CSIRO to rationalise its sites in WA

By May 28th, 2008

CSIRO has decided to close its Yalanbee Research Station, a 1 150 hectare property near Perth, which has traditionally supported the work of livestock industry scientists in Western Australia, but is now significantly underutilised.

Officer-in-Charge of CSIRO Livestock Industries in WA, Dr Rob Kelly, says the work in WA has shifted from production issues to increasingly focus on the impact of agriculture on the environment and producing clean, ‘green’ and healthy food.
 
“In the past five years, our local research has worked more on issues related to climate change and adaptation, salinity, greenhouse gas mitigation, and development of remote sensing technologies for improved landscape management,” Dr Kelly says.

“The co-location of various stakeholders’ science capabilities in ‘science hubs’ is a way of developing critical mass and enhancing the delivery of science for Australia”

CSIRO Livestock Industries in WA, Dr Rob Kelly

“This has necessitated moving much of the field-based research at Yalanbee to regions where climate change is having a bigger impact. Much of this work is done on commercial properties, with the support of local landholders, agri-business and natural resource management groups.

“At the same time, we have backed up this field-based work with detailed laboratory, whole animal and computer-based studies, undertaken at our Centre for Environment and Life Sciences campus located at Floreat in Perth.

“We have decided it is time to reduce our overhead costs and direct that funding into further developing our science capability.”

Associated with these changes in research activities, CSIRO in WA has recently become a full member of the Agriculture Research Western Australia alliance involving the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA), and Universities of Western Australia, Murdoch and Curtin. 

Dr Kelly says that this alliance, tackling key issues in agriculture, the environment and human health, is building on the strong inter-agency network that exists in Western Australia. 

“The recent co-location of DAFWA’s Climate Science group at CSIRO’s Centre for Environment and Life Sciences at Floreat typifies this greater sharing of resources and research expertise,” he says.

“The co-location of various stakeholders’ science capabilities in ‘science hubs’ is a way of developing critical mass and enhancing the delivery of science for Australia.” 

The Yalanbee site is expected to be placed on the open market for sale in 2009, once all current experimentation has been completed.

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Fast facts

  • CSIRO Livestock Industries has decided it is time to reduce their overhead costs and direct that funding into further developing their science capability
  • CSIRO in WA has recently become a full member of the Agriculture Research Western Australia alliance involving the Department of Agriculture and Food WA (DAFWA)
  • This alliance, tackling key issues in agriculture, the environment and human health, is building on the strong inter-agency network that exists in Western Australia