A unique treatment that has the potential to improve seeds’ ability to grow well in saline soils, and potentially under drought stress, is not only a great example of ground-breaking progress but also highlights the importance of GRDC’s ambitious innovation agenda.

The seed treatment, by an Israeli ag-tech start-up called SaliCrop, is one of the GRDC’s Australian Grains Innovation Program recipients. The investment is part of a three-pronged approach and includes the ‘Growers as Innovators’ and ‘Accelerator’ programs, plus the $50 million ‘GrainInnovate’ venture capital fund, which is a partnership between GRDC and Artesian. Sponsored under the GRDC Accelerator Program, SaliCrop is part of SparkLabs Cultiv8’s 2021 cohort.

Chris Murphy, GRDC manager of business development and commercialisation (north), says that without GRDC investment in non-traditional innovators, it would never have come across the SaliCrop technology via its usual investment model. However, supporting new technologies or ‘investment-ready’ innovations focused on Australian grains industry priorities has enabled this.

Mr Murphy explains that GRDC aims to capture potential innovation concepts from Australian grain growers and other non-traditional sources from Australia and across the globe.

Delivered in 2020/21 by SparkLabs Cultiv8, SproutX and Farmers2Founders, the Australian Grains Innovation program essentially works in stages. Early-stage support includes feasibility assessments and training on converting concepts to minimum commercially viable products. Later-stage support is via GRDC’s Accelerator programs, which provide an opportunity for growers, researchers, entrepreneurs, non-traditional innovators and startups to take their ideas or business to the next level.

Mr Murphy says these initiatives and partnerships with the existing Australian agriculture accelerator network, are designed to ultimately support Australia’s ag-tech ecosystem, providing a pipeline for potential follow-on investment by venture capital funds, such as GrainInnovate and others.

“The innovation investment might seem different to the way in which GRDC has traditionally provided support, such as through universities, state agriculture departments or the CSIRO. However, the intent and outcomes are still aligned with our strategic plan. That is, we want to create enduring profitability for Australian grain growers.”

He points out that SaliCrop is a great example of why this investment model is important. “We would never have come across SaliCrop under our normal investment model. They are what you would call a ‘non-traditional partner’. But the investment model’s advantage is that it is bringing this technology to Australian growers.”

SaliCrop

The idea for SaliCrop came to founder Rca Godbolé when she returned home to India after completing her PhD in Germany.

The former Syngenta research molecular biologist grew up on India’s west coast, about 350 kilometres south of Mumbai and just north of Goa. “Fourteen generations of my family come from the area. There is a collective, historic memory of the hunger many farmers would face in April or May because brackish water had entered their small plots the previous summer.”

A collective, historic memory of brackish water and its link to hunger pushed Rca Godbolé to develop SaliCrop, one of the GRDC’s Australian Grains Innovation Program recipients.

Although hunger levels in India have improved, that historic memory is still prominent. Once back in Mumbai, it prompted Dr Godbolé to start thinking about how the difficulties of planting on brackish and saline soils could be addressed. Working on her own and using a friend’s sandy, saline seaside garden as a trial plot, she had initial success with treated spinach and beetroot. Both yielded better than they would have otherwise.

Dr Godbolé mentioned the work to a Syngenta colleague while attending a conference in Israel in 2012.

“They said, ‘if it’s a success, let me know’, which I sorted of laughed off. But a month later, they were in touch asking about trial data and putting me in touch with my now Israeli colleagues.”

SaliCrop was born. It uses a unique wet chemistry process to stimulate a reaction to salinity and brackish conditions at seed stages.

Today, the crops treated have moved beyond spinach and beetroot to include vegetables, grains and rice. SaliCrop has successfully treated large fields in Israel, Spain and India and, in more than 35 trials, has increased seed yields by five to 75 per cent.

Dr Godbolé says treatments are tailor-made to suit the crop, variety and stress it will encounter. “We work with seed companies and talk through the stress expected and the stress range. We then try out a few protocols to see if it reacts better to one or the other. Then, with the company, we can choose the best treatment.”

COVID-19 permitting, Dr Godbolé hopes to travel to Australia soon and begin trials. “Australian conditions would suit what we are doing in terms of drought, salinity and high temperature.”

The GRDC investment in innovation has so far supported ideas, startups or businesses that range from ag-tech-based apps and software solutions to broadacre machinery options, nanotechnology applications and value-added food lines.

GRDC is supporting innovation investment through its Australian Grains Innovation Program. This includes the ‘Growers as Innovators’ and ‘Accelerator’ programs. In 2020/21, the programs were delivered in partnership with Farmers2Founders, SparkLabs Cultiv8 and Sprout X and provide support for innovation at different developmental stages. See Agtech innovation initiatives.

More information: Chris Murphy, 0422 772 070, chris.murphy@grdc.com.au; Salicrop.com