Dr Sean Bellairs and Dr Penny Wurm
Australian native rice has potential as a high-value, low-volume, Indigenous culturally-identified, nutritious food, but currently it is not commercially available. There is strong interest among Australian Indigenous communities in enterprises based on native plant species and growing interest in native plant foods among consumers.
We are supporting commercialisation of Australian native rice by developing knowledge about native rice agronomy, nutrition, value addition, supply chains and markets. Agronomic studies are developing protocols for cultivation of high-value native grain. This grain is ethically-sourced and the work is being done in collaboration with Indigenous enterprises and communities. Nutritional and economical effects of varying those protocols will be evaluated. Value addition includes modification of milling and processing techniques to develop whole grain and other food products.
Our Australian native rice project aims to commercialise native rice in a ten-year time frame.
Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods (RIEL); Plant Industries, NT Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (NT DITT, formerly NT DPIR); Pudakul Aboriginal Cultural Tours (Pudakul); Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology (CAB); Olive Vale Pastoral Pty Ltd (Olive Vale); Myera Group (Myera)
Australian native rice commercialisation project nativerice@cdu.edu.au
Sean Bellairs 08 8946 6070 sean.bellairs@cdu.edu.au
Penny Wurm 08 8946 6355 penny.wurm@cdu.edu.au
Sonam Adhikari Rana – Native Rice Technical Officer sonam.adhikarirana@cdu.edu.au
Gehan Tarek Eltaher Abdelghany – Native rice agronomy PhD student gehan.abdelghany@cdu.edu.au
CRC FFS Commercialisation of native rice for Indigenous enterprise development: Agronomy and value-adding (2020—2024). https://www.futurefoodsystems.com.au/project/commercialisation-of-native-rice-for-indigenous-enterprise-development
Please sign up for our newsletters and see our student project list for details of current research activities. Email nativerice@cdu.edu.au
CRC NA Northern Australia rice industry situational analysis study https://crcna.com.au/research/projects/northern-australia-rice-industry-situational-analysis-study
RIRDC (Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation) Research grant entitled Market evaluation of native rice enterprise. In collaboration with Aboriginal Bush Traders, Northern Land Council and Adelaide River Traditional Owners. Report available at https://www.agrifutures.com.au/product/north-australian-native-rice-market-evaluation-of-a-potential-new-wild-food-enterprise/
RIRDC Australian wild rice: A new sustainable wild food enterprise. Report available at https://www.agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/10-175.pdf
Agronomic investigations of Australian native rice species to support Indigenous enterprise development in the Northern Territory, Australia.
Assessing nutrient requirements and media volume for native rice in Beatrice Hill Site 2 soil, with a nutrient omission trial (MEM final thesis)
Assessing soil properties at sites where native Australian rice may be cultivated (MEM final thesis)
Satake rice mill modifications for Australian native rice (M Eng final thesis)
Development of a hand held native rice harvester (M Eng final thesis)
Review: native plant food supply chain and Indigenous participation (professional placement)
For potential student projects please email nativerice@cdu.edu.au
2019
Design of an awn removal thresher for Australian native rice (M Eng final thesis)
Australian policy, law and agreements relevant to Indigenous benefit sharing and intellectual property rights of Australian native rice (professional placement)
Bellairs S., Wurm P., Rana S., Patel T., Abdelghany G. (CDU), Kenyon G., Kenyon L. (Pudakul ACT), Asis T., Niscioli A. (NT DITT), Hoang L.T.M., Williams B., Mundree S. (QUT) (2021). Australian native rice: a high-value low-volume specialty food (PDF, 679.1 KB).
Bellairs S., Wurm P. (2019). Commercial use of Australian native rices by Indigenous enterprises; regulatory setting in the Northern Territory (PDF, 618.85 KB).
Bellairs S., Wurm P., Williams L., Kenyon L., Kenyon G. and Sunk S. (2017). Grain quality and preliminary cooking assessment of wild harvested native Oryza species from the Northern Territory (PDF, 763.12 KB).
Wurm P. and Bellairs B. (2018). North Australian native rice: market evaluation of a potential new wild food enterprise. Publication No. 18/032, AgriFutures Australia. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.35076.58246 Available at https://www.agrifutures.com.au/product/north-australian-native-rice-market-evaluation-of-a-potential-new-wild-food-enterprise/
Wurm P.A.S., Campbell L., Batten G.D. and Bellairs S.M. (2012). Australian native rice: A new sustainable wild food enterprise. Research Project No PRJ000347/Publication No 10/175, Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation, Canberra. Report available at https://agrifutures.com.au/wp-content/uploads/publications/10-175.pdf
Campbell L.C., Batten G.,Wurm P., Bellairs S.M.and Campbell C. E. (2009). Australian native rice species: Grain minerals and starch properties. In C. Blanchard, D. Pleming, H. Taylor Cereals, pp.69-72. Downunder Section, American Society of Cereal Chemists.
Abdelghany G., Wurm P.A.S., Linh Thi My Hoang and Bellairs S. (2022). Commercial Cultivation of Australian wild Oryza spp.: A Review and Conceptual Framework for Future Research Needs. Agronomy, 12(1), 42. Available at https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4395/12/1/42
Chapman, B., Henry,R., Wurm,P., Bellairs, S., Crayn, D., Smyth, H., Furtado, A., Sivapalan, S., Ford, R. & Matchett, T. (2020). A situational analysis for developing a rice industry in Northern Australia - Final report. CRC Northern Australia. ISBN 978-1-922437-07-5. Available at https://crcna.com.au/resources/publications/situational-analysis-developing-rice-industry-northern-australia-final-report
Hoang, T. M. L., Tran, T. N., Nguyen, T. K. T., Williams, B., Wurm, P., Bellairs, S., and Mundree, S. (2016). Improvement of Salinity Stress Tolerance in Rice: Challenges and Opportunities. Agronomy 6(4): 54. https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy6040054
Bellairs S. Wurm. P and Kernich B (2015) Temperature affects the dormancy and germination of sympatric annual (Oryza meridionalis) and perennial (O. rufipogon) native Australian rices (Poaceae) and influences their emergence in introduced para grass (Urochloa mutica) swards. Australian Journal of Botany 63: 687-695.https://doi.org/10.1071/BT15092
Wurm P.A.S., Bellairs S.M. & Kernich B. (2006) Suppression of native wild rice germination by exotic para grass. In C. Preston, J.H. Watts & N.D. Crossman, 'Managing Weeds in A Changing Climate': Proceedings of the 15th Australian Weeds Conference, Adelaide, SA, 24-28 September 2006, pp 823-826. Available at http://www.caws.org.au/awc/2006/awc200618231.pdf
Wurm P.A.S. (1998). A surplus of seeds: high rates of post-dispersal seed predation in flooded grassland in monsoonal Australia. Australian Journal of Ecology 23, 385-392. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1442-9993.1998.tb00743.x
Wurm P.A.S. (1998). The population ecology of Oryza meridionalis Ng on the South Alligator River floodplain, Kakadu National Park, monsoonal Australia. PhD thesis, Charles Darwin University, Darwin. Accessible at http://espace.cdu.edu.au/view/cdu:6283
Wurm P. (1994). Physical and biological factors determining the distribution and abundance of the wild rice Oryza meridionalis Ng in the Northern Territory. Research project report prepared forAustralian Flora Foundation, Dulwich Hill, NSW. Available at http://www.aff.org.au/Wurm_wild_rice_final.pdf
Boyden J., Wurm P., Joyce K.E. and Boggs G. (2019) The spatial dynamics of invasive para grass on a monsoonal floodplain, Kakadu National Park. Remote Sensing, 11, 2090; doi:10.3390/rs11182090 Available at https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/11/18/2090
Boyden J., Wurm P., Joyce K.E. & Boggs G. (2018). A spatial vulnerability assessment of monsoonal wetland habitats to para grass invasion in Kakadu National Park, northern Australia. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation 71: 43-55. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jag.2018.05.004
Boyden J., Joyce K., Boggs G. and Wurm P. (2013) Mapping of native vegetation and para grass (Urochloa mutica) on a monsoonal wetland of Kakadu NP using a Landsat 5 TM Dry-season time series. Journal of Spatial Science 58 (1): 53-77. https://doi.org/10.1080/14498596.2012.759086
Wurm P.A.S. (2007) Suppression of germination and establishment of native annual rice by an exotic grass on an Australian monsoonal floodplain. Plant Protection Quarterly 22(3):106-112.Abstract available at http://www.weedinfo.com.au/ppq_toc22-3.html
Stefanija Klaric S, Bellairs S., Wurm P., Yafei G., Zhenyang H., Sutherland F. (2020). Designs for a Small-Scale Grain Thresher for Australian Native Rice: Technical Report. Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia.
Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods
Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Queensland University of Technology
NT Department of Industry Tourism and Trade (NT DITT, formerly NT DPIR)
