, and combining the two approaches could bring benefits to scientists as well as plants. Plant modelling is speeding up crop improvement by testing outcomes in silico, but how can these models be made more effective? Some argue for more
