Future-proofing Australian agriculture: 2024 research highlights

As Australian agriculture navigates new pressures and opportunities, three research themes – biosecurity, carbon, and workforce – have emerged as critical priorities to future-proof the sector, ensuring sustainable growth and market access. 

Renowned for its clean and green standards, biosecurity has become more than just a precaution – it's a cornerstone of Australian agriculture, essential for protecting crops and livestock from invasive pests and diseases that threaten productivity and trade.  
 
While Australia’s isolation has historically shielded it from exotic diseases that plague other countries, rising global trade and climate pressures make proactive biosecurity measures vital in safeguarding the industry, and achieving its $100 billion production goal by 2040. Supported by world-class R&D, innovation, and progressive farmers, the sector is on track, with agricultural production forecast to rise by 4% to $86.2 billion in 2024-25.

Australia’s 15 Research and Development Corporations (RDCs) are collaborating on innovative solutions to prevent, detect, and manage biosecurity threats. This coordinated approach helps to uphold Australia’s reputation for high-quality produce, and secure market access by ensuring rigorous pest and disease management practices. 
 
Within the $16 billion horticulture sector, Hort Innovation is leading investments in key research projects, including ‘Improving Australia's ability to respond to graft transmissible citrus diseases’, with support from NSW DPI, to protect against exotic pests like Huanglongbing, a disease that has devastated citrus crops in other countries. This coincides with Hort Innovation’s recent review of its Citrus Biosecurity Plan, re-prioritising targets to ensure vital surveillance and preparedness for growers.  
 
The launch of the Fresh and Secure Trade Alliance (FASTA) in August 2023, a $130m eight-year collaborative research program led by Hort Innovation, is directing research to grow horticultural exports in six areas: market access; stress physiology; surveillance and diagnostics; integrated pest management; smart technologies like rapid in-field pest detection; and capacity building.  
 
Wine Australia’s areas of research further reinforce the urgency of biosecurity in shielding the nation’s revered market, exporting $2.39 billion of wine in 2024. One of its current projects, ‘Evaluation of the Global Access Diagnostics botrytis rapid test method’ with Charles Sturt University, is testing a field-based detection tool to accurately quantify Botrytis grey mould in grapes. The tool aims to improve growers’ disease management decisions, moving beyond traditional visual assessments, currently used in the wine industry. 
 
Meanwhile, the Australian Livestock Export Corporation (LiveCorp) is preparing robust response mechanisms to identify, manage and contain potential exotic disease outbreaks on live export ships, like Lumpy Skin Disease (LSD), or foot and mouth disease (FMD), that were detected in Indonesia in 2022. The project, supported by Meat & Livestock Australia, concluded in May 2024, and will support the development of a protocol to determine the health status of livestock on a ship, and a Standard Operating Procedure in the event of an outbreak, ensuring animal welfare during extended voyages through enhanced quarantine measures and supply planning.

As climate risk increases, the agricultural industry continues to invest in future-ready research projects and strategies to better measure, manage, store and reduce GHG emissions, to support food security through sustainable productivity.  
 
Dairy Australia is on the front foot, with an industry goal to reduce GHG emissions intensity by 30% by 2030 – as part of the Australian Dairy Industry Sustainability Framework – focusing on energy and water efficiencies, waste reduction and increased biodiversity to build business resilience and long-term viability.  
 
Projects like Dairy Australia’s Know Your Carbon Number (KYCN) are designed to equip farmers with the tools, like the Australian Dairy Carbon Calculator, to baseline their farm’s carbon footprint, enabling informed decisions on where efficiencies can be made to lower emissions, increase productivity and yield financial returns.  
 
As the dairy industry advances its carbon reduction strategies, other sectors are exploring similarly impactful solutions.  
 
Asparagopsis seaweed farming, for instance, holds exciting potential for “blue carbon” solutions, set to cultivate economic value for Australian coastal communities alongside ecological benefits. The Fisheries Research and Development Corporation’s (FRDC) project, ‘The Bigger Blue Potential for Asparagopsis’, is delivering a comprehensive review of the seaweed’s capacity to capture carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus while enhancing biodiversity. The project aims to evaluate current credit and trading schemes, develop policy recommendations, and outline practical frameworks by that could position the seaweed industry as a key player in the carbon market. 
 
The pork industry is also preparing its producers for a climate-ready future. Australian Pork Limited (APL) is updating its ‘Low carbon roadmap’ to help producers reduce emissions through strategies like carbon cycling, nutrient management, and sustainable waste practices. To achieve carbon-positive pork production by 2025, APL’s roadmap consolidates years of GHG research into accessible guidance across production systems. This research project provides producers with up-to-date and economically viable drawdown options set to strengthen social license, and position pork as a leader in sustainable practices. 
 
Together, these research projects highlight the diverse pathways agricultural industries are taking to become part of the climate solution. 

The backbone of agricultural productivity is its workforce, yet labour shortages in regional industries, threaten to stifle growth. This year’s research reflects a strong focus on continuing to build a skilled and diverse agricultural workforce. 
 
In the cotton sector, the Cotton Research and Development Corporation (CRDC), in partnership with Central Queensland University (CQU), led the How to Attract and Retain Young People on Cotton Farms project, which concluded in September 2024. The project aims to develop evidence-based strategies to draw young talent to cotton farms and the service industry. Through research into the attitudes of students, teachers, and young adults in both cotton-growing and urban areas of NSW and QLD, the project will provide recommendations and trial interventions to inspire careers in cotton, supporting a skilled and sustainable future workforce. 
Gender diversity is a critical focus in building a sustainable workforce. Wine Australia’s Women in Wine Update is conducting a scoping study, with research organisation, Strateos Group Pty Ltd to assess gender equity within the grape and wine sector. The project, set to conclude in May 2026 involves updating data on women in leadership roles from 2007-2013 to 2021-2023 and examining roles such as CEOs, winemakers, viticulturists, and marketing directors. The study aims to identify resources, gaps, and opportunities to advance equity and inclusion.  

To address labour shortages in horticulture, the sector is looking to technological innovation. Hort Innovation’s Scouting Responses to Labour Challenges in Australian Horticulture project, led by Startupbootcamp Australia, identified global startups offering labour-saving solutions that can be adapted for Australian growers. The project produced a shortlist of 40 companies, including Nanobubble AgriTech and TriBus, with technologies that could improve productivity by at least 15% through reduced labour needs and resource efficiencies. The research concluded in March 2024, serves to equip the horticulture industry with scalable tools to enhance productivity and competitiveness in a global market. 
 
The year’s research projects featured in AgriFutures grow^AG.’s library reveal a future-focused approach. Whether it’s safeguarding biosecurity to maintain trade, pursuing carbon reduction for sustainability, or developing a skilled workforce, these projects underpin Australia’s innovative agricultural R&D, and a vibrant agrifood tech community.