Desert Knowledge CRC

The Desert Knowledge CRC is a research and brokerage institution that links researchers with 27 partners. The Desert Knowledge CRC focuses these research efforts on creating useful outcomes with commercial application for desert people, communities and our partners. These partners provide in-kind and cash support to the Desert Knowledge CRC.

The Desert Knowledge CRC exists to:

• Provide sustainable livelihoods for desert people that are based on natural resource and service enterprise opportunities that are environmentally and socially appropriate
• Encourage sustainable remote desert settlements that support the presence of desert people, particularly remote Aboriginal communities, as a result of improved and efficient governance and access to services
• Foster thriving desert regional economies that are based on desert competitive advantages, bringing together Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities, government and industry and
• Apply social science insights into governance, human capacity and the design of appropriate institutions to all these outcomes.

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Bush Tucker is emerging out of the backblocks as a new glamour industry for Australia worth, potentially, hundreds of millions of export dollars.

Rising interest in, and demand for, Australian foods and flavours is behind a growing enthusiasm for bush tucker from remote indigenous communities to high-tech farms and supermarkets.

“I think that within a couple of decades native foods will be a major horticulture industry, like macadamias have already become,” predicts scientist Dr Maarten Ryder, whose team at the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre is developing the knowledge of how to grow, harvest and handle native foods.

The industry is already extremely diverse, ranging from wild harvest of plants by indigenous communities in the central deserts to cottage-scale horticultural production and processing, to trials by large-scale farmers of automated harvesting.

“It’s got all the making of a big industry, with a surprising array of products emerging on the market from liqueurs, aperitifs and teas, to sauces and chutneys, to fresh fruits and salad vegetables, to seeds and grains which add a new experience to breads and cakes,” Dr Ryder explains.

“There is tremendous interest from tourists in Australian native foods, most of which they have never encountered before in their lives, and this is reflected in rising demand for native products in our restaurants. Many of our supermarkets are starting to have an “Australian shelf” of native products.

“But we’re also seeing more and more recipe books appearing which call for Australian ingredients, and growing awareness and interest from the international gourmet community. A German spice company has recently expressed serious interest in acquiring new spices and condiments from Australia.”

Dr Ryder predicts that wild harvest will remain the industry mainstay for some time to come – a great economic opportunity for remote indigenous communities, both to gather and …

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Higher grazing profits and sustainable pastoral landscapes can go hand-in-hand, according to new research starting in the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

Rotational grazing systems offer significant scope to cut costs, increase livestock productivity, make better use of country and at the same time achieve better vegetation cover and environmental stewardship.

And it’s all down to natural cattle and sheep behaviour, says Desert Knowledge CRC’s Dr Ben Norton.

“This runs counter to most things science has been saying for the past quarter of a century: that there are no obvious advantages in rotational grazing over set stocking.”

But the evidence of a handful of pastoralists who are turning loss-making operations into highly profitable ones and restoring the condition of degraded country at the same time is hard to ignore, he says.

“It appears to be a question of scale, especially in the pastoral zone, and of animal behaviour. A large mob of animals that is on the move behaves quite differently to a smaller mob that is in one large paddock all the time.

“Sheep and cattle are naturally migratory animals. They move, graze and water in large mobs. Their loyalty is to the herd or flock.

“But when you pen them in a paddock more-or-less permanently they become territorial – loyal to particular locations. This leads to higher grazing pressure in some areas and less effective use of the total grazing resource.”

Dr Norton says that observations on properties in semi-arid Australia – both cattle and sheep – indicate there can be major advantages in moving to a rotational system in a planned fashion.

Animal behaviour and animal distribution occurring in paddocks on a commercial property have been irrelevant in grazing trials on research stations. This Desert Knowledge CRC research will test rotational grazing at a property scale, …

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The partnership between one of Australia’s largest food manufacturers and the country’s leading indigenous food company is set to double the size of the fledgling bush foods industry and create jobs for Aboriginal Australians.

Ward McKenzie, one of Australia’s largest food manufacturers and exporters of herbs and spices, and Robins Foods, makers of Australia’s leading indigenous food range Outback Spi it, have joined forces to market the unique flavours of Australia’s native foods to the world.

The companies predicted the native foods industry, currently worth an estimated $10 million per annum, will double its turnover over the next five years as a direct result of their collaboration.

“We are very excited about bringing Aboriginal foods not just to a wider market at home but to the rest of the world,” said Helen Ward, Joint Managing Director of Ward McKenzie.

“We want to help Robins Foods create sustainable jobs for Aboriginal people through their partner Indigenous Australian Foods (IAF), an indigenous-owned supply chain.”

Ward McKenzie’s investment will strengthen the entire native foods value chain, said Juleigh Robins, Managing Director of Robins Foods.

“We are thrilled to have a company of the caliber of Ward McKenzie help us develop these new and delicious products. The partnership puts our aim of making native foods an everyday part of Australia’s diet within close reach.”

Ms Robins said the support her company has received from the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) has strengthened the bush foods industry and facilitated its growth.

“The Desert Knowledge CRC’s support is critical for improving the efficiencies and capacities of indigenous people who harvest native foods from the desert and for introducing sustainable agricultural systems for these species.”

Dr Craig James, Desert Knowledge CRC Program Manager, expects the partnership to increase the production capacity of desert Australia, home of …

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Desert Knowledge Australia and Desert Knowledge CRC are hosting a world class workshop in Alice Springs (27 July – 29 July) to help industries located in desert Australia identify how they can network together to improve business in the future.

The workshop run by internationally renowned Ifor Ffowcs-Williams and Mike Burke from Cluster Navigators is ground breaking work since this session physically brings 15 facilitators together from across Australia including Broken Hill, Kalgoorlie, Mount Isa, Port Augusta, Coober Pedy and Alice Springs in the first stage of the Desert Knowledge Australia Linked Business Networks Project.

“People will leave this workshop with initial skills development in how to either create local business networks or build on existing networks” explains Mr Ffowcs Williams. “They will then use a range of technologies to link those networks across desert Australia”

“A key element of this project is that regional development and other organisations from across four states and the NT are working closely together under the banner of Desert Knowledge Australia to create networks that will assist businesses identify opportunities and work with each other to mutual benefit.”

The 18 month project at this stage covers industries such as mining services, tourism, housing design, renewable energy services and bush products. Already participants are exploring ways in which particular mining service expertise in one region can help fill a shortfall in another region The conventional bush foods industry could be expanded by such innovative ideas as using festivals like the Alice Springs Wild Foods Festival as a market place for products from across desert Australia.

“A project of this scale would not be possible without the support of Telstra and AusIndustry” states John Baskerville, Chair of Desert Knowledge Australia Interim Board. “We are certainly thankful for their help and it will be exciting to report …

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Australia is in the grip of a ‘dust age’, a five year-long spell in which the winds sweep tens of megatonnes of topsoil from the face of the continent.

“Dust is a measure of the care we are taking of Australia, just as the sediment in a river reveals how you are looking after its catchment,” says Professor Grant McTainsh, who heads the dust research team in the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre.

“Up till 2001, we thought we were getting better at it, based on the previous 40 years’ data. Then a major dust era erupted, from 2002-04, which still persists in NSW and parts of northern SA and western Queensland.”

A single giant dust storm took 4.85 million tonnes of soil, Prof. McTainsh and colleague Dr John Leys, calculated. In the same year 20 other events took over a million tonnes apiece. Accentuating the continent’s violent contrasts they recently observed a huge dust plume rising right alongside a flooding creek.

One of the reasons Prof. McTainsh and his team can be so precise about the scale and origin of dust storms is a newly-formed network of ground observers spread across the continent who supplement the satellite imagery with details of the dust colour (indicating its origin and composition) visibility (indicating volume) and wind direction, things not easy to determine from space.

The Dust Watch network was established in 2002 in NSW by Dr Leys from the NSW Dept of Infrastructure, Planning and Natural Resources and Prof McTainsh from Griffith University. Today it has 200 volunteers – mainly enthusiastic pastoralists – who report in whenever they see a dust storm brewing. Some race it in their utes to assess its speed and use fencelines to calculate visibility.

The network has also given rise to the “dusties”, a new inland …

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At least another generation of desert Aboriginal people is likely to suffer from extreme hardship if the failure of compulsory and post compulsory education services to build their capabilities is not addressed urgently, an international conference will be told.

Metta Young, from the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, will be presenting her research into education and training pathways for desert Indigenous peoples at tomorrow’s International Geographical Union (IGU) conference in Brisbane.

“Evidence about the interaction between desert Aboriginal people and the vocational education and training (VET) sector gives us fresh insight into the potential impact of new mainstreaming arrangements for Aboriginal people,” she said.

“Already mainstreamed services such as VET have trouble meeting escalating need. Relying solely on mainstream services in education, health and transition to work initiatives may condemn at least another generation of Indigenous people to extreme hardship.”

Alice Springs – based Ms Young, who has worked with Aboriginal peoples across Australia for the past 20 years, says the transition to mainstream jobs, as required by the new CDEP arrangements, without drastically building the educational and social capabilities needed to make that transit is doomed to fail.

Ms Young said her presentation, “Growing the desert: Are we being served?”, analyses VET delivery to desert Aboriginal people and the tension between livelihood activities in remote settlements, such as ‘caring for country’, and the types of vocations considered valid by Australia’s mainstream, industry-driven training system.

“My research has found little will to work with the strengths and assets of Aboriginal people and the value their skills and knowledge have for the nation.”

Her findings show that Aboriginal people in remote settlements study VET courses predominantly for personal and community development reasons and that this participation has had minimal impact on their transition from CDEP to real jobs.

“Most desert Aboriginal …

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Sweeping changes to the way services are delivered to remote Aboriginal settlements and new thinking about wealth creation have been urged by researchers at a national conference in Perth today.

For remote settlements to be sustainable we must find a better way for services providers and consumers to work together, starting with a reduction of the administrative overload, said a key note speaker at the Sustainability of Indigenous Communities conference at Murdoch University.

“People in remote settlements are drowning in growing amounts of paperwork, ironically in order to administer their own self determination. No non-Aboriginal council would put up with this,” said Dr Mark Moran from the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (CRC).

“When added together, the number and complexity of reports required by different levels of government is mind-boggling and often beyond the capacity of local communities,” he said.

Dr Moran, the leader of the Desert Knowledge CRC’s new Sustainable Services for Desert Settlements research project, said the service system has to become much simpler and much more responsive to consumers if Aboriginal people are to achieve their aspirations.

He said we must come up with innovative ways for consumers in a restricted budget environment to express their demand, which balance the tradeoffs and the contributions they are prepared to make.

”This is not only about money, but also long term investments in time and effort,” he said. “We must also find ways to involve consumers in decisions about budget and program allocations that are currently made by service providers alone.”

“Changing funding mechanisms and redistributing service functions at different levels of the system are just some of the solutions our research is exploring.”

“It investigates whether some service functions, such as regional road works, should have been made the responsibility of people in remote settlements and, conversely, if …

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