China Studies Research Centre of La Trobe University
3:00-4:30 pm AEDT, Thursday 23 April 2020
Link: https://latrobe.zoom.us/j/3484666015
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Agriculture is China is valued at over 6 trillion yuan. Maintaining production and food security in future will be challenged by increasing urbanization, land degradation and water demands. Strategies to ensure food security include enhancing crop varieties, either with gene-editing technologies or smart breeding strategies so that grain production and supply can be maintained with more efficient use of natural resources, limited use of agricultural chemicals and better environmental management. Working together with researchers in the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Hangzhou and Institute of Bast Fiber Crops, Changsha we aim to improve traits in rice, poplar, bamboo and hemp. The seminar will also introduce what Dr Johnson has identified as key ingredients for successful long-term collaboration.
About the Speaker
Dr. Kim Johnson is a plant biologist in the La Trobe Institute for Agriculture and Food (LIAF). Kim undertook her PhD at the University of Melbourne, worked for a number of years in the UK before returning to Australia. Her work focuses on regulation of plant cell walls that make up the bulk of plant biomass, are our most renewable bio-resource and largely determine the quality and quantity of most plant-based products used in modern human societies.