The project is essential to assist the Australian industry find solutions to the major challenges posed by continued poor prices and Panama Tropical Race 4 (TR4). Both threaten the profitability, productivity and sustainability of the industry. Given the severity of TR4, (non-eradicable and easily spread), effective RD&E is vital in ensuring long-term management and containment of the disease, and sustainability of the industry.
The banana industry also faces serious challenges in other areas such as biosecurity, fruit quality, lack of diversification, waste management, and labour force. It is therefore important that the industry has technical and R&D adoption expertise to provide input to the banana industry R&D program and work closely with Hort Innovation.
Over the last six months, the ABGC has continued to employ Dr Rosie Godwin in the coordinator role for this project to support the timely delivery of a highly valued, relevant, and integrated research program for the Australian banana industry.
Over the last six months, Rosie has continued to:
- Provide a central point of contact for banana industry R&D for all stakeholders.
- Network with farmers to progress their research needs, enhance their entrepreneurialism and on-farm experimentation and connect researchers with farmers and their support network.
- Network with Australian and international researchers and lead/support formal collaborations that could be either enduring or opportunistic as required.
- Seek opportunities to leverage partnerships and resources that can deliver upon research needs in the most effective and efficient ways.
- Network with industry strategic decision and policymakers, either directly or in partnership with other project leads, to ensure research is integrated into the evidence base of their decisions and that the conditions for industry innovation are optimised.
- Work with Hort Innovation to ensure research needs are fully understood and improve the evidence base of both long term and annual investment plans and decisions.
