This book contains information on the integration of transgenic crops into agricultural systems, the transfer of transgenes to weedy relatives and the development of resistance to non-selective herbicides and insects. This is the proceedings of a workshop held in Canberra in March 1995. It covers the commercialisation of herbicide-resistant crops and addresses the integration of these crops into agricultural systems. There are 25 papers prepared by authors from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, Germany and the United Kingdom. This report covers the importance of cadmium as an issue for governments, cadmium in the food chain, setting of standards for cadmium in food, and cadmium levels in Australian food.
Wheat is Australia's most important crop, in total area and value of production.
On average over the past 40 years, more than two-thirds of the crop has been exported. Changes in technology, wheat varieties, cropping and handling practices since 1950 have been accompanied by increases in wheat yield, but these increases have been neither large nor evenly distributed. Rises in wheat yields in similar wheat-producing countries have been considerably larger. This study examines the relationship between wheat yield and soil fertility in Australia between 1950 and 1990. It assesses the sustainability of wheat production and the causes of low, static or declining wheat yields.