About Us
The Molecular Plant Breeding Cooperative Research
Centre (MPB) commenced operations in July 2003. MPB builds on the success of the
old CRC for Molecular Plant Breeding, which operated from July 1997 to June
2003.
The prime objective of MPB is to ensure the
competitiveness of Australian crop and pasture industries, currently worth $18
billion annually, by developing the latest molecular technologies and delivering
them to the grain and pasture industries through breeding programs.
Specifically, MPB's objectives are to enhance:
- the contribution of long-term scientific and
technological research and innovation to Australia's sustainable economic and
social development
- the transfer of research outputs into commercial or
other outcomes of economic, environmental or social benefit to Australia
- the value to Australia of graduate researchers
- collaboration among researchers, between researchers
and industry, and to improve efficiency in the use of intellectual and other
research resources.
The MPB research program will provide enabling
intellectual property, new molecular technologies, tools and software to
increase the efficiency and speed of plant breeding. The ultimate outcome for
industry will be more robust germplasm and varieties - sooner. The education
program will deliver trained plant breeders and researchers to meet customer
needs. The primary focus of MPB research is on cereals (wheat and barley) and
pastures (grasses and clovers).
The technologies developed by MPB will be delivered to market
through partnerships between the commercial arm of the Centre, Molecular Plant
Breeding Pty Ltd, and diverse commercial participants. Molecular Plant Breeding
Pty Ltd has a strong IP position and holds patents in a range of areas in
cereals and pastures. The technologies developed by MPB will lead to significant
improvements in drought tolerance, salinity tolerance, disease resistance and
quality. Delivery of these products will be achieved through the involvement of
a number of breeding organisations, seed companies and marketing companies.
An independent economic analysis indicated that MPBCRC research can potentially
deliver over $439 million in economic improvements to Australian agriculture.
For more information on this, please see the
Economic Impact Analysis.
What is a Cooperative Research Centre?
The Australian Commonwealth Government funds the Cooperative Research Centre
(CRC) Program. It was established in 1990 to strengthen collaborative links
between industry, research organisations, educational institutions and
government agencies. There are currently about 70 CRCs involved in agriculture,
the environment, medical science, mining, information and communication and
manufacturing.
For more information about the CRC program, visit the CRC
Association website at
www.crca.asn.au.
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