Charles Darwin University has been successful in its bid, as part of a consortium with five other universities, for $35 million in national funding to develop Darwin and other regional centres as major agri-food hubs.

The Australian Government recently agreed to fund the Future Food Systems Cooperative Research Centre (CRC), which is expected to include a $1.8 million project for CDU to develop commercially viable native rice as an agri-business.

CDU Research Institute for the Environments and Livelihoods (RIEL) researchers Dr Sean Bellairs and Dr Penny Wurm said the expected value of the CDU native rice project would be more than $200,000 in funding a year for the next decade.