FAO Director-General visits ANU
While we are an Australian university, the work that Australian National University (ANU) researchers do is far-reaching in its impact.
Whether it’s developing heat tolerant crops, finding new ways to protect animals from pests and diseases, or measuring soil moisture and carbon content, the benefits of these innovations flow on to global agrifood systems.
Accordingly, it was a great honour to welcome FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu and Deputy Director General Beth Bechdol to the Agrifood Innovation Institute this week.
While at ANU, the Director-General and Deputy Director-General visited the Plant SynBio Australia laboratory facility and ANU node of the Australian Plant Phenomics Network, which is focused on controlled environment phenotyping.
The Director-General also addressed a gathering of ANU and CSIRO staff and students, and federal public servants from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Prime Minister and Cabinet, and Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. During his address the Director-General reflected on his own career in agriculture, the history and mission of the FAO, and the importance of supporting the next generation of scientists to drive innovation in the agrifood sector.
This was followed by short talks reflecting a snapshot of the breadth of agricultural research being done by early career scientists in the Canberra region.
It was great to hear from James Moloney and Nikki Dumbrell from CSIRO highlighting their work on Pacific soil management and understanding the future of agricultural jobs. John Yaxley, a graduate research officer at ACIAR spoke about the impact of Australian investment in international agriculture, also emphasising the value return to Australia. Finally, ANU Fenner School of Environment and Society’s Harry Campbell-Ross shared his PhD research on the importance of getting to the crux of a problem to develop a fit-for-purpose solution.
You can see photos of the event and also view the presentation slides at the links below.