The Australian Liberal National Government and the Tasmanian Liberal Government’s jointly funded Launceston centre of the National Institute for Forest Products Innovation (NIFPI) will deliver eight new cutting edge forestry research projects.
Federal Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Richard Colbeck said that the projects identified will receive $4.2 million in support from Federal and State Governments and industry.
“The Launceston NIFPI was an election commitment of our Government and this is the second round of projects which will have a transformational effect on many aspects of Australia’s forest industry,” Minister Colbeck said.
“This second round has a number of research projects which will cut the waste and develop lean supply chains to make Australia’s forest industries even more competitive in the global marketplace.
“These projects will create more jobs by improving the way we process shorter logs, manage timber moisture, damage and discolouration and demonstrate durability in commercially relevant timeframes.”
Tasmanian Minister for Resources Sarah Courtney said some projects would make a major difference for the local industry.
“The successful applicants demonstrate the type of innovation that is occurring across the forest industry, such as improving the quality of plantation timber and developing supply chain efficiency,” Minister Courtney said.
“Tasmania’s foresters face some unique challenges and the Launceston NIFPI will be delivering specific projects to benefit our State, including a feasibility study into a wood pellet industry in Tasmania, which has the potential to complement the Government’s southern forests initiatives.
“The value-adding of lower grade forest resources into products such as bio-fuel pellets could lead to major private investment and job-creation in Tasmania.”
Full list of successful projects in Round 2:
Applicant | Project title | NIFPI funds sought ($) | Total Project ($) |
Sustainable Timber Tasmania | Eagle Eye - Applying the Internet of Things to landscape scale Wedge-tailed eagle management | 151,263 | 404,276 |
Forest Industries Research Centre (University of the Sunshine Coast), FORICO Pty Ltd & Sustainable Timbers Tasmania | Short Log Supply Chain Impacts in Hardwood Plantations | 115,700 | 283,100 |
Forest Industries Research Centre (University of the Sunshine Coast) & Sustainable Timber Tasmania | Assessing the economic impact of damage to Eucalyptus nitens logs during mechanised harvesting operations | 190,706 | 541,006 |
University of Tasmania & SFM Environmental Solutions Pty Ltd | Managing timber’s moisture content in the supply chain, construction and in service | 276,500 | 621,500 |
University of Tasmania | Minimising market-limiting discolouration in appearance Tasmanian hardwood | 160,000 | 340,500 |
University of Tasmania & Britton Timbers | New methods of reliably demonstrating species durability in commercially relevant timeframes | 275,000 | 598,000 |
The Southern Tree Breeding Association Inc. | Implementation of single-step genomic selection in eucalypts | 493,497 | 998,906 |
BioFuels Tasmania Pty Ltd | Improve returns to forest owners by exploring the feasibility of a pellet-based industry in Tasmania | 250,000 | 462,000 |
TOTAL | 1,912,666 | 4,249,288 | |
More information on the National Institute of Forest Products Innovation can be found here: https://nifpi.org.au/