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Research Projects
Following are some current research projects funded by national and international research programs and industry-based organisations.
CRC ZNE
Websites:
Project dates: 2024 - 2032
Blogs, outputs & activities:
How can we make technology stacks work for agriculture
New funding announced: CRC for Zero Net Emissions from Agriculture
Zero Net Emissions Agriculture CRC
The mission of the ZNE-Ag CRC is to drive innovation for a low-emissions future by advancing practical, scalable solutions that enable producers and land managers to reduce emissions, enhance productivity and protect natural resources. It is a collaboration with producers, agribusiness, researchers and policymakers from a range of partners. The industry-led research projects are testing a diverse range of emissions reduction technologies, at scale, on Australian farms.
Our centre is leading Program 4: Delivering Value from Net Zero. There are a series of focus areas within this program, including: behavioural and policy insights, circular economy solutions, renewable energy solutions, and supply chain analysis. Our staff are also getting involved in other projects across the ZNE-Ag CRC.
Program 4 Leader
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Prof Marit Kragt
Our researchers
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Prof Marit Kragt
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Dr Sarah Whitnall
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Dr German Puga
Projects our staff are involved in:
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Strengthening the enabling environment for adoption and scaling of low emissions on-farm solutions.
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Agrivoltaics: Integrating profitable agricultural production and renewable
energy generation. -
Demonstrating an insetting business model in the beef value chain.
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Scoping Characteristics of Successful Technology Stacks for Emission Reduction.
Funding
This CRC is funded by Australian Government Department of Industry, Sciences and resources and industry partnerships.
BITA
Websites:
Project dates: 2022 - 2028
Blogs, outputs & activities:
ARC Training Centre for Behavioural Insights for Technology Adoption (BITA)
Australia needs accelerated adoption of innovation technologies to improve outcomes in health, agriculture and cybersecurity. Despite technically viable solutions, innovations fail to be adopted due to behavioural barriers. Behavioural approaches can promote significant gains by bridging the barriers to technology adoption. BITA will boost national productivity by identifying, designing and evaluating solutions that address these barriers.
By uniting industry and government with world-leading interdisciplinary researchers, this training centre hopes to build transformative capability in people, data and solutions and support Australian organisations to achieve higher returns on technology investment.
UWA project Lead
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Prof Marit Kragt
Our researchers and supervisors
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A/Prof Steve Schilizzi
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A/Prof Fay Rola-Rubzen
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A/Prof Ben White
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A/Prof Amin Mugera
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Dr Fiona Dempster
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Dr German Puga
UWA PhD candidates
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Yadav Padhyoti
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Mahnaz Afsar
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Mithun Kumar
This is a collaboration between 3 universities (Queensland University of Technology, the University of Queensland and UWA) and many industry partners including Clear Grain Exchange, Dairy Australia the Grower Group Alliance, Livestock Pricing, and Meat and Livestock Australia.
Funding
This project is funded by Australian Research Council and 19 industry partners.
Barriers and Opportunities
Websites:
Project dates: 2024 - 2026
Blogs, outputs & activities:
Fiona talks at the MIG workshop
Natural capital production landscapes: project overview video
Barriers and opportunities for agricultural natural capital as an asset class
This project will prepare Western Australia for the paradigm shift in natural resource management in agricultural systems by understanding the potential of “Natural Capital” production landscapes as an asset class. Through workshop engagement, education, and interviews with stakeholders (farmers/landowners and investors), the insights and knowledge gained will help industry to make informed decisions around Natural Capital and help policymakers understand the expectations among stakeholders, which will inform the definition of more effective, user-focused strategies.
UWA project Lead
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A/Prof Ram Pandit
Our researchers
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Dr Fiona Dempster
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Mr Sugat Bajracharya
The project is led by the Grower Group Alliance, and brings together a team of experts, including MobileGlobal Pty Ltd, UWA and ECU.
Funding
The project is supported by the South-West WA Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund. UWA is sub-contracted through Grower Group Alliance.
KARBONMAT
Websites:
Project dates: 2024 - 2026
Blogs, outputs & activities:
Australian–Norwegian collaboration advances sustainable soil carbon business models
Karbonmat-podcast episode 2 - Australian experiences with carbon farming
Publications:
Kragt, M.E., R. Burton, A. Zahl-Thanem, and P.P. Otte (2021). Farmers’ interest in crowdfunding to finance climate change mitigation practices. Journal of Cleaner Production no. 321:128967.
This project is investigating how soil carbon sequestration practices can be integrated into practical and socially sustainable business models for agriculture. While carbon farming is increasingly recognised for its role in climate mitigation and regenerative agriculture, widespread adoption requires more than science alone.
Our centre is exploring the economic, social and institutional systems needed to support long-term uptake by farmers, industry and policymakers.
UWA project Lead
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Prof Marit Kragt
The project is led by Ruralis with collaborating partners; HVL, Grønt Fagsenter Buskerud, Tilburg University, University of Western Australia, and Norges Vel, Stiftelsen Norsk Mat.
Funding
The project is supported by Ruralis through funding by The Research Council of Norway.
Wheatbelt
Websites:
Project dates: 2025 - 2027
Blogs, outputs & activities:
Coming soon.
Wheatbelt land-use paradigms – navigating new industries in the low carbon and natural capital era
Led by Wheatbelt NRM, this project explores land use changes in Western Australia’s Wheatbelt that are driven by emerging biodiversity and carbon markets. Integrating trees on farm, be it for biomass crop production, as environmental plantings, or to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs), can enhance natural capital, offset emissions, and diversify income streams for producers.
Our project evaluates profitable ways to integrate trees on farm and develop producers' capacity to respond to new markets.
UWA project Lead
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Prof Marit Kragt
The project brings together a team of experts, including Wheatbelt NRM, UWA, DPIRD's Climate Resilience Program, and the Farm Optimisation Group.
Funding
This project is funded by the DAFF Climate-Smart Capacity-Building Program Grant through a sub-contract with Wheatbelt NRM.
Completed Projects
Completed Projects
2026
RiskWi$e - behavioural science program
The National Risk Management Initiative, known as RiskWi$e, was a 5-year research program that aimed to understand and improve the risk-reward outcomes for Australian grain growers by supporting grower on-farm decision-making.
Our Centre led the behavioural science component that aimed to understand grower behaviour change and support adoption. Our role was to develop and implement research to understand farmers’ approaches to accounting for risk and uncertainty in their decision making and perceived relative importance of risks. The project was funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) through a subcontract with CSIRO.
The team created the Behavioural Science Toolkit webpage, which houses many of the outputs developed through this grant.
2026
BeefLinks
BeefLinks was a four-year large collaborative project that involved researchers from across UWA and significant industry engagement. It was a partnership between Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA) and UWA that aimed to drive an integrated and complementary R&D program for northern and southern production systems across WA to achieve profitable, consistent and sustainable beef yields matched to consumer expectations. The program brought together producers, researchers, businesses and state agencies to develop a greater understanding of opportunities to enhance productivity and value along the red meat supply chain. Our centre led two of the eight projects; Producer insights for adoption outcomes across WA BeefLinks (see project flier) and Understanding feedlot performance and eating quality of beef cattle sourced from rangelands through the WA Supply chain.
There were a lot of outputs from this program, including the Feedlot Performance FINAL REPORT,
Consumer Survey Results - Fact Sheet and the Producer Insights Final Report Summary
2026
Agricultural Innovations for Communities - Intensified and Diverse Farming Systems for Timor-Leste (AI-Com 2)
This project aimed to improve food security, including labour use efficiency, and resilience of agricultural systems in Timor-Leste to meet the livelihood needs of rural householders and it focuses on the scaling and adoption pathways of technologies and knowledge developed in Al-Com 1. Funded by the Australian Centre International Agricultural Research, this project was led by the University of Western Australia with several research partner organisations, including Monash University and the University of the Sunshine Coast.
2025
Additive intercropping in wide row crops for resilient crop production in Bangladesh, Bhutan and eastern India
This project aimed to identify options for smallholder farmers to sustainably intensify wide-row crop production through the addition of short-duration, high-value intercrop species. The focus was on intensification of wide-row planted crops: primarily dry (rabi) season maize in Bangladesh, eastern India and Bhutan. While the primary focus of this project was on sustainably improving cropping system productivity, the effects of wide-row, additive intercropping at the smallholder farm level is being considered, including potential food and nutrition benefits for the household.
This large collaborative project was led by A/Prof Fay Rola-Rubzen and funded by the Australian Centre International Agricultural Research through CIMMYT.
2024
Farmer Behaviour Insights Project (Enhancing farm-household management decision-making for increased productivity in the Eastern Gangetic Plains)
This ACIAR-funded project evaluated the value of behavioural economics in understanding decision making by farm women and men, and used these behavioural insights to design/re-design, test and assess selected interventions in agricultural extension, input provision and agricultural service delivery in the Eastern Gangetic Plains.
Bangladesh, India and Nepal have invested in research on conservation agriculture to help improve the lives of farmers and the productivity and health of their land. Yet, the uptake has been low. By taking a people-centred approach, the team looked at what supports positive change and what is likely to be effective in nudging smallholder farmers to adopt new practices like conservation agriculture.
This was a UWA-led consortium of partners under Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen's leadership, including RDRS Bangladesh, Rajshahi University, University of New England, Bihar Agricultural University, Uttar Banga Krishi Vishwavidyalaya, Nepal Agricultural Research Council and others.
For more information visit the project website: https://farmerbehaviourinsights.org/
2023
Closing the loop: Black Soldier Fly technology to convert agriculture waste
This project explored the use of Black Soldier Flies (BSF) to turn livestock wastes into useful products. The overall objective was to develop high quality soil conditioners and fertilisers from manures and other wastes though innovative technologies using BSF - a non-invasive, non-pest fly species for waste management. It explored how BSF technology can provide a sustainable pathway for waste management and enable primary industries to increase productivity and profitability by generating new products, revenue streams, and markets whilst reducing on-farm operational costs associated with waste management and fertiliser availability. See the Final Report Summary.
This was a collaboration between researchers from various disciplines at UWA, led by Dr Sasha Jenkins and Professor Marit Kragt. The research was conducted by UWA in conjunction with Australian Pork Limited, Dairy Australia, Agrifutures Australia, Australian Eggs, Australian Meat Processing Corporation, Future Green Solutions, QLD DAF, and other industry partners. The project was funded by the Australian Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources through Australian Pork Limited.
For more information visit the project website: https://www.bsfwastetoprofit.com
2023
Understanding the drivers of successful and inclusive rural regional transformation: sharing experiences and policy advice in Bangladesh, China, Indonesia and Pakistan
The aim of this two-year ACIAR-project was to understand the nature, drivers and consequences of rural transformation in order to design changes in the institutions, policies and investments (IPIs) which support success. This project investigated not only the underlying determinants of the stages, speeds and outcomes of rural transformation but also the impacts of IPIs on all three elements and the successful rural transformation in the four countries, China, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, and involves sharing experiences and policy advice. The following policy Brief summarises the outcomes: Are Gender Inclusiveness and Rural Transformation Interlinked? The Case of Bangladesh.
The project was led by the Australian National University with several research partner organisations, including UWA. Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen was the project leader from UWA. Project ADP/2017/024.
2022
Paddock level herbicide resistance management for farmers and agronomists
The project aimed to demonstrate the value to farmers through a novel research method, comparing actual test results of paddock weed samples to the farmers perception of their weed resistance status for wild radish, annual ryegrass, capeweed, barley grass and brome grass. By having both actual test results and the farmers perception, researchers, farmers and agronomists are able to work together to ensure a full understanding of the resistance testing results and value of testing.
This project was funded by the Grains Research & Development Corporation and was a joint project between UWA and CSIRO, led by Dr Roberto Busi from AHRI. The economic components were delivered by Dr Fiona Dempster and Rick Llewellyn: Yes, no, maybe – getting value from herbicide resistance testing
2022
Dung Beetles Ecosystem Engineers
The DBEE project investigated how dung beetles can improve profitability and productivity for primary producers. The information can be used by livestock producers and policy makers to make informed decisions regarding the adoption of dung beetles on-farm and importation of new dung beetle species.
The project was a collaboration between agricultural industry organisations and researchers and was funded by Australia Government Department of Agriculture and Water Resources through Meat and Livestock Australia. UWA project Lead was A/Prof Theo Evans and the economic research was conducted by Dr Fiona Dempster, A/Prof Ben White and Cheryl Day.
For more information visit the project website: https://www.dungbeetles.com.au/
2022
Impact of Covid-19 on Vegetable Producers: the Case of Cauliflower and Broccoli Farmers in the Municipality of Aileu, Timor-Leste
The overall aim of one-year ACIAR-funded project was to understand the extent the COVID-19 pandemic has affected men and women in producing and marketing cauliflower and Broccoli to the main markets in Dili. The study examined how vegetable farmers in Aileu can better deal with issues caused by Covid-19 and offer potential solutions, recommendations and lessons learned.
This project was led by the University of New England in collaboration with the National University of Timor Lorosa'e and UWA. Professor Fay Rola-Rubzen was the UWA Project Leader.
2022
CRC Honey Bee Products - The “bee credit” to value bee native bush hive sites in Western Australia
Our centre completed this project under the Honey Bee Hive Sites research program of the CRC. The research aimed to increase the understanding of the economics of honey production and pollination in Western Australia. Through the design of a novel questionnaire migratory, hobbyist and backyard beekeepers provided reliable information about the industry, and determinants of profitability. In valuing the ecosystem service provided by the state’s endemic native vegetation, the costs from land use change, and the logging, clearing and fires can also be measured as losses to commercial beekeepers. See the Final Report Summary.
For more information visit the project website: https://www.crchoneybeeproducts.com/
2020
Sustainable and resilient farming systems intensification in the eastern Gangetic Plains (‘SRFSI’)
This ACIAR-funded project, led by CIMMYT, aimed to reduce poverty in the Eastern Gangetic Plains by improving productivity, profitability and sustainability of smallholder farmers while safeguarding the environment. UWA was one of the research collaborators and Prof Fay Rola-Rubzen led a team of social scientists in understanding farmers’ risk behaviour and how it affected their adoption of CASI technologies. Using mixed-methods approaches, the team examined the socio-economic impacts of conservation agriculture technologies among men and women farmers in the Eastern Gangetic Plains of South Asia. Prof Fay Rola-Rubzen also led the gender mainstreaming efforts in the project.
2020
Local crowdfunding for a low-emission society
This project, funded by The Research Council of Norway, was led by Dr Pia Otte at Ruralis (The Institute for Rural and Regional Research) in Trondheim. A/Prof Marit Kragt was one of the international partners on this project, which explored the potential to use crowdfunding as an alternative source of funding for climate change mitigation in the agricultural sector.
For more information visit the project website: https://coolcrowd.no/en/
2019
Benefits, costs and risks of soil amelioration
Professor David Pannell and Dr Fiona Dempster were contracted by the WA Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD) to develop a conceptual framework for the benefits, costs and risks from soil amelioration approaches in the western region to support Grower understanding and adoption decisions. As part of this research, Professor David Pannell presented “A stock take of knowledge on soil amelioration tools” at the GRDC Grains Research Update on 26th February, 2019.
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