Research, Development & Extension (RD&E) makes up 55% of Gardiner Dairy Foundation’s Investment Portfolio, informed by our current Strategic Direction 2018-2021. Our approach is to invest a meaningful amount into a small number of well targeted projects, generally as a co-investor. This ensures an efficient use of funds to deliver high impact innovations to the dairy industry.
In 2018 Gardiner Dairy Foundation became a formal partner in the DairyBio initiative, joining Dairy Australia and Agriculture Victoria. The goal of DairyBio is to improve the cost-competitiveness of the dairy industry by improving pasture productivity by $800 per hectare per year and improving animal productivity by $350 per cow per year by 2030.
In 2018 Gardiner Dairy Foundation partnered with Dairy Australia and DJPR (Agriculture Victoria) to establish the ‘DairyFeedbase’ collaboration. This initiative will support the delivery of high impact innovations to the dairy industry by bringing together large-scale integrated research, using cutting-edge agricultural technologies, to improve pasture performance, animal nutrition and the cost-competitiveness of the feedbase.