Centre for Plant Success to help boost food production under climate challenges

12 August 2022

Centre for Plant Success to help boost food production under climate challenges

The Australian Research Council (ARC) yesterday launched the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture (Centre for Plant Success), whose work will be vital to helping secure a sustainable and productive future for plants, in Australia and around the world.

The research at the Centre for Plant Success will establish Australia as a global leader in evolutionary systems biology - how plants work and evolve - and give plant breeders more predictive power for more successful crops.

ARC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ms Judi Zielke, said the Centre’s work will only become increasingly important as our climate continues to change.

“As the amount of arable land decreases, we need research that boosts food production and gives plant breeders the analytical tools to better predict successful crops,” Ms Zielke said.

“As the only ARC Centre of Excellence focused on plant science in Australia, the Centre for Plant Success will play a central role in boosting future food production and developing conservation policy at a national level.”

The Centre is receiving $35 million in ARC funding over 7 years to research and develop innovative strategies to help improve the productivity of plants and their resilience to heat and drought.

Led by Professor Christine Beveridge at The University of Queensland, the Centre for Plant Success benefits from a multidisciplinary team that is not only future-proofing crops and native plant species, but is also modernising outdated legal and social frameworks, and advancing evolutionary systems biology.

By combining knowledge across biology, mathematics, and technology, the team will provide plant breeders with the ability to forecast the impact that drought and heat will have on different crops and native plant species.

“I am also pleased to note that the Centre will also advocate for recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous peoples in the development of native plants for agriculture,” Ms Zielke said.

The Centre is a collaboration between The University of Queensland, the University of Tasmania, Queensland University of Technology, Monash University and The University of Western Sydney, international experts, government, research, and industry partners.

The Centre will establish Australia as a global leader in these areas, transforming plant science for the next generation.

Media contact: 

ARC Communications
0412 623 056 or communications@arc.gov.au