As part of the government’s Australia Economic Accelerator (AEA) scheme, up to $8.1 million in grants will support La Trobe University researchers to boost the country’s food and beverage sector.
A $1.78 million grant was awarded to Ian Porter from the School of Agriculture, Biomedicine and Environment. His research uses Wine Industry Smoke Detectors (WISDs) to track smoke events—including bushfires and burn-offs—around vineyards. The WISDs advise winegrowers whether the smoke events will affect their grapes.
“Smoke taint is the Australian wine industry’s greatest economic production risk, costing the industry multi-million dollar loss every year,” said Porter.
“We hope to see a widespread adoption of the WISD system throughout key wine-growing regions in Australia.”
Porter stated that the funding will be used to expand the WISD system both nationally and internationally.
“Growers and winemakers will benefit by making early decisions for management of smoke impacts on vineyards,” he added.
“For the first time, they can have the confidence to market quality grapes and wine from smoke-affected areas.”
Alongside the development of WISDs, Aniruddha Desai was awarded $3.8 million to develop technology solutions to improve dairy farm management. Desai is from the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences (SCEMS) and the Centre for Technology Infusion.
Partnering with Robo Jedi, the technology will provide data-driven dairy farm management solutions. It will offer farmers tools that are cost-efficient and enhance milk yield.
“By providing real-time, actionable insights, the system will enable more effective pasture management, proactive animal health monitoring, and optimised reproduction cycles — ultimately boosting productivity, sustainability, and profitability for the Dairy sector,” said Desai.
Lastly, Brian Abbey from SCEMS and the La Trobe Institute for Molecular Science was awarded $2.5 million to scale up the manufacture of nanotechnology devices that identify cancerous cells.
“I congratulate Ian, Ani and Brian on their respective funding outcomes and look forward to seeing how these projects support growth of their industry partners,” said deputy vice-chancellor of research and industry engagement at La Trobe, Chris Pakes.
In addition to $8.1 million government funding, researchers also received support from partner organisations.