ARC Research Hub in Responsible AI for a Sustainable Grain Industry. This hub aims to revolutionise Australia’s grain industry by developing innovative responsible AI (RAI) technologies that drive sustainable growth. Through RAI, sustainable grain practices, biophotonics, and digital carbon management, the hub will address current challenges while generating new knowledge and opportunities. Key outcomes include cutting-edge RAI technologies tailored for grain applications, leading to reduced fertiliser and diesel use, lower carbon emissions, enhanced carbon sequestration, and better climate adaptation. These innovations will transform the grain industry into a thriving, sustainable sector that support international carbon mitigation commitments and positions Australia as a global leader in grain production.

This hub is co-designed with industry partners to be targeted at solving a key problem faced by Australian farmers – how to achieve sustainable transformation through AI. The estimated global market for AI in the grain industry is expected to reach USD 5–10 billion by 2032, but the benefits of the technology are not reaching our farmers. The reason is that the trustworthiness of existing AI is compromised by issues such as its black-box nature, privacy concerns, and unreliable results. The hub’s outcomes will propel Australia into a world-leading position in responsible AI (RAI)-empowered sustainable grain. The research, transformation, and engagement activities of this hub will enhance the global competitiveness of the Australian grain industry, support our obligations to meet net-zero emissions by 2050, and facilitate the growth and acceleration of Australia’s AI capabilities. This will lead to tangible economic and societal impacts, creating new innovations, new opportunities for commercialisation, and significant opportunities for our industry partners and the agriculture sector. This hub will deeply involve industry partners covering many key aspects of the sustainable grain industry, including genomic breeding, planting, farming systems, robotics and AI, supply chain, and carbon-credit trading, through co-design, co-development and co-supervision. Novel technical frameworks spanning the entire grain supply chain will also be well developed.

Expectedly, there will be at least three PhD scholarships. Specifically, the potential thesis project areas are: Responsible AI for Computational Genomics Breeding, Trustworthy AI for Sustainable and Climate-Resilient Grain Production, and AI-Enabled Grain Breeding Technologies, including high throughput phenotyping.