The Evolution and Future of the Wheat Breeding ‘Research Environment' in Australia.

As in many countries, wheat breeding in Australia was led by universities and state and national agencies through most of the 20th century. In the early 1990s, the Grains Research and Development Corporation was one of several RDCs (Rural Development Corporations) that were supported by farm gate levies, matched by Commonwealth funds. Through competitive and commissioned research, these funds supported wheat breeding research, with a small presence of private seed companies. Following the establishment of an ‘end point royalty’ system for wheat varieties, the state breeding programs were partially privatised, with GRDC being a partner in several of these, but with its main wheat breeding research role shifting to the support of ‘pre-breeding’ research. This paper will outline the evolution of the wheat breeding research environment over the last 20 years, and look at how the public-private relationships expect to deliver over the next 20 years.