ARC Research Hub for Sustainable Crop Protection

The broad aim of this cross-sectoral project is to develop a common framework for greenhouse gas (GHG) accounting that is transparent, trusted and relevant for Australia and can be broadly adopted across all agricultural industries.

The lack of a national standard for the health of planting material in Australia means that growers have no guarantee that the planting material being supplied to them by nurseries is disease free or of a certain provenance. Phase 1 of this project will address the framework required to underpin a new national standard for grapevine planting material, which will be customer-focused, independently audited, transparent, aspirational, inclusive and allow for continuous improvement.

This project will develop a fully integrated network of air quality sensors to provide real-time data on smoke dose and the risk of smoke taint in winegrapes. Accurate prediction of the doses which cause smoke taint will enable the emergency sector to organise and conduct planned burns more effectively and with less risk to agricultural industries, particularly the wine industry.