Successful 2026 COGGO research projects announced
The Council of Grain Grower Organisations Ltd (COGGO) have announced the successful recipients of their annual Research Fund.
The COGGO Research Fund will support the following projects commencing in 2026:
- Murdoch University ($131,400 over two years) “Deeper Roots, Higher Yields: Manipulating OPRIII-Mediated Root Architecture for Drought-Resilient Barley in Western Australia.”
- Murdoch University ($150,000 over two years) “Developing a cost-effective and rapid genotyping method for the 7D inversion controlling heading date and yield potential in Oat.”
- Murdoch University ($138,805 over two years) “Development of accurate near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy models to measure alpha-amylase activity in wheat as an alternative.”
- DPIRD ($149,000 over two years) “Evaluating longer-season barley germplasm with early April planting.”
COGGO Chairman, Chris Wilkins, said this is the fifteenth year of COGGO funding catalytic R&D projects that specifically aim to improve the profitability of grain growers in Western Australia.
“COGGO members voluntarily contribute 0.5% of their net farm-gate returns to the Research Fund, for which we are grateful and enables us to support new early-stage research projects such as these,” Mr Wilkins said.
“The four successful projects were selected from the 23 expressions of interest submitted for the 2026 funding round, from a cross section of industry, government, grower groups, universities and research organisations, indicating the demand for funding of small stimulus R&D projects of relevance to grain growers in WA.”
The Board will also be calling for a fresh round of expressions of interest to for R&D projects to start in 2027 for a up to a total of $150,000 to run over two years (or up to $75,000 for a one-year project). The call for EOI’s will open on 31 March and close on 30 June 2026.
Established in 2000, the purpose of the COGGO Research Fund is to invest in innovative new research and development projects from across the whole supply chain, and that can demonstrate a direct benefit to WA grain growers.
2026 COGGO Research Fund supported projects
- Murdoch University “Deeper Roots, Higher Yields: Manipulating OPRIII-Mediated Root Architecture for Drought-Resilient Barley in Western Australia”: To develop drought-resilient advanced barley lines with deeper roots by manipulating the OPRIII gene locus in barley. The direct estimated outcomes are 10~40% yield increase for WA barley growers in drought seasons.
- Murdoch University “Developing a cost-effective and rapid genotyping method for the 7D inversion controlling heading date and yield potential in Oat”: This project aims to develop a cost-effective and rapid method for detecting 7D-chromosome inversion in Oat that links to heading date and grain yield by utilising a large amount of high-quality sequencing data. The impact of the 7D inversion will also be evaluated in field trials using over 500 accessions from a worldwide collection and an RIL population constructed from an Australian elite cultivar and European/North American Oat. The results from this project can be used by breeders and farmers to select suitable cultivars for future breeding programs or to fit the targeted growing conditions.
- Murdoch University “Development of accurate near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy models to measure alpha-amylase activity in wheat as an alternative to the falling number method”: This project aims to develop robust, accurate and cost-effective near-infrared reflectance (NIR) spectroscopy models for the rapid prediction of alpha-amylase activity in Western Australian (WA) wheat grains.
- DPIRD “Evaluating longer-season barley germplasm with early April planting”: The objective is to determine whether sowing barley cultivars with facultative or intermediate winter-type phenology in early April enhances grain yield or primarily improves life-cycle alignment under WA conditions. This will inform breeding priorities and agronomic recommendations for future cropping systems. The project aims to evaluate barley germplasm – within adapted Australian genetic backgrounds – featuring flowering time gene variations and maturity durations (days to awn emergence) equal to or longer than Urambie.
ENDS
| FOR INTERVIEWS
Chris Wilkins, Chairman COGGO M 0427 940 925 |
MEDIA CONTACT
Dean McKenzie, Company Secretary COGGO M 9480 0406 |
About COGGO
Council of Grain Grower Organisations Ltd (COGGO) is a public company limited by guarantee, with a mandate to invest in Research and Development for the benefit of grain growers in Western Australia.
Grower members voluntarily contribute 0.5% of their net farm-gate value of production for investment in Research and Development through COGGO.
This contribution has played a significant part in assisting the Western Australian grains industry to maintain its market competitiveness.
The COGGO Research Fund is administered by the Grain Industry Association of Western Australia (GIWA) Inc.
For more information, please visit http://www.coggo.net.au/.