THE Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) has released its annual report for 2015-16, highlighting the process of transformation the organisation has been undertaking over the past 18 months.

The GRDC’s presence in regional areas has been expanded by moving many of its functions into regional offices in Adelaide, SA, Dubbo, NSW, Perth, WA, and Toowoomba, Qld.

The underlying administrative processes for managing research investments has also changed with greater transparency about investment decisions and better communication of delivery timeframes and benefits to growers.

There has also been a concerted effort to ensure the research portfolio is more balanced.

The report lists the highlights for 2015–16 as:

• The GRDC invested more than $192.8 million in 898 projects to deliver new and improved varieties, practices, technologies and capability to the industry. These projects were delivered by over 2500 researchers from 283 partner organisations.
• The GRDC made a $10 million commitment to the International Wheat Yield Partnership, which aims to increase the yield potential of wheat by up to 50 per cent in the next 20 years.
• Crop-breeding programs that receive GRDC support released five new varieties: one each of oats, lentils and field peas, and two of lupins.
• The most comprehensive study ever conducted into the impact of weeds on Australian grains production established a baseline that will guide the GRDC’s investments in weed research.
• In partnership with state governments, the GRDC created new positions for researchers in regional areas of NSW, Queensland and Victoria.
• The world’s first commercially produced gluten-free beer was released, using low‑gluten barley developed through a collaboration between the GRDC and CSIRO.
• In the 2016 Grower Survey, 85pc of growers rated the GRDC’s performance as high quality, and 71pc said they had recently benefited from GRDC activities.
• A GRDC regional office network was established, comprising new offices in Adelaide, Dubbo and Toowoomba as well as the existing office in Perth.
• The GRDC celebrated 25 years as a leading force in investment in research, development and extension for the Australian grains industry.

The GRDC annual report: https://grdc.com.au/annual-report