The Australian Government provides grant funding to support opportunities to secure value-added benefits for agricultural industries, deliver improved traceability outcomes, and provide national leadership.
Activities will also support effective responses to biosecurity outbreaks and changing market and consumer requirements.
Current grant opportunities
There are currently no grant rounds open.
Previous grant opportunities
Applications for the Livestock and Animal Traceability Development, Implementation, and Improvement grant round closed on 8 July 2024.
There were 32 eligible applications received for projects totalling almost $ 19.2 million. This exceeded the $4 million (GST exclusive) available under this round and demonstrates a significant interest across the agricultural community.
Following the assessment of applications, 11 projects were approved for funding to a total of $3.9 million (GST exclusive). Projects must be complete by 30 June 2026.
The department has prepared some general feedback for applicants to assist them to understand what generally comprised a strong application to the program.
Download
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Successful projects
| Lead recipient | Title | Project summary |
|---|---|---|
| NSW Apiarists’ Association Incorporated | Scale existing industry proof-of-concept for digitising beehive tracking and tracing, mandatory reporting and live data-sharing for regulatory, compliance and emergency management. | The project will enhance and scale an existing New South Wales industry-lead proof of concept to digitally track and trace beehives, digitise mandatory reporting as per the legislation for live data exchange for regulatory accountability and compliance for emergency and management requirements. |
| Meat & Livestock Australia | The Role of the National Vendor Declaration (NVD) in future assurance and traceability systems. | The project will undertake an independent review of the current roles of NVDs, make recommendations about the future, understand the blockers to the uptake of electronic National Vendor Declarations (eNVDs) and to engage with supply chain participants and regulators throughout. |
| Australian Alpaca Association Ltd | Delivering traceability in the Australian alpaca industry. | The project will develop a comprehensive suite of resources underpinned by a public education campaign to strengthen awareness of, and build trust in, agricultural traceability. |
| Crocodile Farmers Association of the Northern Territory | Ngurran: crocodile industry (skin, meat, consumer goods), supply chain traceability using existing blockchain technology –automating regulatory compliance and protecting Trade. | The project aims to adapt existing Australian blockchain technology to develop a transparent supply chain traceability system for the Australian crocodile industry. |
| Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA | Enhancing traceability of stock in-transit in South Australia. | The project will automate the recording of livestock moved through transport sites on the National Livestock Identification System (NLIS) database, providing surveillance of all untracked stock movements throughout these facilities that effectively services industry requirements and standards to strengthen livestock traceability in South Australia. |
| Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, QLD | Integration of eNVD tracking from consignor to customer using automated systems in a commercial pilot trial at saleyards to strengthen traceability. | The project will address the gaps in existing recording systems, bridge data silos, and create an ecosystem that effectively services industry requirements and standards to strengthen red meat traceability in South Australia. |
| New South Wales Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development | Enhancing traceability in small stock processors using hook tracking and the implications for industry. | The project will enhance the adoption of traceability within processing plants and break down barriers to adopting traceability technologies along the supply chain focussing on small stock abattoirs. |
| Australian Wool Exchange Ltd | Enhanced and accelerated supply chain traceability. | The project will develop a new suite of digital assets applicable across all regions together with presentations in regional communities to increase awareness of Australia’s traceability tools in terms of logistics efficiencies and improved information flow regarding provenance, biosecurity, animal welfare and sustainability to support market access and maintain the industry’s competitive edge. |
| Meat & Livestock Australia Limited | Determining factors contributing to success or failure of electronic identification (eID) tag retention in goat ears in different environments and production systems. | The project will investigate factors that contribute to the success or failure of eID tag retention in goat ears across properties & various environments & production systems to maximise the benefits of Australia’s traceability tools in terms of logistics efficiencies and improved information flow regarding provenance, biosecurity, animal welfare and sustainability. |
| Livestock Transporters Association of Victoria Inc | “LoadNous” by the Livestock and Rural Transporters Association of Victoria and AgriNous. | The project will address traceability gaps surrounding livestock transportation including the lack of transparency during livestock transport activities, providing real-time digital reporting systems, animal health and welfare issues, biosecurity threats, and to meet increasing regulatory compliance around livestock welfare standards and emissions through the development of the “LoadNous” platform. |
| Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania/Biosecurity Tasmania | Digital horse traceability System in Tasmania: A proof of concept. | The project will develop a proof-of-concept digital horse traceability system to improve traceability and biosecurity management and control within the Tasmanian horse industry. |
The purpose of the grant round is to enhance industry capacity and capability to meet national traceability outcomes and comply with current and emerging requirements. Enhancing traceability for livestock, animals and animal products will support Australia’s access to existing and new markets; enhance our ability to respond to exotic pest, disease, and food safety incidents; and help to demonstrate how our livestock, animal and animal product sectors meet changing consumer expectations.
Outcomes from the grant round include:
- Delivering adoption and extension activities that establish understanding of traceability regulatory requirements and practical applications for technology.
- Embedding industry-led innovation, building on existing technologies and proof of concepts.
Grant opportunity objectives
The objectives of the grants were to:
- Support the adoption and extension of technologies that enable enhancements to national traceability capacity and capability.
- Reduce barriers to adoption of traceability.
- Increase regulatory compliance capability where there are existing or emerging traceability requirements.
Intended program benefits
The grant round provides the opportunity for successful applicants to contribute to developing, implementing, and improving traceability systems for Australian agricultural industries, specifically in the livestock, animals and animal products sector.
Projects developed under this grant round will assist in reducing barriers to adoption of traceability and increase regulatory compliance capability. While the focus of this grant round is on the livestock, animals and animal products sectors, consideration has been to projects could be applied across other agricultural sectors.
More information
For more information about the Livestock and Animal Traceability Development, Implementation and Improvement grant round, please email traceability.project@aff.gov.au
Applications for the Building Trust in Australian Agricultural Traceability and Credentials in Southeast Asia grant round closed on 27 March 2024.
There were 44 eligible applications received for projects totalling almost $17.3 million. This exceeded the $4 million (GST exclusive) available under this round, and demonstrates a significant interest across the agricultural community.
Following the assessment of applications, 11 projects were approved for funding to a total of $3.9 million (GST exclusive). Projects must be complete by 30 June 2026.
The department has prepared some general feedback for applicants to assist them to understand what generally comprised a strong application to the program.
Download
If you have difficulty accessing these files, visit web accessibility for assistance.
Successful projects
| Project title | Summary | Lead recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Tracing Carbon Emissions in an International Wine Industry Value Chain between Australia and Singapore | The project will trace carbon emissions across international borders which will provide valuable insights for stakeholders to identify areas for reducing emissions and make informed decisions towards achieving sustainability goals and reporting. The project will showcase Australian expertise in data-enabled traceability systems, foster shared learning, and build regional capabilities through close collaboration with Singaporean partners across the wine value chain. | Australian Grape and Wine Incorporated |
| Assessing the opportunity of adopting integrated traceability systems for Australian Mangoes in selected Southeast Asian markets. | The project will assess existing traceability systems in place for agricultural products and identify opportunities for their adoption by northern Australian Mango growers that supply Southeast Asian Markets. | Australian Mango Industry Association |
| Australian Table Grapes Southeast Asia Export Traceability – B2C & B2B Engagement Platform | The project will build off an earlier pilot project which saw an interoperable traceability solution created and the implementation of and end-to-end traceability system for the producer/exporter. | Australian Table Grape Association |
| Leveraging Blockchain for Enhanced Food Traceability and Trust in Australian-Indonesian Horticulture Supply Chains | The project aims to enhance transparency, traceability, trust, and efficiency in the Australian-Indonesian horticulture citrus supply chain by leveraging blockchain technology. | Central Queensland University |
| Leveraging Australian Dairy Sustainability credentials to influence trade of dairy products in South East Asia | The project will share the knowledge gained in developing and implementing the Australian Dairy Sustainability Framework which will be showcased in six Southeast Asian markets to provide transparency and what benefits have been delivered. | Dairy Australia Limited |
| Enhancing Tuna Traceability: RFID-Driven Value Chains for Sustainable Growth in in Southeast Asia Bluefish Tuna Trade | The project will optimise the existing RFID tags mandated by regulations to establish a comprehensive traceability system in the Australian-Southeast Asian bluefish tuna trade. | eBottli Pty Ltd |
| Adoption of digital traceability by Australian firms exporting almonds to Malaysia | The project will assist select agricultural exporters in the almond industries to implement traceability systems, informed by tools, such as Agriculture Victoria’s Traceability Quick Start Guide and CSIRO’s Digital Traceability Self-Assessment. | Export Council of Australia |
| Evaluation and resource development to advance Australian agriculture export traceability: A study of seafood and horticulture trade with Vietnam | The project will showcase and communicate the role of data-enabled and evidence-based market focused traceability systems and tools for regional Australian agricultural industries to achieve sustainable export development in Southeast Asia. | Griffith University |
| Showcasing Australian Red Meat Integrity Systems & Credentials in Southeast Asia | The project will advance knowledge, trust, and recognition of the Australian red meat supply chain by engaging with Meat and Livestock Australia’s (MLA) network of red meat trading partners across Southeast Asia. | Meat & Livestock Australia Limited |
| New honeybee hive provenance technology to enhance trustworthy honey trade | The project will provide suppliers and customers with novel end-to-end technology that logs and verifies hive provenance to secure a high price for premium honey and discourage false claims. | Monash University |
| Enhancing Agricultural Traceability for Market Sustainability: A Southeast Asian Perspective | The project will deepen our understanding of the vital credentials necessary for enhanced traceability within export market channels, while also exploring barriers to adoption and avenues for improving Australia's agrifood traceability systems. | The University of Adelaide |
The purpose of the grant round is to strengthen trust in Australia’s commercial agricultural traceability systems and robust credentials in our region by funding activities that increase supply chain transparency, build regional capability business-to-business and support development of sustainable, resilient and data enabled supply chains.
Outcomes from the grant round include:
- Demonstrating how agricultural traceability data and data standards can be used to create transparency, verify credentials to build trust, and facilitate acceptance and adoption in Southeast Asia markets.
- Researching and modelling emerging credential requirements, such as sustainability, and leveraging traceability data to enable market access and boost the availability of Australian agricultural products in Southeast Asia markets.
Grant opportunity objectives
The objectives of the grants were to:
- Promote and showcase Australian agricultural traceability and credentials in Southeast Asia markets to influence uptake of agricultural traceability systems and tools that support Australia’s trade agenda, including boosting the availability of Australian agricultural products in these markets.
- Facilitate information sharing and ongoing business-to-business engagement across Southeast Asia markets to develop resilient and transparent supply chains that support verifiable claims which fairly represent Australian products and in turn, build trust in Brand Australia.
- Build regional capability, business-to-business, through technical demonstration and information sharing and engagement to enable the uptake of efficient and transparent supply chain practices in a way that is verifiable and secure, including through access to information relevant to supply chain traceability (including market intelligence and research into emerging trends) and online tools that provide research and modelling on consumer trends and commercial trading partner requirements.
Intended program benefits
Projects developed under this grant round will facilitate this at the business-to-business level by communicating and showcasing Australian supply chain approaches to data-enabled agricultural traceability systems and credentials, as well as online tools that provide research and modelling to producers and other industry participants about market intelligence, consumer trends and commercial trading partner requirements.
Projects will foster mutually beneficial outcomes, shared learning, innovation, capacity building, and technical expert engagement in Australia and Southeast Asia markets (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Timor Leste and Vietnam) and provide mechanisms for practical collaboration amongst producers and supply chain participants to support free flowing agricultural trade and availability of Australian agricultural products in regional markets during the transition to global net zero.
More information
For more information about the Building Trust in Australian Agricultural Traceability and Credentials in Southeast Asia grant round please email traceability.project@aff.gov.au
The Traceability Grants Program is a part of the Modernising Agricultural Trade, Protecting Australia’s Clean, Green Brand initiative. The program supports collaborative agricultural traceability projects that assist implementation activities under the National Agricultural Traceability Strategy 2023 to 2033 (the strategy).
The Traceability Grants Program has the following objectives:
- Support industry projects that will enhance our agricultural supply chain traceability systems. This includes developing and trialling technologies that digitise information flow.
- Provide an advantage for our exporters in overseas markets that will assist them to maintain their competitive edge.
Applications for the Traceability Grants Program – Round 3 closed on 18 March 2024. The round provided $4.0 million (GST exclusive) to 11 successful applicants over 2023-24 and 2024-25 for collaborative projects to assist implementation activities under the strategy.
The strategy has 8 strategic objectives and identifies 11 priority areas for action. Round 3 funds projects that meet the program objectives and focus on the priority areas for action of the strategy that require further investment:
- Priority areas for action 4: Enhance and support trust and adoption of agricultural traceability through demonstration of value-add and return on investment.
- Priority areas for action 6: Improve two-way, producer-consumer information flows to identify value-add creation and distribution opportunities and drive business development.
- Priority areas for action 9: Establish a flexible and responsive agricultural traceability research and development agenda.
The department has prepared some general feedback for applicants to assist them to understand what generally comprised a strong application to the program.
Round 3 successful projects
| Project title | Summary | Lead recipient |
|---|---|---|
| NAAKPA Indigenous Bushfoods Provenance and Traceability Project | Project to enhance agricultural traceability by democratising the use and application of elemental fingerprint technology for producers at the farmgate. By trialling portable scanning technology and training producers in its applications, this project will make scanning elemental provenance accessible, inexpensive and scalable across agricultural commodities. | The Northern Australia Aboriginal Kakadu Plum Alliance Co-operative Limited |
| Advancing Transparency and Efficiency through State-of-the-Art Supply Chain Tracking for the Australian Forest Export Industry | The project will develop data standard protocols and frameworks for the forest industry that can be utilised across the supply chain and assist with traceability system development. The project will then use those protocols to develop a tracking tool to address the existing concerns raised by timber industry regarding the non-compliance of export logs. | The State of Queensland acting through the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries |
| Fingerprinting Australian seafood harvesting locations for robust traceability solutions | The project will use a field-deployable handheld X-ray fluorescence device (XRF scanner) to create comprehensive elemental fingerprint maps of seafood harvesting locations. These maps will enable the user to trace the geographic origin of any seafood species in the market. | Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation |
| Outcompeting in a changing marketplace. Demonstrating how open tools and global standards can simplify market access | Each country has its own information and labelling requirements for wine, and these requirements are always changing. The project is to address known issues with vintage (products from different years/vintages identified with the same GTIN) and will also assist to harden open-source Digital Link Resolver (DLR) technology. | Pyx Innovation Australia |
| Gathered fine food products: Improving export traceability through data voice capture and blockchain protection | Project to develop a mobile-based, hands-free system to record observations and details required for traceability and product quality for gathered fine food products. | Y-Trace Pty Ltd |
| Enhancing producer trust and adoption of eID traceability technology in WA sheep industry for downstream value creation. | Research project to:
| Curtin University |
| Real-time tracing for pig movements through the PigPass 2.0 app | This project will develop a PigPass app that can trace real-time animal movements. | Australian Pork Limited |
| Tracing grass fed beef- a pathway to adoption | This project will identify and demonstrate the value proposition, scope the needs of supply chain participants, investigate how the technology could be included in existing feedback systems to cattle producers and evaluate the potential for exporters to utilise the technology. | The Crown in the right of the State of New South Wales acting through Primary Industries within the Department of Regional NSW |
| Protecting Our Production: A Multi-Jurisdictional Approach to Improving Livestock Traceability Through Behavioural Science | This project proposes a multi-jurisdictional partnership to improve traceability practices throughout Australia’s mainland eastern states, delivered in partnership by Evidn (an applied behavioural science company), NSW DPI, Qld DAF, and AgVIC. The project leverages previous behavioural strategies developed by Evidn in partnership with DPI. | Evidn Pty Ltd |
| Accelerating response to honey bee pest threats with establishment of centralised digital hive traceability and landscape surveillance | This program will implement a hive traceability system in WA, and deploy novel surveillance technology for landscape level surveillance and early detection of Varroa. | Bee Industry Council of Western Australia Ltd |
| Providing open-source tools which enable Australian producers and processors to assess the differential value of traceability components related to sustainability efforts | This project will build on existing initiatives (such as AgTrace, AASF and Traceable Beef Supply Chains) to provide compelling business cases for undertaking traceability activities, by developing open-source tools for producers and processors to understand the prospective benefits in specific components of sustainability reporting. | Australian Farm Institute Limited |
The department administers the program with the assistance of the Australian Government’s Community Grants Hub, and program documentation is published on the GrantConnect website.
More information
For more information about the Traceability Grants Program – Round 3 please email: traceability.project@aff.gov.au
Applications for the Regulatory Technology Research and Insights Grant round (RegTech Research and Insights grants) closed on 14 December 2022.
There were 70 eligible applications received for projects totalling $27.3 million. This exceeded the $6 million (GST exclusive) available under this round and demonstrates a significant interest across the agricultural community for greater research and investment in regulatory technology.
Following the assessment of applications, 15 projects were approved for funding to a total of $6 million (GST exclusive). Projects must be complete by 30 June 2025.
Successful projects
| Lead recipient | Title | Project summary |
|---|---|---|
| Agrifood Connect Limited | Agrifood Connect Trace2Place project - mapping the red meat supply chain | This project will map the red meat supply chain and identify any gaps in data collection and areas where standardisation is practical. Reporting dashboards will allow identification of the location of products within the supply chain in real time, and allow for verification of key data elements and test the ability to capture and share data for interoperability. |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation | A digital exchange to streamline data collection and flows in the red meat supply chain | This project will streamline data collection and flows in the red meat supply chain via a digital exchange. The data sharing capability will inform development of a risk assessment tool for red meat processors. In turn, this will provide opportunity for scaling and alignment of the application with other regulatory management frameworks for red meat processors. |
| FreshChain Systems Pty Ltd | Enhancing and validating additional standardisable features on FreshChain traceability platform for RegTech applications in agri-food supply networks | This project will pilot enhancements to the digital capability of an existing digital traceability platform with various horticultural stakeholders to allow traceability applications in food safety and market access compliance and responding/managing biosecurity risks. The project will deliver a RegTech platform suitable for capturing, sharing and utilising data across supply chains in a public-private partnership with secured data storage and permission-based access through seamless integration. |
| Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited | Developing a RegTech framework and applications across horticultural value chains | This project will evaluate the compliance layers of the Australian horticultural value chain to deliver a RegTech framework that verifies statements of claims and removes duplication. The findings and outcomes will deliver an open-source RegTech framework with a governance structure to support its ongoing management and use to future proof Australia’s horticultural industry. |
| Meat & Livestock Australia Limited | Australian AgriFood Data Exchange - an interoperable data platform and exchange to transform agricultural traceability | This project will build a minimum viable product of a secure, cloud-based platform enabling regulators and industry to better manage compliance, and stimulate innovation and supply chain performance. Through enhanced traceability, it will assure consumers and coordinate biosecurity and export market access. |
| National Farmers' Federation Limited | Examining industry-led, cross-commodity RegTech in cross-commodity production systems | This project will investigate opportunities and barriers to industry-led, cross-commodity RegTech to increase uptake of traceability measures. |
| Regsoft Pty Ltd | Using rules-as-code to create farm-to-export traceability for agriculture supply chains | This project will encode existing regulations, simulate a roll-out of a rules-as-code based traceability initiative, validating assumptions to de-risk any future roll-out(s), and provide a roadmap to build a farm-to-export traceability framework. It will also explore high impact/beneficial regulatory changes needed to meet the National Agricultural Traceability Strategy. |
| Ricegrowers Limited | Digital traceability of carbon emissions in rice | This project will deliver a standardisable automated emissions verification and digital traceability system for Australian rice irrigation practices and traceability through to the end product. The platform will be delivered by a commodity agnostic provider therefore will be interoperable across agricultural industries, supply chains and commodities. |
| Seafood Industry Australia Limited | A traceability and verification RegTech solution to increase efficiencies for the Australian seafood industry | This project will design and trial an end-to-end traceability and verification RegTech solution in the seafood industry, supporting streamlined compliance and regulatory reporting burdens. It will map 5 supply chains and data capturing requirements, and trial key solution components on 2-3 supply chains with learnings and findings relevant to the seafood industry and transferable to other agricultural sectors. |
| South Australian Dairy Farmers Association Inc. | Algorithmic auditing of milk supply chains | This project will capture regulatory data from dairy farm to processor to retailer, record it on a distributed ledger and link the digital record to the physical package to enable remote auditing. This project will aim to demonstrate both increasing agricultural regulatory compliance while lowering costs. |
| The University of Adelaide | Eliminating illegitimate timber and plant derived products from global supply chains | This project will trial implementing DNA species identification and machine learning technologies to help identify and eliminate illegally sourced timber and plant products from supply chains. Once complete, a genetic traceability system will be ready to incorporate into supply chains, protecting Australian markets from fraudulent imports and support Australian growers seeking to export their products. |
| The University of Newcastle | Global agricultural trade and traceability - international models and future architecture | This project will firstly analyse current and future traceability RegTech regimes to identify what key trade partners will be requiring for our exported products and secondly identify how traceability technology can and could be used to feed into and improve the international law architecture that regulates global trade. |
| T-Provenance Pty Ltd | Digital traceability to streamline pest and chemical management in the Australian grain industry | This project will build out and test a digital traceability platform that captures critical tracking events (CTEs) in pest management and chemical use on farms. These CTEs will populate a rules-based engine to show compliance with regulatory requirements. A framework for capturing and using CTEs and the rules as code examples will be detailed and made available to industry. |
| University of Tasmania | Assessing traceability RegTech applications for honey bee and cherry industries and related supply chains | This project will assess traceability RegTech applications that can be used by producers, compliance agencies, and logistics providers in the Australian honey bee and cherry industries. It will provide insights on standardisable features of traceability RegTech applications and a roadmap for adoption. |
| Venturenauts Pty Ltd | Halal beef e-certification and traceability | This project will build on an existing blockchain traceability platform to streamline regulatory processes, ease compliance burden and build confidence and trust in Australian beef halal certification. It will better trace the supply of cattle and their processing, digitally integrate halal requirements ensuring halal certificate integrity; and pilot the use of the system and app with halal beef supply chain stakeholders. |
Regulatory technology (RegTech) is the use of technology to better achieve regulatory objectives. It will support agricultural traceability by:
- facilitating and automating data collection
- improving the cost-effectiveness of regulatory activities
- simplifying and streamlining compliance requirements
- lowering barriers to industry entry.
Funded RegTech Research and Insights grant projects will show how to leverage RegTech along agricultural supply chains to enhance agricultural traceability reforms and support the growth of the agricultural sector.
Outcomes from the grant round include:
- Investigating how RegTech can assist in streamlining agricultural compliance obligations.
- Feasibility assessments of traceability RegTech systems.
- Identifying and assessing standardisable features of traceability RegTech applications, devices and platforms that can be applied across agricultural industries, supply chains and commodities to increase value and expand export market access.
Grant opportunity objectives
The objectives of the RegTech Research and Insights grants were to:
- Identify existing and potential new RegTech traceability applications and developments that can provide solutions for streamlining compliance across agricultural supply chains; and
- Help the adoption of appropriate, cost-effective, and compatible digital traceability systems, to increase regulatory efficiency and reduce the administrative and compliance burdens along the agricultural supply chains.
Intended program benefits
Projects delivered under this grant round will:
- Strengthen partnerships across industries and between the research sector and industry, for benefits to Australia’s agricultural production and export trade through more streamlined systems designed to bring value into the future.
- Identify proposed solutions that will demonstrate how to leverage RegTech to enhance agricultural traceability reforms, and support growth of the agricultural sector overall.
For more information on the RegTech Research and Insights grants, please email traceability.project@aff.gov.au
Applications for the Sustainability Reporting Uplift Grant round (Sustainability Reporting grants) closed on 23 February 2023.
There were 59 eligible applications received for projects totalling $22.6 million. This exceeded the $4 million (GST exclusive) available under this round and demonstrates a significant interest across the agricultural community to uplift and develop the sectors data capability to assist in sustainability reporting.
Following the assessment of applications, 11 projects have been approved for funding to share in the $4 million (GST exclusive). Projects must be completed by 30 June 2025.
Successful Projects (to date)
| Recipient | Project title | Project summary |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Farm Institute Limited Leading a consortium | Building traceability in supply chains from farmers to market. | This project is designed to research the opportunities, barriers, and economic benefits to setting characteristics of sustainability data sets, to then test the practical application of this research in a farm-to-market case study in the beef supply chain. |
| Australian Farm Institute Limited | Providing evidence of legislative and regulatory frameworks that support the sustainability status of Australian agriculture. | This project will construct a resource base to provide access to relevant legislative and regulatory frameworks in a format which is transferable to sustainability reporting platforms. This will enable the evidence required to show compliance with social and governance sustainability metrics from legislative and regulatory frameworks. |
| Australian Meat Processor Corporation Ltd Leading a consortium | A framework for the future - Refining a trusted data system to enable accurate sustainability disclosure reporting for cross-commodity market access | This project will develop a data framework to deliver streamlined and cost-effective sustainability reporting to the beef and sheep sustainability frameworks and for emerging export markets requirements to improve transparency across supply chains and be proactive to changing market demands. |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) | Developing an interactive tool to assist the participation and implementation of traceability systems | This project will develop a digital self-assessment tool for traceability and sustainability data, test this tool with 2 commodities, and capture the traceability and sustainability data to provide meaningful insights to both agribusinesses and government agencies. |
| Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Leading a consortium | Responsible fisheries and aquaculture - Activating a comprehensive ESG reporting data system to uplift sustainability traceability. | This project activates CSIROs Healthcheck ESG Fishing & Aquaculture data system to identify data gaps, and prioritise and collect essential indicators to allow for comprehensive ESG reporting. |
| Cotton Research and Development Corporation Leading a consortium | Better Sustainability Reporting. Better information and better decisions - a proof of concept for Australian agriculture. | This project will cut through the complexity and inconsistency of global sustainability frameworks to provide a proof of concept for pragmatic and robust sustainability data collection and reporting that is appropriate for Australian cotton and meets customer expectations. |
| Horticulture Innovation Australia Limited Leading a consortium | Emerging trends on Non-Tariff Measures (NTMs) in the Horticulture sector. | This project will identify and assess the impact of international sustainability standards on the Australian horticultural industry to reduce the complexity surrounding various global policies and develop a clear understanding of how Australian export competitiveness can be enhanced. |
| La Trobe University Leading a consortium | Harnessing soil microbial traits to benchmark soil health for sustainability reporting. | This project will identify the minimal set of soil microbial traits needed for soil health classification and the barriers to adoption through stakeholder consultations. Case studies on farms will be carried out to demonstrate the use of traits for setting soil health standards. |
| Meat & Livestock Australia Limited | Determination of a method to measure and track of the health and welfare status of livestock before, during and after road transport in Australia. | This project will determine the most appropriate method for reporting and tracking animal welfare status at key points along the road transport chain. Benchmarking animal welfare status will set a baseline for industry standards and enable data reporting to beef and sheep sustainability frameworks. |
| Rural Industries Research & Development Corporation Leading a consortium | Australian National Life Cycle Inventory Database (AusLCI) - equipping Australian agriculture with sustainability metrics | This project will uplift existing life cycle inventory to capture on-farm improvements, add new agricultural products and key post-farm processes used for life cycle assessments underpinning national and international sustainability schemes. |
| The University of Queensland Leading a consortium | Ecological Traceability as a Public Commons - New Models of Indigenous Supply Chain Data Governance. | This project will facilitate the creation of a scalable cooperative-anchored Indigenous data governance framework within an agricultural context. The data governance framework will be applied to Indigenous supply chains, focussing on data gaps about cultural knowledge embedded in products and processes. |
The Sustainability Reporting grants will help build the agriculture sector’s data capabilities to meet emerging international requirements and industry standards and support development of consistent sustainability frameworks. Successful projects will support the agriculture sector through consistent collection, measurement and reporting of data to make it easier to demonstrate sustainable practices to meet increasing expectations from international markets and consumers.
Grant opportunity objectives
The objectives of Sustainability Reporting grants are to:
- Identify and test approaches to address known data gaps across the agriculture sector to support reporting against sustainability frameworks and emerging international requirements and standards.
- Identify the core cross-commodity data points and indicators required to verify the agriculture sector’s sustainability credentials and quantify the potential economic benefits.
- Facilitate information sharing and ongoing engagement across supply chains to promote transparency in response to changing consumer and market demand.
Intended program benefits
The benefits to uplifting the agriculture sector’s data capabilities to report against existing sustainability frameworks and meet emerging international requirements and standards include:
- Identifying the best method to address known data gaps.
- Identifying critical cross-commodity data points or indicators requiring standardisation.
- Being proactive to emerging market access requirements and consumer trends to realise value added opportunities and address export risks.
- Creating transparency in supply chains and providing ongoing evidence for market access and economic growth for farmers, regions, and industry overall.
For more information on the Sustainability Reporting grants, please email traceability.project@aff.gov.au
Now closed, the Traceability Grants Program – Rounds 1 and 2 provided 30 successful applications access to $7 million (GST exclusive) over 4 years, 2019-20 to 2022-23. The program was announced under the Modernising Agricultural Trade initiative. Funding for these projects was completed 30 June 2023.
Grant projects typically involved embedding technology and innovation into our agricultural supply chain traceability systems. For example, the development and trialling of technologies that digitise information flow.
This grants program builds on the work that developed the National Traceability Framework over stages 1 and 2.
The Australian Government Community Grants Hub administered this program on behalf of the department. More information about the Traceability Grants Program – Rounds 1 and 2 can be found below.
Applications for Round 1 and 2
Applications for Round 1 closed on 21 February 2020. 168 applications were received for projects totalling $90 million. This exceeded the $4 million (GST exclusive) available under Round 1 of the program.
Following the assessment of applications, 16 projects were approved for funding under Round 1.
Applications for Round 2 of the Traceability Grants Program closed on 21 January 2021. $3 million (GST exclusive) is available under Round 2 of the program for projects that will enhance supply chain traceability systems, and arrangements to support the export of Australia’s agricultural commodities. Projects funded under this program must be completed by 30 June 2023.
Fourteen projects will be funded under Round 2.
Program objectives
- Support industry projects that will enhance our agricultural supply chain traceability systems. This includes developing and trialling technologies that digitise information flow.
- Provide an advantage for our exporters in overseas markets that will assist them to maintain their competitive edge.
- Increase opportunities to export Australian commodities.
Intended program outcomes
- Broad enhancement of the traceability systems that support our agricultural export supply chains, through projects with measurable outcomes.
- Exporters are able to use the enhancement of our traceability systems to assist in maintaining their competitive edge in export markets.
- More farmers, producers and processors consider exporting, especially those involved in exporting high risk commodities.
- Traceability system enhancements are cost effective because they use existing systems and technologies where possible.
Background
The program builds on the National Traceability Project.
The program will run over 4 years from 2019-20 to 2022 23. Funding under will be available in 2 grant rounds, with $4 million (GST Exclusive) available in Round 1 (closed in 2019-20) and $3 million (GST Exclusive) in Round 2 (closed on 21 January 2021). Projects funded under Round 1 include embedding technology and innovation in our agricultural supply chain traceability systems, such as the development and trialling of technologies that digitise information flow.
Fast and accurate traceability systems across our supply chains are critical for our agricultural exports to gain and maintain a competitive edge in overseas markets, and to help move us towards our goal of $100 billon in agricultural sector returns by 2030.
Traceability is the ability to follow the movement of a product through stages of production, processing and distribution (ISO 22005:2007). Australia’s agricultural traceability systems include all government regulation and industry arrangements that enable tracing of agricultural production and products, back and forward along entire supply chains (ie participants should be able to trace one step forward and one step back at each step in the supply chain).
Traceability is important because consumers and trading partners want to know more about the products they buy including information on:
- food safety
- animal and plant pest and disease status
- provenance
- authenticity
- social matters such as sustainability and animal welfare practices.
Effective traceability improves competitiveness and provides assurance for customers. Many Australian agricultural producers and exporters already realise the commercial benefits of enhancing traceability.
Round 1 successful projects
| Project title | Summary | Lead recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Enhancing horticultural supply chain traceability and digital promotion of Australian horticultural products in overseas markets. | The development of an operational cloud-based system with one management application and one end-user application focussed on the traceability of Australian fruit marketed to China. | University of Tasmania |
| Enable adoption of an end to end traceability system with a pilot focus on high risk horticulture in domestic and export markets. | A pilot of an end to end traceability system – tracing high-risk, horticultural products from paddock to plate using technology. | Freshchain Systems Pty Ltd |
| Indigenous Food Traceability System Transfer, apply and trial of FBK FoodTrakR Digital Farming Platform for Food Authentication, Provenance and Social Matters. | The development of a digital farming platform to trace indigenous foods throughout the supply chain to assist with provenance claims and social matters concerning indigenous culture. | Withdrawn |
| National pilot traceability project for plant industries | Engaging with the plant industry to prepare an inventory of the existing management of plant produce in supply chains. Conduct a desktop review of how other countries manage plant produce through supply chains, with the aim of identifying a system suitable for consideration by industry and government for adoption in Australia. Conduct a pilot plant industry traceability project. | Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (previously Western Australian Agriculture Authority) |
| Review of traceability systems across the Australian wool and sheep industry supply chains. | The review and supply chain mapping of traceability systems across the Australian wool and sheep industry supply chains. | Woolproducers Australia Limited |
| On-the-ground traceability for the seafood supply chain using handheld x-ray fluorescence technology. | The development of a portable method for determining seafood provenance using a handheld X-ray fluorescence scanner, usable with minimal training. | Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation |
| Improving international competitiveness of the Australian Table Grape export supply chain. | The trial of data logging technology to trace table grape shipments through the supply chain. | AND Fresh Pty Ltd |
| Oz Group Punnet and Tray Traceability Project | The installation of printing and labelling equipment that will enable products to be traced back to the farm level/growers. | OZ Group Co-op Limited |
| Traceability Systems Chooser | The development of an interactive decision support tool to assist agriculture, fishing and aquaculture producers identify what traceability system is the best fit for their business. | Honey & Fox Pty Ltd |
| Pilot study into the use of electronic Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) readers in small-stock processing | A pilot study into the use of electronic Radio Frequency Identification Device (RFID) across a number of sheep and goat processors. | Australian Meat Industry Council |
| Assessing commercial traceability solutions for their suitability and adoption along fresh produce export chains using melon industry as a pilot. | The trial of technology to trace fresh produce through export supply chains, with the melon industry used as a pilot. | Australian Melon Association Inc. |
| TruckTracker by Direct Livestock | The development of an App to enable real time tracking of animals from the farm to their destination, and providing access to information concerning those animals to entities within the supply chain who require it. | Direct Livestock Pty Ltd |
| Delivering quality assured Australian Honey Bee Products | The development of a strategy to characterise pure honey bee products for biological identification, develop a batch numbering system that aligns to current quality assurance processes, track, trace and inform the industry of anti-counterfeiting packaging strategies to assure customers of provenance. | B-QUAL Australia Pty Limited |
| To help fund a study to establish whether trace mineral/isotope analysis can reliably distinguish a cider made with 100% Australian grown apple and pear juice from a cider containing imported juice or juice concentrate. | A study to test whether the authenticity of cider made with Australian juice can be confirmed though a chemical 'finger print' (trace mineral/isotope analysis). | Cider Australia |
| Technology roadmap for automating export compliance for Australian Agrifood. | The integration of regulatory compliance into 3rd party digital tracing platforms. | Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation |
| Improving traceability in the Australian Egg industry through the provision of software tools and targeted extension. | Improving traceability in the Australian egg industry though the provision of software tools and extension materials (training and communications etc.) to improve the effectiveness of traceability. | Australian Eggs Limited |
Round 2 successful projects
| Project title | Summary | Lead recipient |
|---|---|---|
| Australian seafood traceability project | To develop and release a digital/physical experience that allows overseas consumers to verify provenance and authenticity for traceable Australian seafood products. | Seafood Industry Australia Limited |
| Tracebase DNA for timber | Development of a reliable database to collect, store, analyse, and classify data relating to timber DNA as a means of verifying type and origin of timber. | Interpredata Pty Ltd |
| Seed and Plant Traceability Platform and Framework | Creation of a traceability platform and framework for Australian seeds industry, including digitisation of certifications information. | Australian Seeds Authority Limited |
| Accelerate adoption of modern supply chain traceability solutions by vegetable producers of low, medium, and high-risk vegetable export crops | Supply chain mapping of fresh vegetable export crops to accelerate the adoption of modern supply chain traceability solutions across the vegetable industry. | Ausveg Ltd |
| Indigenous Certification and Bushfood Traceability and Provenance Project | This project will develop a framework combining two leading technologies in provenance and traceability within an auditable certification system for Indigenous native food producers. | Mamabulanjin Aboriginal Corporation |
| Robust Digital Technology for End-to-End Traceability in Australian Grain Export Supply Chain | This project will address this critical knowledge gap by studying and developing: 1) a trusted blockchain-based traceability technology, and 2) relevant food safety assessment techniques from physical visual and organic chemical traits. | Federation University Australia |
| Cross-sector Operational Biosecurity Risk Assessment (COBRA) | Development of a real-time, data driven approach to assessing biosecurity risk, the project will enable biosecurity data from across supply chains to be shared and analysed in new ways to improve our ability to detect and manage emerging risks sooner. | Exoflare Pty Ltd |
| Australian wine traceability - Isotopic fingerprinting to define provenance and authenticity | This project aims to develop a robust traceability tool to isotopically fingerprint Australian premium shiraz. | University of Melbourne |
| Macropod data harvesting application | Development of an app to record real-time harvesting data of macropods from point of origin to a processing facility and to allow for provenance and traceability to grow a robust international export market. | Western Game Processing Pty Ltd |
| Sensor-based livestock traceability | Development of a sensor-based livestock traceability system - linking emerging on-animal tracking technologies with meat quality and marketability outcomes. | Central Queensland University |
| Australian wool industry supply chain traceability | Implementation of a supply chain traceability system for the Australian wool industry benefiting information flow, logistics efficiencies, provenance, biosecurity, animal welfare & sustainability, adding value & improving the industry's competitive edge. | Australian Wool Exchange Limited |
| Dried fruits real time traceability system | Creating real-time traceability in the Australian dried fruits supply chain to improve export market Maximum Residue Limit compliance. | Dried Fruits Australia Inc. |
| Hide and leather traceability system | Installation of the hide and leather industry's first traceability system and sharing of IP across the industry | Australian Hide Skin & Leather Exporters’ Association Inc. |
| LIVEXCollect electronic application | Development of a smart device application to replace the current computer-based mechanism and fully digitise livestock health and welfare data collection. This advancement would enable the introduction of further measurements and information with a stronger traceability, commercial and trade focus. | Australian Livestock Export Corporation Ltd |