Media coverage achieved by the Crawford Fund’s public awareness efforts is available in the following:
The Crawford Fund's public awareness campaign works to generate media interest in stories related to international agricultural research and food security. Some recent public awareness events and samples of associated coverage are listed below.
ROME (29 JANUARY 2012) – The Global Crop Diversity Trust announced today the appointment of The Honourable Tim Fischer, Australia’s former Deputy Prime Minister, to its Executive Board. Tim Fischer, who becomes a Board member on 1 January 2013, joins a distinguished Executive Board in furthering the Trust’s mission to protect the world’s food crop varieties.
As the second Australian to be elected to the Board, the move highlights the importance of global crop diversity for Australia. Australian farmers have suffered the effects of extreme weather in recent years and are particularly aware of the importance of having crops that can withstand rapidly changing conditions.
Australian seed shipment arrives in Svalbard
Last year, Australia sent its first shipment to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. The Vault is an underground seed bank in the Arctic that secures duplicates of the world’s most important crops in case natural disasters, civil strife, extreme weather and other threats that could destroy a unique variety. The Vault’s operations are funded by the Trust, which also supports developing countries to send seeds to the high profile facility.
"To step up to the Board of the Global Crop Diversity Trust is a great privilege, as food security is a particular priority that reflects my lifelong policy interests,” Fischer said. "“Worldwide, preserving the original genetic material in our food crops matters a great deal. It goes to the core of the future of agriculture and preventing famine."
Tim Fischer, who hopes to visit Svalbard during his Board tenure, brings to the Trust a wide array of experience in agriculture, trade, transportation and international relations. He served for several years as the Chairman of the Crawford Fund, an organisation promoting international agricultural research, and helped host key conferences in Australia to provide outreach and raise awareness on agricultural topics. He also is a trusted figure in international diplomacy, having served as the leader of the official Australian Delegation that oversaw voting in East Timor in 1999 and as Chairman of the Australia Thailand Institute. Most recently he was Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See.
“Tim Fischer has been deeply involved in both the worlds of agriculture and international relations, and brings drive and energy with his experience. He will be a huge asset for our organization,” said Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Trust. “The conservation of crop diversity depends on persuading governments and others to mobilize funds today for benefits tomorrow. I know that Tim understands the issue and the challenge, and will be a hugely persuasive Board member.”
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Global Crop Diversity Trust (www.croptrust.org)
The mission of the Trust is to ensure the conservation and availability of crop diversity for food security worldwide. Although crop diversity is fundamental to fighting hunger and to the very future of agriculture, funding is unreliable and diversity is being lost. The Trust is the only organization working worldwide to solve this problem. The Trust is providing support for the ongoing operations of the seed vault, as well as organizing and funding the preparation and shipment of seeds from developing countries to the facility.
A Masaai elderwoman involved in ILRI projects with Catherine
Miller (centre) and Laura Poole (right).
In interviews with ABC Rural Radio and Rural Press, Australia High Commissioner in Kenya, Geoff Tooth, reported on hope of a longer term solution to the food security crisis in East Africa, noting the Australian-funded projects drawing on our expertise in dryland farming. Mr Tooth’s was one of a range of reports produced by ABC journalist Laura Poole and Rural Press journalist Catherine Miller, who travelled to Kenya late last year with support from the Crawford Fund. The duo also met with researchers at Australian and international centre projects and a Crawford Fund biosecurity Master Class, for stories and briefings around food security in Africa. Laura Poole’s stories are available here, as is Catherine Miller’s January Rural Press feature on food security.
Robin McConchie (ABC Rural) interviews Theo
Friedrich (right) and John Kirkegaard at WCCA Field
Day outdoor broadcast.
Agricultural systems will need to intensify, but it is vital that this does not compromise natural resources and rural livelihoods. This view was expressed by Dr Mario Herrero, from the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya, who was one of the speakers featured in national TV, print and radio coverage managed by the Crawford Fund in its support for the recent World Congress on Conservation Agriculture and International Farming Systems Design Conference.
See here for links to media reports overview Mediareport of World Congress of Conservation Agriculture
Anthony Leddin on location
As the world struggles to feed its ever-increasing population, a young plant breeder from Victoria has come up with an innovative idea to support global food security in the years to come. ‘Plant breeders without borders’ is the brainchild of Victorian plant breeder Anthony Leddin who is one of 12 young scientists to receive support to attend the Crawford Fund 2011 International Conference titled “The Supermarket Revolution: Good, Bad or Ugly for the World’s Farmers, Consumers and Retailers?” held this year at Parliament House in Canberra from 14 to 16 August 2011.
In a range of radio and rural print stories, Anthony explained his idea, similar to ‘Doctors without borders’. Download the press release Plant Breeders without Borders
Aspergillus flavus
The need to do more to discover, name and preserve the vast array of species of fungi that inhabit Australia and the world was reported nationally during the visit by world leading fungal scientist, Professor David L Hawksworth CBE from the Natural History Museum, London and an Honorary President of the International Mycological Association. Also attending the International Botanical Congress in Melbourne, Professor Hawksworth noted “Downy mildews, filamentous fungi, lichens, moulds, mushrooms, slime moulds, water moulds and yeasts all play a critical role in the way our planet operates. For example, they return about 85 gigatonnes of carbon to the atmosphere each year through decomposition when the total carbon input to the atmosphere attributable to human activities is around 5.5 Gt. They also function in maintaining carbon-sinks,” said Professor Hawksworth. In his national interview on the ABC’s “AM” program, fungi’s vital role in food security, the health of native plants and human disease was discussed. Download the Press Release at Forgotten Fungi
The "SIMLESA" program in East Africa, funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR), was highlighted in AusAID’s Focus Magazine as part of a Crawford Fund article on “Research Rewards”. The field day involved Embu district farmer Erastus Njiiru Clement and his wife Theresia Wairimu with a seed specialist from the Kenyan Agricultural Research Institute (photo below).
There has been a renewed focus on food security in the media recently with a range of national and metropolitan papers focusing on the topic. And the most recent AusAID “Focus” magazine is themed on food and food security, with an article by the Crawford Fund focusing on the rewards of research. Following a Crawford Fund ‘seeing is believing’ visit to Vietnam, ABC TV Landline producer Kerry Straight has been working on a special feature for the program on food security, which the Crawford Fund, ACIAR and CSIRO have been assisting with through this year. The feature has now gone to air focusing on a broad range of issues related to food security from both the developing country and Australian perspectives. The feature includes a range of speakers who were part of the Crawford Fund’s State Parliamentary Conference in Brisbane in April this year. In late June, the 35min feature went to air on Landline on “The Future of Food” including Kanayo Nwanze, Julian Cribb, Rick Roush, Michael D’Occhio, Peter Carberry and others. The feature provides a good overview of the complexity of the food security issue, stressing the importance of R&D. Visits to East Africa, Indonesia and PNG are currently being supported as the next Crawford Fund ‘seeing is believing’ visits.
A new study has matched future climate change “hotspots” with regions already suffering chronic food problems to identify highly-vulnerable populations, where in fewer than 40 years, the prospect of shorter, hotter or drier growing seasons could imperil hundreds of millions of already-impoverished people. The Crawford Fund’s Tasmanian Committee member, Dr Holger Meinke, who is on the steering committee for the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) was reported in a range of Australian rural print and broadcast outlets, indicating the implications of the report for both developing countries and Australia. Read more at Climate Hotspots and Food Security
Farmers in Punjab experience less milk production Photo: P Casier
The Crawford Fund’s first State Conference not only attracted a capacity audience to Parliament House, Brisbane but also broad media attendance and coverage on TV, radio and print outlets. “A Food Secure World: Challenging Choices for our North” was an opportunity to highlight in the media the following:
The list of coverage and clippings from the conference are available here Media Coverage Queensland State Conference
Kerry Straight and Chris Lockyer from Landline enjoy
the taste sensation of durian fruit
with ACIAR Vietnam
staff Geoff Morris and Nguyen Thi Thanh An.
Following a Crawford Fund supported visit to East Timor by ABC TV Landline, a visit was organised to Vietnam and stories aired between August and October on ACIAR work underway on Vietnam’s oyster industry, World Fish’s efforts with the sea cucumber industry, and the very successful and long-term efforts to combat fruit flies. If you missed programs that came from the Crawford Fund supported visits this year, a group of the stories from trips to East Timor, Vietnam and the Pacific are being highlighted in a full Landline program on Boxing Day and are also online. Students are also learning about the work with the seacumber story airing on the ABC kids program “Behind The News” shown in many schools around Australia as well as on ABC 3 and online. The story certainly had the kids thinking going on the number of comments on the BTN website.
Radio National’s Future Tense program explores the social, cultural, political and economic fault lines arising from rapid change. The weekly half-hour program/podcast takes a critical look at new technologies, new approaches and new ways of thinking. On 25 November the program considered the issues around the heightened concern about food security around the world, and what role Australia should play in helping the region plan for a food secure future. Dr Denis Blight from the Crawford Fund was joined by Dr Bruce Lee, Director, Food Futures Flagship, CSIRO; David Crombie, former President, National Farmers Federation and Dr Rebecca Huntley, Director, Ipsos Mackay Report to discuss the range of issues and some of the most recent developments through agricultural R&D. The program is online with audio and transcript and can be found here.
We need to use all technologies currently available and in the pipeline to feed the world according to Dr Greg Edmeades, a consultant with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, in a nationally reported presentation to the Australian Society of Agronomy Conference, 15-18 November titled “Food Security from Sustainable Agriculture.” The paper was co-authored by two Australians, Dr Tony Fischer of the Crawford Fund and CSIRO Plant Industry, and Dr Derek Byerlee. In a national interview on ABC’s World Today program, titled “Agronomist urges more funds for R and D”, he argued there needs to be a 70 per cent increase in the global production of grain by 2050, if the world is going to feed itself. Read more at More Funds to Feed the World
Giant Swamp Taro
The Crawford Fund assisted with the national outreach to raise awareness of the efforts by the Global Crop Diversity Trust and its Pacific partners in conserving indigenous fruit and vegetables in the Pacific. National radio and print interviews were arranged for Dr Cary Fowler, Executive Director of the Trust, and Dr Mary Taylor, Genetic Resources Coordinator at the Centre of Pacific Crops and Trees (CePaCT) in the Secretariat of the Pacific Community, with reports that crop specialists are trying to preserve the indigenous diversity of foods and help locals to get back to a healthier diet. The Radio National Breakfast report can be found here
ABC TV Landline filming at aquaculture farm.
Following a Crawford Fund supported visit to East Timor by ABC TV Landline, stories aired between August and October 2010 including stories on the oyster industry, the sea cucumber industry, and the effort to combat fruit flies. Stories are available at the Landline website (archives).
ABC have kindly given approval for the three Vietnam stories to be translated and shown on Vietnam Television Network (VTV1), the main free-to-air television channel with the widest audience in Vietnam. It has a regular agricultural program, and it is likely that the programs could be screened a number of times over a few weeks.
In mid-September national radio coverage was achieved for the latest visit to Australia from PNG from members of the Women in Agriculture Foundation, supported by the Crawford Fund.
Maria Linibi and Rufina Peters
The women met in Darwin for the opportunity to nework with the Australian Women in Agriculture (Australia's peak organisation for women across all areas of agriculture) and the Women's Industry Network Seafood Community which represents Australian women in the seafood industry. The report in the NT about the visit can be found here.
The Crawford Fund assisted with publicity for ACIAR work in Pakistan in response to interest due to the floods in Pakistan at the end of August with print and radio coverage. The ABC webfeature can be found here.
.jpg "Bob McMullan")
Conference opening by The Hon Bob McMullan.
There was widespread national print, TV and radio coverage following from interviews with most speakers at the Crawford Fund’s annual conference “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People.” There was particular interest in Dr Cristian Samper from the Natural History Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and Dr Steve Hopper of Kew Gardens including a front page feature article in the Canberra Time’s Panorama liftout, national TV news and a wide range of Radio Australia, Radio National and ABC interviews that went to air.
In the lead up to the Crawford Fund’s annual conference on biodiversity and world food security, an opinion piece by Dr Tony Gregson, member of the board of the Crawford Fund and chair of the conference planning committee focused attention on the current status of our own collections and whether we can improve arrangements in order to increase their usefulness to both Australian farmers and to the global scientific and agricultural communities. In addition to the US Science Magazine, national print and radio outlets highlighted Dr Gregson’s call for Australia to commit to 50:50 governments:industry funding of collections, the appointment of a national co-ordinator, and development of a national database based on the Germplasm Resource Information System (GRIN) Global.
Cherries
National reports highlight the effort to save the world's first seed bank, home to Europe's largest collection of fruit, berries and seed crops, which is facing destruction because of pressure from property developers. The Crawford Fund joined the international effort to save Pavlovsk Experiment Station which covers hundreds of hectares of land on the edge of the Russian city of St Petersburg. The historic Russian seed trust contains more than 5,000 seeds, 90 per cent of which are from crops that it says do not exist anywhere else in the world.
1800 soil scientists from more than 65 countries were in Brisbane in early August for the 19th World Congress of Soil Science. Dr Bob Zeigler from the International Rice Research Institute was reported nationally explaining that to meet global food demand, world food production has to double by 2050. And Dr Colin Chartres from the International Water Management Institute backed this by explaining that lack of water could be the stumbling block, and that the world needs a "Blue-Green revolution" to deliver water productivity increases.
A new approach to hunger and malnutrition is needed to cope with the unprecedented epidemic of diet-related diseases around the world, warned Dr Emile Frison, Director General of Bioversity International, a research centre dedicated to the use of agricultural biodiversity. Dr Frison joined other biodiversity conservation specialists and advocates at the Crawford Fund’s 2010 international conference titled “Biodiversity and World Food Security: Nourishing the Planet and its People,” held in Parliament House, Canberra over 30 August to 1 September 2010. Read more
L to r: Dr Denis Blight, Dr Nick Austin, Archie Law and Olivia Rousset
The Crawford Fund facilitated the involvement of the Fund’s Executive Director Dr Denis Blight and ACIAR’s CEO Dr Nick Austin to be part of a televised discussion on Food Security and the Global Food Crisis through A-Pac, the public affairs television funded by Foxtel, as part of a development focussed series organised by The World Bank Pacific. They were joined by the CEO of the ActionAid, Mr Archie Law. It was moderated by two time Walkley Award winner Olivia Rousset. It was reported that there are one billion hungry people worldwide, with one third living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The food price spike in mid-2008, and its associated negative impacts on poor people, amplified the need to reverse a decline in investment in agriculture over the past few decades but for the world to deliver on its goal of halving poverty and hunger by 2015, there’s an urgent need for more investment in developing countries to boost agricultural productivity, to improve access to food markets, to decrease vulnerability to agricultural risks, and to create better and more sustainable rural livelihoods. In addition to the showing on Foxtel, the lively debate is avaiable on YouTube and also features on the World Bank’s Pacific webpage at www.worldbank.org/praxis. Other websites which feature the discussion include Australian Development Gateway, Fora TV, Truveo.com, and AOL.
Attendees at nutrition workshop
Joanna McCarthy reported on work to improve the diet and nutrition in the Solomon Islands on ABC TV Landline in mid-July. She reported on the work of Dr Graham Lyons, a research fellow at Adelaide University who’s working on project backed by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) aimed to improve food security in the Solomons and particularly related to the positive impact of the sweet potato. The story can be seen on the ABC TV Landline website here.
With the support of the Crawford Fund, the Council of Australia-Arab Relations and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA), Kendall Jackson from ABC Rural was able to travel to Syria to cover a broad range of stories related to the work of ICARDA, involving Australian support and/or researchers, or of particular in interest in Australia. Kendall has reported across the ABC, Radio National and Radio Australia website, and has posted stories on YouTube with a video from her experiences. These can be found on the ABC website here.
The visit to Australia by Dr Colin Chartres, Director General of the International Water Management Institute as a keynote speaker at an ATSE Water Workshop enabled national media coverage on global water scarcity and whether it is a risk or an opportunity for Australia. In a range of print and broadcast interviews, including ABC TV 2 News Breakfast, Colin argued that from an Australian perspective, global water scarcity presents a risk if poor governance and management and consequent food shortages lead to civil unrest, terrorism and conflict.
However, Australian expertise in providing solutions to water scarcity also presents a major opportunity in terms of the “export” of water governance and management expertise and he suggested there are solutions that require policy and governance changes, considerable capital investment, major capacity building, adoption of available but unused technologies and ongoing research and development. The ABC National Rural News item is here.
The Crawford Fund assisted with features in the Rural Press in June involving interviews with the Fund’s Executive Director, Denis Blight, as well as the ACIAR CEO, Nick Austin, Crawford Fund board member and farmer Dr Tony Gregson, and the Grain Research Development Corporation (GRDC) member Tim Reeves on issues related to world food security. One of the features is available here.
In addition to a series of stories on ABC TV Landline that was assisted by a Crawford Fund supported ‘seeing is believing’ visit, ABC Queensland’s Nicky Redl reported across a range of ABC radio programs on her experiences in East Timor and with the success of the Seeds of Life program, supported by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Nicky mixed a personal visit to the small nation for its marathon with a trip to view the new ‘Seeds of Life’ crop varieties in the field. One of Nicky’s reports is at here.
Sarina Locke accepts her national
rural
broadcast award from Patrick
Lally of Rabobank.
Sarina Locke from ABC Rural was supported by the Crawford Fund for a ‘seeing is believing’ visit to West Timor and Java to mark the celebrations of ACIAR’s 25-year research partnership with Indonesia. She produced more than a dozen stories that were broadcast on Radio National, Radio Australia, ABC and online programs. Sarina has now won an international and three national awards for one of the reports from the visit - the short documentary on her mother's AusAID work in West Timor and how things had progressed since
her mother's involvement there. The awards were the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists’ Star Prize for Agricultural Broadcasting, and the NSW rural broadcasting, the national radio and the overall broadcasting categories at the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists’ awards. In her acceptance speech, Sarina made mention of the Crawford Fund, ACIAR and AusAID, the impact the work was having in Indonesia, and the need for it to continue.
To coincide with the inaugural visit to Australia by the Board and senior staff of CIMMYT (see separate report), The Crawford Fund highlighted to media the significant work that is being undertaken by CIMMYT of interest to and in partnership with Australia. National interviews on radio and in print explained the significant threat of UG99 to global and Australian wheat production and the ongoing efforts to develop drought resistant wheat. For the national rural news item on research into drought resistance, go to http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201004/s2874594.htm
Jim Symes receives the "warrior of warriors"
award
from (l) Carlos Perez del Castillo (Chair CGIAR
Consortium Board)
and (r) Neil Andrew (Chair of
the Crawford Fund).
A number of the CIMMYT-Australia Wheat Warriors, also mentioned elsewhere, were interviewed including Jim Syme, Tim Reeves, Paul Brennan, Paul Fox and Bob McIntosh, with radio and print coverage in national and state based outlets. For example, see Radio National Bush Telegraph item at www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/content/2010/s2871376.htm
Cathy Reade guest edited a special larger than usual edition of the national “Issues” magazine focused on ‘food security’. Released in December, it included contributions that Cathy facilitated from ACIAR, CGIAR centres and other collaborators. In addition to its usual distribution to subscribers, school libraries and teachers - copies were provided with a letter from the Crawford Fund Chairman to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Parliamentary Secretary, and senior AusAID staff. See http://issues.control.com.au/issues2009/bi89.shtml
A Crawford Fund supported ‘Seeing is Believing” visit to East Timor by ABC TV Landline crew in November went very well, with assistance from the Seeds of Life team in Dili. The story, focused on the ACIAR/AusAID Seeds of Life project. See http://www.abc.net.au/landline/ for programs on 14 and 21 March 2010.
To coincide with the visit to Australia by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a national radio interview was organised for Dr Peter Horne from ACIAR to discuss the special longstanding relationship Australia has with Indonesia in agricultural development. See http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/default.htm for 11 March.
Crawford Fund assisted with a meeting schedule and media effort for the visit to Australia for the Global Biosecurity conference in early March by Dr Trevor Nicholls, Director of CABI focusing on the need for an international monitoring system for plants and diseases. See ABC Country Hour Qld http://www.abc.net.au/rural/qld/content/2010/03/s2833397.htm
The Crawford Fund supported the national conference of the Australian Agricultural and Resource Economists Society, held on 10 and 11 February, opened by Crawford Fund chairman, The Hon Neil Andrew. The event included a range of well-known international and Australian economists addressing development issues. The Crawford Fund managed the media effort for the event with good media coverage in national, metropolitan and rural print and radio outlets. See Radio Australia Pacific Beat, RN Bush Tele, National Community Radio “The Wire” http://www.thewire.org.au/daydetail.aspx?SearchDay=2010-02-10 Sydney Morning Herald http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/laws-not-enough-to-protect-reef-expert-20100211-nuuv.html Radio National Late Night Live http://www.abc.net.au/rn/latenightlive/stories/2010/2816786.htm ABC Country Hour SA http://www.abc.net.au/rural/sa/content/2010/02/s2818065.htm
Crawford Fund worked with ACIAR and State institutions on public addresses or meetings in ACT, WA and SA and a national media effort for the visit to Australia by Dr Colin Piggin, leader of the ACIAR/AusAID project to increase the productivity, profitability and sustainability of crops in the drylands of northern Iraq. Interviews were organised for national and regional radio and rural print media as well as ABC TV Landline. See Radio Australia Connect Asia and Rural Press (print and online): National Community Radio “Wire” and RN Bush Telegraph
The Crawford Fund organised a well-attended public address, a set of meetings in WA and a media outreach for the visit to Australia by Dr Glenn Denning, founding Director of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Centre and Professor of Professional Practice at New York's Columbia University's School of International and Public Affairs. The address and national radio and rural media coverage focused on what’s needed to attain the end of hunger, the Millennium Villages project and its applicability in Asia, and Australian involvement in the new Master’s program in “Development Practice”. See
Radio Australia Pacific Beat, Radio National Bush Tele and Rural Press
Coverage for previous years can be found at:
The Crawford Fund’s first State Conference not only attracted a capacity audience to Parliament House, Brisbane but also broad media attendance and coverage on TV, radio and print outlets. “A Food Secure World: Challenging Choices for our North” was an opportunity to highlight in the media:
The list of coverage and clippings from the conference are available here Media Coverage Queensland State Conference
Food Security and the Tropics
The Crawford Fund’s first State Conference not only attracted a capacity audience to Parliament House, Brisbane but also broad media attendance and coverage on TV, radio and print outlets. “A Food Secure World: Challenging Choices for our North” was an opportunity to highlight in the media:
the good news that the percentage of the world’s rural inhabitants living on less than US$1.25 a day has dropped from nearly half to about one third;
the extend of food security challenges, as well as future food price scenarios;
the need for research in Australia and developing countries of new ways to feed the world and to be smarter at addressing the problems caused by increasing population and demand for food;
the concerning shortfall in Australia of new agricultural scientists, now running at about 4,200 a year;
the tremendous pay-off on investment in international agricultural research, shown by a review of 120 ACIAR projects that indicated around a billion dollars worth of benefits over 20 years for an outlay of $372 million;
the importance of training opportunities and education for people in other countries to help with food security;
the efforts to ensure continued sustainability of the seafood industry through sustainable fish meal supplies and investment in R&D projects to ensure clean and efficient production.
The list of coverage and clippings from the conference are available here Media Coverage Queensland State Conference