A book published to mark a major milestone in the history of the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) also features projects that Coretext has written about and photographed for ACIAR over the past two decades.
The ACIAR history book ‘40 years of ACIAR’ has become a well-thumbed fixture on our tearoom table. The research it features has not only changed peoples’ lives around the world but also makes for fascinating reading.
Coretext writers have periodically played a small part in telling this story through its production of Partners magazine for ACIAR. We first worked on the magazine in 2004.
Memorable projects for us include the development of the Happy Seeder in India to direct drill into stubble, which took writer Melissa Marino to India, and the long-term Seeds of Life project, with writer Brad Collis helping to document how the project helped to transform cropping and productivity in Timor-Leste following its emergence as an independent nation.
Digging back through our archives, we were even able to track down a few missing images the ACIAR publications team wanted to include for the commemorative book.
Challenges ahead
While the book features the achievements and highlights of ACIAR so far, it also points to the challenges ahead and the role of ACIAR to continue improve the productivity and sustainability of agricultural systems, to increase food security and the resilience of supply chains in the next 40 years.
We’ve been witness to the evolution of the organisation’s approach, with an increasing emphasis on food systems and the integrated approaches to improve agriculture, livestock, environmental and human health, to increase gender and social inclusion and to both mitigating climate change and improve resilience.
It is a pleasure to continue working with the ACIAR team, project managers, researchers and stakeholders in partner countries to report on both challenges and progress, and to be part of positive solutions.