AgriFutures Export Fodder Program 2024-2025 Open Call

Background

AgriFutures Australia welcomes Preliminary Research Proposals, that address one or more of the objectives within the Export Fodder RD&E Plan 2021-2026.

The Strategic Plan is structured around 4 key objective areas:

1. Production of high-quality export-grade fodder: This priority focuses on the production aspect, ensuring that the ,fodder satisfies export quality supply demand and allows Australian export fodder growers to achieve sustainable financial returns.
2. Continued access to export markets: This priority aims to maintain and grow the market access for Australian fodder, ensuring that the industry can continue to thrive in the international market.
3. Supporting innovation across the supply chain: This priority encourages the investigation and implementation of new technologies and strategies to improve productivity and profitability across the supply chain.
4. Increased adoption of R&D outputs by industry: This priority emphasises the importance of the industry adopting the outputs of research and development to drive financial sustainability and continuous improvement within the industry supply chain.

These priorities are designed to improve the productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the Australian export fodder industry.

The Program supports and encourages proposals that address the following key areas:

Priority 4

1.     Export Fodder Industry Engagement and Extension project

• Develop, design and deliver an annual calendar
• Develop, design and deliver an annual Export Fodder Field day for ALL stakeholders, including providing a link between industry and researchers.
• Deliver a series of Export Fodder relevant industry podcasts, including Grower stories, research outcome highlights and best practice updates
• Develop and deliver seasonal best practice updates for growers
  • Youtube
  • Factsheets
  • Social Media (X)
  • Direct and via exporters (levy payers)

• Deliver Quarterly updates to key levy payers in conjunction with the program manager.

2.     Design, develop and deliver a digital platform to update and renew the Producing Quality Oat Hay Guide and a best practice resource for growers – Including the development of Youtube videos

Priority 2

3.     Conduct a desktop review and analysis of Oaten Hay uses in Export Markets

• What are the key drivers of decisions?
• Why choose Oaten Hay
• Economic and nutritional value
• Demonstrated linkages with US

4.     Investigation on stem characteristics of oats to understand if there is potential to improve nutrient value of oaten hay.

Priority 3:

5.     Moisture measurement innovation of high-density bales and roadmap of moisture loss in bales.

Priority 1:

6.     Management practices to maximise gross margin for export hay growers

Proposals must address strategies, consider the justification, be linked to an indicative activity, and deliver on a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) listed within each Priority of the RD&E Strategic Plan.

Download the full Open Call document
Watch the AgriFutures Export Fodder Open Call information webinar

Timeline

Evaluation criteria

The following criteria will be used to assess your application and will have equal weighting applied:

• How relevant is the project to the research priorities of AgriFutures Australia?
• How relevant is the project to the research priorities of the Program?
• How important do you think it is for AgriFutures Australia to invest in this research?
• How much value do the benefits of this research provide to industry?
• How important is this research to industry?
• Was the industry consulted or were adequate industry letters of support required?
• How important are the expected outcomes of this project to industry?
• How important are the outputs/deliverables from this project to the industry?
• The value for money for this project.
• The project design – how conceptually sound and technically feasible is the project?
• The potential for adoption in industry.
• The potential for commercial pathways.
• The value of any potential IP resulting from this project.
• The capability of the Project Lead.
• The experience of the Project Lead.
• The capability of the Research Organisation.
• The experience of the Research Organisation.

Proposals should clearly indicate the following:

• The project benefits for the Export Fodder industry.
• The objectives and outcomes of the proposed project and the link to the R&D objectives.
• Who will be undertaking the majority of the work, including statistical analysis (it must be clear if new staff and/or students are to be employed to undertake the work).
• The plan for extension and adoption of research outcomes from the project activity work, i.e. beyond distribution of summaries, journal papers and conference presentations.
• Where relevant, proposals should include collaboration with experts in the field, which may not be located in Australia.
• The researcher’s understanding of past research in this field.

The researcher must complete the checklist prior to the submission being accepted:

• If the project requires statistical analysis, has a qualified statistician been engaged to undertake project design and data analyses?
• Is the Principal Investigator an early career researcher (less than five years since postgraduate study completion)?
• Have you checked the FAQ section on the AgriFutures website?
• Has the proposal been discussed with people in the Program industry?
• Does the proposal identify if the work potentially relates to the Program objective?
• Does the proposal clearly identify who will be undertaking the bulk of the work (might not necessarily be the Principal Investigator)?
• Does the proposal clearly articulate what the applied outcome for industry will be? (even if it is a long-term applied project there should still be a focus on an applied outcome).
• Does the proposal clearly outline what the potential process might be for identifying extension opportunities? (Excluding publications and opportunities for presenting the work at conferences).
•  Does the proposal take into consideration where the international expertise is in the area of research?
• The Principal Investigator must comply with the application process within K2

Submitting an application

Applications for this Open Call for Research must be submitted online using the PRP application in K2. Applicants are required to review the full Open Call documentation before submitting a response.

Respondent’s are expected to provide:

• A summary highlighting how your organisation’s approach and services are a best fit for provision of the Export Fodder program.
• Testimonials or references from companies that you have provided a similar service.
• A detailed outline of the project to allow persons evaluating the contribution value of the project to be able to link experimental design to potential for the project to achieving enhanced value to the Australian export fodder industry.

The resultant Contract is expected to commence on in the 2024/25 financial year.

New users need to register for access to the K2 platform, please note the provision of login details may take up to two business days.

Click here to login to K2

Users must create a K2 account before submitting a proposal. To set up a secure account before submitting a proposal, please visit the login page below to access our new user or new company request forms.

Usernames and passwords will only be issued while the applicant round is open.

K2 user guides and login

To find out more about how to make a submission refer to the Open Call document.

If you require assistance, please contact

Terms of reference

AgriFutures Australia uses standard form contracts and agreements for projects and research procured by AgriFutures Australia (please refer to https://agrifutures.com.au/contracts-and-agreements/). These contracts and agreements set out the terms on which AgriFutures Australia will engage successful applicants to carry out the project.

Applicants must be familiar with the contracts and agreements before submitting a response, and are advised to seek legal advice beforehand.

These contracts and agreements have been developed to reflect AgriFutures Australia’s statutory and other procurement responsibilities.

If you require any amendments to the standard agreement please complete the statement of non-compliance for each of the relevant clause. AgriFutures will then assess those requests.

Applicants will be taken to have agreed to all clauses in the Research Agreement that are not referred to in a statement of non-compliance. The extent of any non-compliance will be a factor in AgriFutures Australia’s evaluation of the application.

If you require further information regarding these contracts and agreements please contact:

Export Fodder Program
Levied & Emerging Industries

Contact

Should you have any questions about the Open Call, please direct all enquires to the Agrifutures Export Fodder Program (details below) prior to 5pm AEST Monday, 9 September 2024 (for questions relating to making a submission in K2, please email ).

A member from the Export Fodder Program team will take questions via email. Individual responses to questions relating to the Open Call will not be provided by the Coordinator or Manager, Research. A response, along with the question, will be posted in the Frequently Asked Questions section, below, within 24 hours of receival.

Please contact:

Export Fodder Program 
Levied & Emerging Industries