Hosting international ag experts in Canberra
November 26, 2025
The Crawford Fund for Food Security’s ACT Committee has had a busy month delivering both, an event featuring global experts in plant breeding in Africa, and another one on the rapidly shifting global agri-food investment landscape.
Co-hosted with ANU’s Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Business of Plant Breeding in Africa: demand-led and market-driven approaches to develop new varieties and new crops for African agriculture event was held on 17 November. Professors Gabrielle Persley and Kaye Basford from the School of Agriculture and Food Sustainability at the University of Queensland (UQ/AGFS), Mr Jean Claude (JC) Rubyogo, Director, Pan African Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) and Leader of Global Bean Program at the Alliance of Bioversity and CIAT, Nairobi, Kenya and Professor Shimelis Hussein, Director, African Centre for Crop Improvement (ACCI), University of Kwa Zulu Natal, South Africa, delivered an engaging seminar to over 40 Australian stakeholders. You can read more about it here.
This event followed a presentation by Philip Pardey, Professor of Science and Technology Policy at the University of Minnesota, and Director of the GEMS Informatics on Rethinking Investments in Agri-Food Innovation Globally earlier this month.
Phil shared insights into the profound changes shaping global public and private agri-food R&D investment — including:
- The rise of middle-income countries, particularly large agricultural economies;
- A dramatic geographical shift in where R&D occurs;
- The expanding role of the private sector; and,
- Of growing concern, a slowdown and cutback in R&D spending worldwide.
