The Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit program boosts funding to the rural research and development corporations (RDCs) for nationally coordinated, strategic research that delivers real outcomes for Australian producers.
Total funding for the program is $157 million over eight years. All projects will be completed by June 2023.
Keeping Australian farmers at the cutting edge
The Rural R&D for Profit program aims to improve farm-gate productivity and profitability and deliver real outcomes for Australian farmers.
To be eligible for grant funding, RDCs must partner with one or more researchers, research agencies, RDCs, funding bodies, or businesses. The program guidelines provide further details of the eligibility and funding criteria.
Round four applications closed on 5 December 2018.
On the 21 March 2019 the then Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment approved funding of $39.65 million (GST exclusive) for ten projects under round four of the program.
The projects cover a range of collaborative and innovative research activities including converting agricultural waste into useable products such as fertilisers and feedstock, increasing pollination efficiencies by using advanced technology and by improving honey bee genetics, improving plant pest management through the application of new technologies and biological control solutions, enhancing Australian meat value chains through the refinement and commercialisation of meat measurement technologies, improving diagnostics for key biosecurity threats, and developing multi-scale monitoring tools for tree crop industries.
Download
| Document | File size |
|---|---|
| Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit Program Guidelines PDF | 186 KB |
| Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit Program Guidelines DOCX | 272 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Grosvenor Management Consulting were engaged to undertake a mid-program evaluation of the Rural R&D for Profit program. A final report was delivered to the department of 15 December 2017, which indicates the program is on track to achieve long term objectives. Further detail can be found in the full report.
Download
| Document | File size |
|---|---|
| Evaluation of the Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit program PDF | 1.33 MB |
| Evaluation of the Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit program DOCX | 272 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Round three applications closed at 5pm AEDT on 6 December 2016.
The Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, approved funding of $35.8 million (GST exclusive) for seven projects under round three of the program.
The projects cover a range of collaborative and innovative research activities including turning animal industry waste into profitable products, improving plant pest management through the use of new technologies, using dung beetles to improve animal and soil health in the livestock industry, and improving forecasting and management of extreme climate events.
Download
| Document | File size |
|---|---|
| Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit Grant program guidelines PDF | 260 KB |
| Rural Research and Development (R&D) for Profit Grant program guidelines DOCX | 84 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
The Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, approved funding of $52.2 million (GST exclusive) for 17 projects under round two of the program.
The projects cover a range of innovative and cross-sectoral research activities including improving productivity and profitability for pollen dependent crops, technologies to better measure meat value chains, reducing the use of phosphorus fertiliser in pasture grazing systems, investigating the use of virtual fencing technology for livestock and improving nitrogen use efficiency in cotton, dairy, sugar and horticulture industries.
Download
| Document | File size |
|---|---|
| Rural R&D for Profit round two guidelines PDF | 786 KB |
| Rural R&D for Profit round two guidelines DOC | 447 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
The Minister for Agriculture, Water and the Environment, the Hon Barnaby Joyce MP, approved funding of $26.7 million (GST exclusive) for 12 projects under round one of the program.
The projects cover innovative R&D projects including improved irrigation practices, biological control of weeds and pests, using the latest imaging and robotic technologies to improve yield from some tree crops and development of the Southern Australia aquaculture industry.Download
| Document | File size |
|---|---|
| Rural R&D for Profit round one guidelines PDF | 620 KB |
| Rural R&D for Profit round one guidelines DOCX | 406 KB |
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
About the program
Objective
The Rural R&D for Profit program aims to realise productivity and profitability improvements for primary producers through:
- generating knowledge, technologies, products or processes that benefit primary producers
- strengthening pathways to extend the results of rural R&D, including understanding the barriers to adoption
- establishing and fostering industry and research collaborations that form the basis for ongoing innovation and growth of Australian agriculture.
Research projects must address one or more of the rural research development and extension (RD&E) funding priorities announced in the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper, which fall into four areas:
- Advanced technology, to enhance innovation of products, processes and practices across the food and fibre supply chains through technologies such as robotics, digitisation, big data, genetics and precision agriculture;
- Biosecurity, to improve understanding and evidence of pest and disease pathways to help direct biosecurity resources to their best uses, minimising biosecurity threats and improving market access for primary producers;
- Soil, water and managing natural resources, to manage soil health, improve water use efficiency and certainty of supply, sustainably develop new production areas and improve resilience to climate events and impacts; and
- Adoption of R&D, focusing on flexible delivery of extension services that meet primary producers’ needs and recognising the growing role of private service delivery.
More details on the RD&E priorities can be found in the program guidelines.
Who can apply
The program’s funds have been fully allocated over the four funding rounds. No further rounds will be offered and no further applications can be accepted.
The 15 rural RDCs were eligible to apply for funding. The RDCs invest in RD&E across many primary industries including meat and livestock, dairy, grains, horticulture, fisheries and forestry.
The RDCs were required to collaborate with other partners such as researchers, funding agencies, universities, producer groups and the private sector to be eligible for funding.
Contact us
Telephone: 02 6272 5603
Email: Rural Research
Postal address:
Rural R&D for Profit
Agricultural Policy Division
Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment
GPO Box 858 Canberra ACT 2601