About The Waite
Location: Waite Road, Urrbrae SA 5064
The largest concentration of expertise in the southern hemisphere
As a result of SA’s largest individual bequest, by pastoralist and agricultural innovator Peter Waite, the Waite Agricultural Research Institute was established in 1924 for the purpose of agricultural research and teaching and is now the Waite Campus, Australia’s leading research, education and commercialisation precinct. It has the largest concentration of expertise in the southern hemisphere in the areas of plant biotechnology, cereal breeding, sustainable agriculture, wine, food, horticulture and land management.
The Waite Campus hosts a number of Australia’s leading agriculture, food, wine and environmental research organisations and is home to more than 1,500 staff and students. The annual research expenditure of the Waite partners is more than $120 million per annum. This research delivers outcomes of direct significance to both the Australian and global agricultural and wine industries.
For more information about partnering with us or opportunities to locate your business at the Waite, download our Waite Campus Prospectus.
Research and development
Research and development undertaken at the Waite on behalf of Australia’s agricultural sector has already delivered multiple critical innovations, discoveries and breakthroughs to enable farmers and growers of many important crops to stay abreast of environmental challenges and maintain profitability.
New varieties of barley, wheat, oats and pulses and grapevine rootstocks developed at the Waite have increased yields in the face of our harsh climatic conditions and overcome potentially devastating pests, diseases, increasing drought events and soil salinity.
The research and innovation that underpins the agriculture, food and wine sectors is insurance into an increasingly uncertain future – both of the essential food products it produces and of the economic prosperity it has built and contributes to in Australia.
Capacity building
The Waite is training the agronomists, farmers, plant breeders, food technologists, wine makers and researchers of the future. Agriculture makes an enormous contribution to the Australian economy and the Waite is supporting it into the future with knowledge and expertise. Developing countries and the need for global food security are reflected in our multicultural and international student cohort.
R&D at the Waite ..
- addresses food security and sustainable production for healthier and environmentally resilient outcomes;
- meets regional and global challenges with cutting-edge and integrated teaching, training and technology;
- is needed to achieve agricultural intensification within a changing environment;
- spans fundamental to applied, from gene discovery to consumer preferences, from paddock to plate and grape to glass.