Six new Aussie start-ups chosen to accelerate food innovation
Mars Food Australia has selected six innovative food start-ups to take part in the inaugural SEEDS OF CHANGE™ Accelerator program.
Author: R4A
Science can now detect any gluten in any food
Scientists from Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO, can now detect gluten in any food and show which grain it comes from, making it easier for food companies to correctly label their products.
Researchers dish up a digital avocado
It’s an ancient fruit, but the avocado has been brought into the new millennium with the publication of its draft genome, which may be the key to improvements in future crops.
Burp-free cow feed drives seaweed science
A puffy pink seaweed that can stop cows from burping out methane is being primed for mass farming by researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Trading meat for plants would save 29 million hectares of farmland in the US
By replacing meat with protein-conserving plant alternatives Americans could satisfy key nutritional requirements, while eliminating pastureland use and reducing 35-50% of the cropland currently needed for food production. These findings are reported in a modelling study in Scientific Reports, which suggests that use of nitrogen…
Sharing flowers may be deadly for native stingless bees
European honey bees could pass their diseases to native stingless bees simply by feeding on the same flowers, according to Australian research, which found five out of six wild stingless bee hives contained a parasite known to infect the gut of adult honey bees.
Genetics aid kiwifruit gender reveal parties
Since only female kiwifruit produce fruit, horticulturists have been looking for ways to find out whether their plant babies are boys or girls – but usually this relies on waiting for them to grow up.
Sentinel IG sorghum offers Allora growers weed control, highest yield
Allora farmers David and Tanya Peters planted new imidazolinone-tolerant grain sorghum for the first time last summer, and not only did it offer them the option of in-crop weed control, it was their highest yielding sorghum variety.
Five varieties of the spice of life in Northern Australia trial
A new project will test if Northern Australia has the potential to step into the global spice trade worth $12 billion annually.
Help for small agribusinesses to turn food waste into commercial products
Food waste is costing Australia an estimated $20 billion each year, and Australians are throwing out nearly 300 kgs of food per person per year. In Australia, many of the two million-plus small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) struggle with food waste too, and it is difficult for…
Mapping new agricultural export market opportunities for far north Queensland
Far North Queensland producers and exporters will reap the benefits of a significant new project to identify export opportunities for existing and potential high value agricultural products.
Developing cleaner, greener fertiliser
Research from The Australian National University (ANU) has produced a method that transforms waste into a new fertiliser.