Sustainability is essential to ensuring the long-term resilience, profitability, and environmental stewardship of the Australian grains industry. It is a core focus of the GRDC RD&E Plan 2023-28, embedded within the Thrive for Future Generations strategic pillar. This plan outlines GRDC’s commitment to supporting growers in adopting sustainable practices that balance productivity with environmental and social responsibilities.

The Australian grains industry operates in an environment of increasing global demand for sustainably produced food, changing regulatory landscapes, and heightened consumer expectations regarding environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors. Climate variability, resource limitations, and the need to maintain global competitiveness further emphasise the importance of sustainability-driven RD&E investments.

GRDC has a strong history of investing in sustainability initiatives, including carbon sequestration, soil health, biodiversity conservation, regenerative agriculture, and greenhouse gas emissions reduction. However, challenges remain in measuring sustainability outcomes, improving adoption of sustainable practices, and ensuring alignment with industry expectations and global best practices. Furthermore, ensuring that sustainability initiatives are practical and economically viable for growers is essential to driving adoption. Investments must provide tangible financial benefits and avoid excessive record-keeping burdens that could hinder uptake.

The GRDC investment opportunity analysis – sustainability aims to identify gaps and opportunities for investment in future sustainability-related RD&E. Insights from research, technology development, product innovations, the regulatory landscape and other relevant factors will be considered both nationally and internationally. Those insights, along with extensive stakeholder consultations, will be used to develop evidence-based RD&E recommendations in sustainability across environmental (E), social (S), and governance (G) categories.

Other Instructions:

Conditions for Participation:

The following are mandatory conditions with which a Tenderer must comply to participate in this procurement process:

1 The Tenderer must be a single legal entity or recognised firm of partners except where the Tender is submitted by a consortium and the Tender specifies that each member of the proposed consortium will be party to the contract.

2 The Tenderer and any proposed subcontractor must be compliant with the Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012, the Modern Slavery Act 2018 and any other applicable labour laws and standards in the jurisdiction in which they operate.

3 The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not have a judicial decision against it (not including decisions under appeal) relating to employee entitlements and who have not paid the claim.

4 The Tenderer and any subcontractor must not be named on the Consolidated List, being the list of persons and entities who are subject to targeted financial sanctions or travel bans under Australian sanction laws, as maintained by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Timeframe for Delivery:

July 2025 to January 2026

Address for Lodgement:

https://access.grdc.com.au/