Richard Brackin – The Conversation

Farmers are turning to natural bacteria to improve crops like cane – but they might be getting rubbish. Gavin Fordham/Flickr

April 21, 2017

Crop probiotics: how more science and less hype can help Australian farmers

Susanne Schmidt, The University of Queensland; Paul G. Dennis, The University of Queensland; Richard Brackin, The University of Queensland, and Shelby Berg, The University of Queensland

Crop probiotics are natural, eco-friendly and could provide huge benefits for Australian farmers. But our loose regulations means genuine products are competing with snake oil.

Nitrogen pollution is one of the factors driving outbreaks of crown-of-thorns - giant starfish that devour the reef. Kenneth Taylor Jr/Flickr

September 22, 2015

High‑tech fertilisers and innovation have to come to the Great Barrier Reef’s rescue

Susanne Schmidt, The University of Queensland; Nicole Robinson, The University of Queensland, and Richard Brackin, The University of Queensland

The latest Great Barrier Reef report shows some improvements to water quality over the past five years, but there’s still a lot to do on one particular problem: nitrogen.

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