About GRDC

GRDC exists to support the enduring profitability of Australian grain growers, investing in research development and extension (RD&E) to respond and adapt to a world that continues to change.

GRDC aspires to be recognised globally as leaders in innovation, driving the success of the Australian grains industry – investing to create solutions for growers and industry to adopt to support the sustainable production of safe and healthy food, animal feed and energy.

GRDC has a diverse portfolio of investments and while not all growers will directly benefit from every investment that we make, every Australian grower will continue to derive benefit from GRDC investment.

GRDC is primarily funded through the partnership between Australian grain growers and the Australian government.

To maximise impact from every dollar invested on behalf of growers and the Australian people, GRDC will partner with the brightest and most creative minds to drive the delivery of world-class innovation.

But innovation is not just about intent and aspiration. It is an attitude and culture that is embodied by GRDC’s people and values – driving the organisation’s approach to business, and inspiring the collective action needed to move the industry forward.

Grower levies are collected at the first point of sale, based on a percentage of the net farm gate value of 25 crops:

• Wheat
• Coarse grains – barley, oats, sorghum, maize, triticale, millets/panicums, cereal rye and canary seed
• Pulses – lupins, field peas, chickpeas, faba beans, vetch, peanuts, mungbeans, navy beans, pigeon peas, soybeans, cowpeas and lentils
• Oilseeds – canola, sunflower, safflower and linseed.

The Australian Government matches grower levy contributions up to a limit of 0.5 per cent of the three-year rolling average of the gross value of production.

Under the Primary Industries Research and Development (PIRD) Act 1989, GRDC is accountable to grain growers and the Australian Federal Government through the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the industry’s representative organisations, Grain Growers Limited and Grain Producers Australia.

Three regional panels, comprised of growers, advisers and researchers provide advice to GRDC to ensure investments are aligned to grower need to deliver maximum impact.

Building on strong foundations

This plan builds on 30 years of investment in RD&E by GRDC on behalf of Australian grain growers.

The objectives and key investment targets in GRDC’s previous RD&E plan remain relevant:

• improving yield,
• maintaining or improving price,
• optimising costs,
• managing risk – the ‘profit equation’.

While GRDC’s commitment to purpose remains and the profit equation continues to be a core focus, the 2023-28 plan aims to simplify the complexity, addressing the fact that yield, price, cost and risk are not considered in isolation.

The GRDC RD&E Plan 2023-28 signals even greater ambition and focus on what research could achieve, where growers want to be, and the outcomes the grains industry seeks.

While the world is rapidly changing, and technology gathering pace, many of the constraints and opportunities growers face – and broad areas GRDC needs to invest in – are enduring.

It is how much GRDC invests in each area and our collective ability to work together, think and solve problems differently that will help us reach our ambition.