AUSTRALIA now has its very own specialty grains genebank, with the opening of a $6 million facility in Horsham, Victoria, earlier in the month.

The Australian Grains Genebank will be a national centre for tropical and temperate grain, legumes and oilseed collections, consolidating previous collections from Victoria, Queensland and NSW.

A whopping 200 different species, 180,000 different plant varieties and 300 million seeds from across the globe will be stored at the centre, jointly funded by the Victorian State Government and the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

The centre, housed at Grains Innovation Park in Horsham, features high tech cold storage, with 2.7 kilometres of shelf space, capable of holding 200,000 packets of seed, along with greenhouse facilities to help researchers grow out varieties from the seed.

But the investment does not stop here. Both funding parties will contribute $600,000 a year for the next five years, with a review to follow, to allow researchers to best utilise the collection to identify key traits that could benefit the plant breeding industry.

Victorian Agriculture Minister Peter Walsh said the facility could play a big role in creating new varieties with tolerance to problems such as drought, frost and disease.

Government researchers and other scientists can access the genebank for valuable grains research.

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Gene bank opens its doors

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