Effective engagement with industry and research stakeholders is critical to GRDC’s ability to deliver on its purpose of investing in research, development and extension (RD&E) to create enduring profitability for Australian grain growers.
Because grower profitability is at the heart of GRDC’s purpose, it is essential that growers are actively involved in informing how their levy is applied to RD&E investments. Engagement with stakeholders across the value chain and those engaged in the research, extension, technology and commercial agribusiness is important to understanding the pathways required to deliver innovation to our Australian grain producers. Consultation with stakeholders provides the evidence used in GRDC’s Investment Management Framework to develop high quality RD&E investments for the benefit of Australian grain growers.
Our levy payer engagement has evolved over its existence and is adapted to the specific characteristics and dynamics of Australian grain growing businesses, their communities and their attitudes. We will continue to adapt our stakeholder engagement to ensure it remains fit for purpose.
This consultation plan outlines how GRDC consults with its stakeholders to identify research, development and extension priorities and activities that benefit Australian grain growers with the aim of increasing participation from levy payers.
The Australian grains industry comprises of 22,500 grain farming businesses who pay grains levies that contribute to industry investment in RD&E. GRDC engages with these grain growers directly through:
Direct open consultation on the development of Research and Development Plans made under the Primary Industry Research and Development Act 1989
Direct surveys, including the use of the Grains Levy Payer Register to identify specific levy payer groups.
The Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has appointed Grain Producers Australia and GrainGrowers Ltd as Representative Organisations (ROs) for GRDC. Many State Farming Organisations are either members of or have affiliation to GRDC’s ROs.
GRDC formally consults with the ROs on:
The development of Research and Development Plans made under the Primary Industry Research and Development Act 1989 or the variation of a Research and Development Plan.
Industry priorities for research and development investment.
GRDC provides the ROs with copies of the following documents to allow them to facilitate their role:
Annual Operational Plans prior to their commencement
Research and Development Plans made under the Primary Industry Research and Development Act 1989 at the same time it is submitted to the Minister for approval.
Annual Report as soon as practicable after it has been provided to the Minister.
GRDC reports to the ROs on:
Research and Development activities co-ordinated or funded wholly or partly funded by GRDC and the impact of those investments.
Performance against the R&D plan and Annual Operational Plans.
GRDC formally meets with the ROs through:
An annual meeting with GRDC’s Board of Directors.
Meetings between the Executive of GRDC and the ROs (Chair and CEO/MDs).
Other informal meetings are held on a case-by-case basis to progress agreed industry collaboration and to build an operational understanding between GRDC and representative industry.
GRDC reimburses ROs for travel and accommodation expenses reasonably incurred in consultation activities.
Participants in the Australian grains value chain, both up and downstream from farm, have insight on research and development opportunities with the potential to unlock value for Australian grain growers.
GRDC engages directly with plant breeding companies, commercial advisors and providers of services and crop inputs to grain growers, as well as members of the post farm-gate supply chain, such as bulk handling companies, grain traders and end users of Australian grain. GRDC has also invested in the establishment of Grains Australia Ltd, which is an industry good company which focuses on functions related to classification of Australian grain to ensure alignment to market demands and opportunities, trade and market access and export market information and education.
Members of the value chain are able to engage with GRDC through:
GRDC maintains strong connections with research partners, including state government departments, CSIRO, universities, cooperative research centres, other rural RDCs, and investment partners from the private sector. Effective partnerships with RD&E expertise enables GRDC to remain aware of new ideas and technologies; leverage resources and research capability; share knowledge and intellectual property; and reduce the risk associated with individual, sole-funder investments.
Researchers and private sector innovators are able to engage with GRDC through:
GRDC engages in a range of activities to consult with grain growing levy payers and other stakeholders for the purposes of:
Identifying industry needs and aspirations to develop investment strategies and balance of effort across identified priorities.
Identifying opportunities to invest in research, development, commercialisation or extension activities to resolve specific production constraints and capture opportunities.
Designing research, development and extension outputs to ensure they deliver benefit to Australia’s grain growers when implemented in the grain farming system and across the value chain.
Creating awareness and promoting the adoption of research outcomes.
Improving understanding of GRDC stakeholder engagement.
Developing investment strategy
GRDC Research Development & Extension Plan 2023-28 Consultation
In 2022 and 2023 GRDC engaged in broad consultation to inform the development of the Research Development and Extension Plan 2023-28. The plan outlines our RD&E investment objectives and priorities from 2023 to 2028 and the strategies that we will use to achieve these objectives.
Consultation followed a broad open approach that sought contribution from all interested stakeholders using:
Publication of a deliberative guide (April 2022)
Structured online surveys and interviews (April-June 2022)
Virtual roundtables (July 2022)
Exhibition of a RD&E Plan Exposure Draft (January 2023)
Open submission and web-survey period (January-February 2023).
GRDC also consulted with its ROs on the development of the RD&E Plan throughout the consultation process.
Identifying Opportunities to Invest in Research, Development Commercialisation or Extension activities
GRDC identifies opportunities to invest in RD&E via:
GRDC’s National Grower Network (NGN) helps to capture ideas, issues, constraints and opportunities for RD&E to enhance grower profitability. To achieve this, GRDC will engage with stakeholders through forums that are open to all growers, advisers, researchers and industry parties. The NGN includes both GRDC Grower Forums that are convened across grain growing regions as well as in partnership with existing industry forums.
All issues and constraints raised by attendees at NGN forums are captured on GRDC’s National Opportunities and Constraints Register. The register is a publicly available repository for priority issues raised in each subregion including background to provide context. This information is utilised to inform GRDCs investment portfolio. The register also provides a feedback summary of GRDC investment related to each of the issues.
Times and locations of NGN forums can be found on the GRDC events page.
GRDC’s Grains Research Updates and Farm Business Updates are strategic and innovative programs that deliver cutting edge RD&E and farm business information that will assist growers and advisors to adopt new farming practices and technologies through high profile face to face events held in all grain growing regions of Australia. The Update events also provide growers, advisors and researchers with the opportunity to engage directly with GRDC staff and Panel Members.
Times and locations of:
Grains Research Updates can be found on the GRDC events page
Farm Business Updates can be found on the GRDC events page.
GRDC’s Regional Panel advisory system is a key strength of GRDC. GRDC has three Regional Panels that cover the northern, southern and western grain growing regions of Australia. This model recognises that there are significant differences in environment, constraints and opportunities, and grower attitudes across the Australian grain producing areas. The Regional Panels are primarily made up of grain growers (approximately 10 per region), with some agribusiness practitioners, scientists and a member of GRDC’s executive. The Regional Panels are led by a Chair who is usually a levy paying grain grower.
The role of the GRDC Regional Panels is to:
Identify, prioritise, and advise GRDC on local, regional and national constraints and opportunities to grain grower productivity and profitability
In close collaboration with GRDC staff, assist with communicating to levy payers on GRDC research outcomes and create levy payer awareness of the current research investment portfolio.
Provide advice on individual RD&E investment and the overall portfolio balance in respective regions.
Provide advice on the development of the 5-year RD&E Plan; gap analysis and design of specific R&D investments.
Contact details of all members of GRDC’s Regional Panels are available on GRDC’s website to allow grain growers and other stakeholders to contact them to discuss opportunities for GRDC to invest in opportunities to invest in research, commercialisation or extension activities.
GrainInnovate is a venture capital fund established by GRDC in partnership with Artesian Venture Partners. It seeks to deliver transformational impact on grain grower profitability by investing in companies looking to commercialise new technologies and bright ideas and put them in the hands of grain growers as quickly as possible. Grain growers and other innovators can engage directly with GrainInnovate to discuss opportunities for equity investment.
GRDC has supported the establishment of Grains Australia, which is an industry good company which focuses on functions related to classification of Australian grain to ensure alignment to market demands and opportunities, trade and market access and export market information and education. GRDC engages with the post farm gate members of the grains value chain through Grains Australia to identify opportunities for RD&E that will contribute to the creation of enduring profitability for Australian grain growers.
Growers and other stakeholders are able to contact relevant GRDC staff to engage on ideas, issues, constraints and opportunities for RD&E to enhance grower profitability:
Designing Research, Development and Extension outputs
GRDC’s Investment Management Framework has been designed around developing outputs (knowledge, new practices, new varieties and technologies) that grain growing levy payers are seeking to implement in their farming system or that will create desirable outcomes for these grain growers through the action of others. Engagement with Regional Panels is an important opportunity for GRDC investment managers to understand how proposed research outputs will work in the farming system and in the value chain to create these outcomes.
Often in the design of investments, GRDC staff will recognise the importance of creating specialist groups of end users to provide iterative advice on investment operation. Examples of this include the creation of local advisory committees for the National Variety Trials and the Grains Weeds Advisory Committee.
Creating awareness and promoting the adoption of Investment outcomes
Grower awareness and adoption
GRDC's Communications and Extension Framework and Key Investment Targets outline the engagement tactics that GRDC will implement to drive awareness and adoption of investment outcomes. These engagement activities include:
GRDC publishes its Annual Operational Plan (AOP) for each financial year on its website. The AOP sets out our objectives and strategies for achieving the outcomes within the RD&E Plan and specifies the forecast expenditure on the research priorities that give effect to the RD&E plan during a given financial year.
GRDC publishes its Annual Report for each financial year on its website as soon as practicable after it is tabled in Parliament by the Minister. The Annual Report contains GRDC’s audited accounts for the financial year and information on how GRDC’s RD&E portfolio is performing against the key performance indicators contained in the RD&E Plan.
GRDC additionally publishes a report of its RD&E expenditure made in the financial year on its website.
GRDC surveys its grower and researcher stakeholders to understand stakeholder satisfaction. The results from these surveys are used to plan improvements in how we engage to improve our delivery of RD&E to create enduring profitability for Australian grain growers.
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