Institute for Agriculture, Climate and the Environment

01/06/2026

Starting the week with a little wisdom and a lot of innovation!

IACE welcomed the Men for All Seasons from St Thomas More's Parish, Toowoomba for a tour of our Agricultural Science and Engineering Precinct, where they met leading scientists and research students in climate, crop health, agricultural systems andagricultural engineering.

Among the visitors was Peter Pemberton, an Electrical and Mechanical Engineering Lecturer at DDIAE in 1968, now known as UniSQ.

A fantastic two hours spent hosting 37 local grandfathers and sharing innovation across generations.

University of Southern Queensland - Australia

29/05/2026

Attention Southwest Queensland producers 🤠
It is that time of year when your NACP regional Climate Mate, John McLaughlin, and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries invite you to join them for a webinar to unpack what the latest winter seasonal outlook means for livestock grazing businesses.

When: Monday 8th June 2026
Time: 6pm to 7pm
Where: Online Webinar
Register: https://ap1.hubs.ly/y0WVS10

John will help you:
🔸Understand and interpret the forecast for the winter ahead
🔸How to use the outlook
🔸Utilise climate information to inform grazing and fire management decisions
🔸Find and use available resources, including fire alerts, fire risk, wind speed and directions forecasts, and extreme weather (flood and drought) warnings.

19/05/2026

🐝 Happy World Bee Day (20 May)!

Bees are vital to our food systems and ecosystems—but they’re under threat. This year’s theme, “Bee together for people and the planet,” reminds us how important pollinators are to a sustainable future.

Read more on how you can help 💡

🐝 Happy World Bee Day!

Celebrated each year on 20 May to raise awareness of the importance of bees as pollinators, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.

This year, the day is celebrated under the theme “Bee together for people and the planet,” the 2026 edition celebrates the essential role of pollinators in food systems and ecosystems, yet they face numerous threats.

Here are a few ways you can help:
🌸 Plant bee-friendly flowers
🚫 Avoid using pesticides
🍯 Support local beekeepers

What are you doing to celebrate World Bee Day? Let us know in the comments!

19/05/2026

There’s still time to secure your spot at the upcoming Kingaroy workshop—don’t miss out! See the details below.

While you’re here, take a moment to watch their video and discover what attending a workshop is really like. You’ll also see why connecting with your local Climate Mate could become one of your most valuable resources.

University of Southern Queensland - Australia Queensland Agriculture Northern Australia Climate Program

In this short video listen to stakeholders throughout the red meat industry supply chain explain why they would recommend attending a NACP workshop and getti...

11/05/2026

The ACDC Webinar Series ... sharing the latest research, insights and practical guidance on cotton diseases. Watch the latest Webinar 👇

Australian cotton growers have access to a suite of plant protection products, yet effective disease management in cotton remains challenging.The ACDC has re...

11/05/2026

University of Southern Queensland - Australia researcher Dr Alexandros Sotiropoulos co-authors a paper in Nature Communications "Dual recognition of structurally unrelated mildew effectors underlies the broad-spectrum resistance of Pm3e in wheat."

Click on the link to access the article 👉https://rdcu.be/fhYIU

05/05/2026

A landmark study in crop health research and crop pathogen genomics, led by Dr Alexandros Sotiropoulos, was published in PLOS Pathogens, one of the leading journals in microbiology and molecular biology. This study presents the first global pangenome of wheat powdery mildew, generated through combining population genetics and pangenomic approaches, utilising all previously available and newly sequenced genomic data of this model plant pathogen.

The paper is an outcome of an Australian Research Council Project led by Professor Levente Kiss.

https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1013196

University of Southern Queensland - Australia

Author summary Fungi are a diverse group of organisms, with some having at times a devastating impact on important crops like wheat. Powdery mildews are common fungal pathogens of many plants including wheat, rye, and other cereals. Some species, including Blumeria graminis infecting wheat, have bec...

29/04/2026

We're excited too 🙌

🌾 Smarter crop disease detection — with less data 🤖

🌾 Smarter crop disease detection — with less data 🤖

We are excited to follow this project as the team work to crack the large data-set and retraining roadblocks to AI image diagnostics tools! Striving to achieve machine-learning using just 5-10 labelled images to create faster, cheaper, and more adaptable digital diagnostics that can quickly generalise across varieties, pathogens, and environments.

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/unisq-school-of-science-engineering-and-digital-technologies_new-applied-aiml-research-in-grains-disease-activity-7452890687089381376-t3eW?utm_source=social_share_send&utm_medium=member_desktop_web&rcm=ACoAAA9YrLYBgqzcl97FAdag6J-ItHcbC6uwfHs

Grains Research and Development Corporation Institute for Agriculture, Climate and the Environment School of Science, Engineering and Digital Technologies

13/03/2026

Australian grain growers are considering their planting options in a time of uncertainty.

To assist growers, agronomists and advisers at this time, the crop modelling team at University of Southern Queensland - Australia SQNNSWHub and colleagues at Queensland Agriculture, a report has been developed that considers a range of scenarios including the price of urea, different urea application rates, and alternative crops.

Read more 👉 https://www.unisq.edu.au/research/sqnnsw-hub/blogs/croparm26

09/03/2026

Climate signals are shifting. The Pacific–Indian Ocean system may be transitioning from a short-lived La Niña toward a possible El Niño. Not all El Niño events bring drought to Australia, but risk may be increasing. See more in this month’s Climate Outlook. 🌦️🐮

University of Southern Queensland - Australia
Meat & Livestock Australia
Northern Australia Climate Program