Wine Industry Newsletter

Round three of scholarships for innovators now open

vines
Applications for the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program are now open.

The Western Australian government is committed to supporting innovation, jobs and sustainable practices in agriculture and aquaculture.

Western Australia’s $6.8 billion agriculture sector has huge potential to innovate by working with highly skilled scientists, researchers and international leaders.

This program, provided by the Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation (JTSI), offers scholarships to Western Australian farmers and individuals in the agriculture or aquaculture sector of up to $30 000 each to develop and pursue their idea through travel and other activities that help them learn from Australian and international best practice or leaders in their field.

Round Three of the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program is now open and closes 12pm on 3 April 2018.

If you live in regional Western Australia, work in agriculture or aquaculture and you have a new idea, invention, technology or practice that you want to investigate, you may be eligible.

You can find out more about the program and whether you are eligible to apply by reading the Agriculture and Aquaculture Entrepreneurship Program Applicant Information Form

You can also take part in an information session by phone or in person. To find out more please email science@jtsi.wa.gov.au.

For your application to be eligible, you must apply using the Application Form for Round Three.

It is a good idea to contact the department to talk about your project and eligibility before you apply. For more information please contact  Jane Gilligan +61 (0)8 9222 0755 or Helen Hitchcock +61 (0)8 9222 0740 or email science@jtsi.wa.gov.au

Round two recipients 2017

Four scholarships were awarded in the second round of the program:

  1. Justine Arnold from Indian Ocean Fresh Australia will lead a small team of experts on a 'Knowledge Quest' to Japan to access the knowledge of Japanese kingfish farmers and researchers, their management strategies and techniques developed for warm water kingfish culture and to gain insights into skills and techniques required for the rapidly emerging aquaculture industry in WA.
  2. Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation and Maxima Pearling Company have commenced a research and development project to trial rock oyster production in the Pilbara. The award will enable travel to established edible oyster production areas in South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania to build networks and facilitate technology transfer from these areas to the local environment in the Pilbara.
  3. Tim Hyde and Rod Campbell of Indicina Pty Ltd to travel to Queensland, New South Wales and the United States of America to gain an understanding of the Agtech sector with regard to water and nutrient management requirements of various agricultural industries and the potential integration of its technology SWAN System.  The trip will also be an opportunity to discuss business arrangements with potential resellers and to investigate data synergies with in field hardware and the capacity to upload data onto SWAN System.
  4. Mr Anthony Quinlan of Soil Dynamics to travel to Spain to investigate and develop a collaboration with the production company who will manufacture protypes of micro fibre bands for use in food crop protection, and to China to investigate impregnation of the micro fibres with organic insecticides to improve efficacy of the product.

All of the successful applicants will return to Western Australia to share their experiences and knowledge within their sector and regional WA.

For more information please contact  Jane Gilligan +61 (0)8 9222 0755 or Helen Hitchcock +61 (0)8 9222 0740 or email science@jtsi.wa.gov.au