Australian native rice commercialisation

native rice grains with and without husk — Native rice grains (photo: Jason Wilkes)

CDU project leads

Introduction

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.

four people standing in an open space with trees and grass in the background — L:R Penny Wurm and Sean Bellairs (CDU), Lynette Kenyon and Graham Kenyon (Pudakul AC Tours)

Research partners

Contact details for CDU team

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 Research Officer sonam.adhikarirana@cdu.edu.au
Gehan Tarek Eltaher Abdelghany – Native rice agronomy PhD student gehan.abdelghany@cdu.edu.au

approximately a hundred pots with small rice plants growing in them, in a greenhouse, with a CDU ute visible outside — Freshly planted native rice trial (photo: Sean Bellairs)

Native rice projects

Completed

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

Field of grass-like rice plants with forest in the background — Oryza meridionalis, Fogg Dam, NT (photo: Melina McDowell)

CDU student research projects

Available PhD scholarships

Commercialisation of native rice for Indigenous enterprise development: Agronomy and value-adding

Potential project areas

Native rice seed biology and establishment ecology
Native rice agronomic studies
Native rice seed quality
Native rice markets and supply chains
Benefit sharing and provenance
Native rice harvesting and processing

Past projects

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)

Publication and resources

Posters

Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods (CDU) and Plant Industries Division (NT DITT) (2024). Agronomic research investigating cultivation of Australian native rices in the NT – 2024 update. Poster presentation, NT DITT Coastal Plains Research Farm Field Walk, 9^th May 2024, Coastal Plains, Middle Point, NT.

Research Institute for Environment and Livelihoods (CDU) and Plant Industries Division (NT DITT) (2023). Agronomic research investigating cultivation of Australian native rices in the NT. Poster presentation, NT DITT Coastal Plains Research Farm Field Walk, 26^th May 2023, Coastal Plains, Middle Point, NT, in conjunction with NT Farmers Northern Agriculture Food Futures Conference, Darwin 23-26 May 2023.

Abdelghany G. (2022). Effects of dense cultivation on the yield performance of cultigen rice: Meta-analysis. Poster presentation #468, TropAg International Agricultural Conference: incorporating Harlan IV and Ag Futures, 31 October – 2 November 2022, Brisbane, Australia.

Bellairs S. (2022). Agronomic research supporting cultivation of Australian native rice. Poster presentation #475, TropAg International Agricultural Conference: incorporating Harlan IV and Ag Futures, 31 October – 2 November 2022, Brisbane, Australia.

Rana S.A., Bellairs S. and Wurm P. (2022). Biological Control of Aphids in Australian Native Rice (PDF, 556.88 KB). Poster presentation #585, TropAg International Agricultural Conference: incorporating Harlan IV and Ag Futures, 31 October – 2 November 2022, Brisbane, Australia.

Wurm P. and Ford P.L (2022). Traditional use of Australian native rice by Aboriginal people, Northern Territory, Australia (PDF, 2.33 MB). Poster presentation #688, TropAg International Agricultural Conference: incorporating Harlan IV and Ag Futures, 31 October – 2 November 2022, Brisbane, Australia.

Bellairs S., Wurm P., Rana S.A., 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). Poster presentation NT DITT stall, Katherine Rural Show, 17-18 July 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).

Newsletters

Australian Native Rice Newsletter March 2024 (PDF, 2.13 MB)

Australian native rice newsletter July 2023 (PDF, 1.65 MB)

Australian native rice newsletter December 2022 (PDF, 1.57 MB)

Australian native rice newsletter June 2022 (PDF, 3.35 MB)

Australian native rice newsletter November 2021 (PDF, 2.24 MB)

Australian native rice newsletter March 2021 (PDF, 483.37 KB)

Reports and articles

Australian native rice as food

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.

Australian native rice as a crop

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

Global significance of Australian native rice

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

Ecology of Australian native rice

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 https://caws.org.nz/old-site/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

Threats to Australian native rice

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. https://caws.org.nz/PPQ202122/PPQ%2022-3%20pp106-112%20Wurm.pdf