Dr Sean Bellairs
Mel chats with Senior Lecturer in Plant Science with the college of Engineering, IT & Environment Dr Sean Bellairs, who also does research in this area for the Research Institute for the Environment and Livelihoods.
Charles Darwin University has been successful in its bid, as part of a consortium with five other universities, for $35 million in national funding to develop Darwin and other regional centres as major agri-food hubs.
The Australian Government recently agreed to fund the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which is expected to include a $1.8 million project for CDU to develop commercially viable native rice as an agri-business.
CDU Research Institute for the Environments and Livelihoods (RIEL) researchers Dr Sean Bellairs and Dr Penny Wurm said the expected value of the CDU native rice project would be more than $200,000 in funding a year for the next decade.
Territory FM 
Serene