Issue No 7, January 1997.

NOTICE: Hard copies of the Australian New Crops Newsletter are available from the publisher, Dr Rob Fletcher. Details of availability are included in the Advice on Publications Available.

First Australian New Crops Conference

14. Report of the outcomes of the New Crops Workshops

On the final day of the First Australian New Crops Conference, several specialist workshops were held. The outline provided to the facilitators for the management of the workshops is included below, describing the purpose of the workshops. The summary outcomes are presented here in "raw" form as provided to the organisers.

Workshop facilitators' outline

Appoint a scribe who will record proceedings onto plastic overhead transparency (OHT) sheets
Ask each participant to identify themselves, their affiliation and their particular crop interest; record the names of the crops mentioned onto OHT sheets
Ask each participant to identify the single most significant problem confronting the new crop industry, and record it onto OHT sheets

The expectation, and previous experience, of this round of questioning is that the first respondents will identify quite specific views of what is the most significant problem. As the responses continue, there may be a change in focus from specific to more general, whole-of-industry, responses.

Derive a list of generic problems from the list produced in step 3, and write it onto an OHT sheet
Rank the generic problems by a show of hands: each person has two votes and can vote twice for any one problem (two hands) or once each for two problems
Investigate, in turn, as many of these generic problems as there is time for, by asking the following questions:

Who are the stakeholders with an interest in the solution of this problem?
How might this problem be solved?
Who will do it?

There may be an opportunity to introduce towards the end of the workshops the concepts of "action research" and/or "participatory research" as interesting new ways of approaching problems in new crop research and development.
The scribe and/or the facilitator, (or anyone else appointed by the group) then presented a 5-10 minute summary of the outcomes of their workshop, using any of the OHTs which were relevant.

14.1 Grain Legumes Workshop

14.2 Oilseeds Workshop

14.3 Aromatic, Spice, Medicinal and Bioactive Crop Workshop

14.4 Industrial and Fibre Crops Workshop

14.5 Fruit and Nuts Workshop

14.6 Cereals and Pseudocereals Workshop

14.7 Vegetables Workshop

14.8 New Crops for North-eastern Australia Workshop

14.9 Floral, Landscape and Landcare Plant Workshop

The outcomes of this workshop were not received.

Any claims made by authors in the Australian New Crops Newsletter are presented by the Editors in good faith. Readers would be wise to critically examine the circumstances associated with any claims to determine the applicability of such claims to their specific set of circumstances. This material can be reproduced, with the provision that the source and the author (or editors, if applicable) are acknowledged and the use is for information or educational purposes. Contact with the original author is probably wise since the material may require updating or amendment if used in other publications. Material sourced from the Australian New Crops Newsletter cannot be used out of context or for commercial purposes not related to its original purpose in the newsletter

Contact: Dr Rob Fletcher, School of Land and Food, The University of Queensland Gatton College, 4345; Telephone: 07 5460 1311 or 07 5460 1301; Facsimile: 07 5460 1112; International facsimile: 61 7 5460 1112; Email: r.fletcher@mailbox.uq.edu.au

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originally created by: GK; latest update 6 June 1999 by: RF