Tuesday, 19 June 2018
NORTHERN Tablelands MP Adam Marshall has welcomed today’s 2018-19 NSW Budget boost of $2.1 million for the Glen Innes Agricultural Research Station to extend glasshouse facilities for more advanced pasture research to help the region’s farmers.
Mr Marshall said the investment would substantially add to the Glen Innes Research Station’s capacity to play an integral part in bolstering on-farm productivity.
Mr Marshall said the new glasshouse facility at the Glen Innes DPI research institute would lead ongoing investigations into research in response to changing climatic conditions.
“The funding will provide for new glasshouse infrastructure which will be completely climate controlled so they will be able to do temperature experiments into tropical pastures and the different environmental effects of those,” Mr Marshall said.
“It will mean they will have a better handle on understanding the range and adaptation of tropical pastures into the future.”
Mr Marshall said the existing four glasshouses at the Glen Innes station were built in the 1960s but the budget funding will give them a completely new and quality facility to undertake more extensive research.
“This includes research into Chilean Needle Grass which is a major weed problem on the Northern Tablelands but critically it has potential for a wider range and distribution.
“It is very hard to get rid of it poses a challenge for graziers because it can have a devastating impact on agricultural productivity and on the environment.
“The new glasshouse will give research scientists at Glen Innes a new focus on detailed studies and complement what they are doing in the field.
“That includes looking at alternative measures from chemical control. This is vitally important for our farmers and graziers to keep ahead of the global agricultural industry and it is critical that our northern research plays a big part in that overall R&D push.”
Mr Marshall said the wider $50 million Budget investment for food and production infrastructure cements NSW as Australia’s leader in agriculture, fisheries and biosecurity research and that commitment to research and development was critical for NSW to remain competitive with international markets.