Scaling Australian Native Foods through Attribute Comparison and Tissue Culture Technology

Summary

This project will address a fundamental issue in the native food industry, of inconsistent production and supply of plant produce.
Native foods have vast and varied genetics leading to inconsistencies in product and season. The native foods industry practices selective breeding, however a reliable and consistent method to cultivate superior plants has remained elusive but will lead to increased sustainability of the industry.
Our project aims to reduce the costs of propagating several native species, so they become competitive with imported species, boost yields and improve supply to match demand for primary producers, while ensuring Indigenous participation in
an Australian-led industry.

Program

New and Emerging Industries

Research Organisation

Melbourne Bushfood

Objective Summary

Inconsistencies in the quality of native foods is a substantial issue costing the supply and value-added industries a minimum $15,000,000 per annum in lost revenue. Poor seasonal supply and difficulties in cultivation cause suppliers to have sporadic availability causing frustration in the market.
Our objective is to directly target tissue culture as a way of creating consistent plants that can be scaled en masse to meet rapid growth due to projected international demand. Seed grown plants cause large discrepancies in plant quality leading to major losses for primary producers.
We aim to collect and record this data to discover the provenance most suited to favourable edibility traits which can then be used as a benchmark to find genetic improvements.
The project will assess the viability of tissue culture methods for native plants which until now have primarily been either produced through seed, cuttings, or gratings which can be costly, risky, and unscalable.
The low engagement of Indigenous People in the space is concerning and this project will utilise this research to help ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are the main beneficiaries of the native food industry, through ready access to native plant species.