Food and Agriculture

CSIRO is identifying ways to improve farm management to help agriculture remain productive, profitable and environmentally sustainable into the future.

CSIRO is delivering science to improve food production systems and food quality in Australia and internationally.

CSIRO researches farm management including crops, pastures and livestock to improve production.
CSIRO researches farm management including crops, pastures and livestock to improve profitability and sustainability along the entire production chain.

The High Resolution Plant Phenomics Centre is constructing a flotilla of phenomics instruments to take into the field, improving phenomic analysis of plants.

The acidity of a food affects its ability to resist spoilage. Food preservation techniques must take account of acidity to ensure optimal quality.

CSIRO is contributing to improving the production, processing and marketing of grapes and grape products.  

Over the last two decades, CSIRO has worked with research agencies, wood-growing and wood-processing industries, and rural communities in Indonesia and Vietnam to develop a sustainable plantation resource based on tropical Acacia species.

Take a rare glimpse inside Australia's front-line defence against emerging animal diseases – CSIRO's Australian Animal Health Laboratory, by watching this video (9:25) and downloading the 4-page transcript.

This two-page information sheet is about CSIRO research into developing low gluten barley. This is the first step towards providing the Australian public with a range of low gluten products.

CSIRO studies Australian native plants to better understand their variety, needs and role in contemporary ecosystems.

CSIRO researchers have developed new tools for diagnosis of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus (IBDV), a deadly pathogen of chickens.  

New data and innovative modelling technology have led to more accurate stock assessments for the Northern Prawn Fishery.

CSIRO has developed plants that produce DHA, a healthy omega-3 oil component, reducing pressure on declining fish resources worldwide and providing Australian grain growers with new high-value crops. 
CSIRO has developed plants that produce DHA, a healthy omega-3 oil component normally only available from fish sources.

CSIRO's Precision Agriculture research is helping farmers understand and benefit from landscape variation.

Food manufacturers who respond effectively to climate change will have the advantage of being at the forefront of a new consumer trend - sustainably manufactured foods.

Captive breeding techniques could grow better quality tiger prawns and achieve higher income for Australian farmers.

Plants with total immunity to the devastating Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus could be a step closer thanks to breeding of resistant species and the creation of a synthetic gene primed to recognise the virus and destroy it. (2 pages)