Kununurra - Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture

The department’s Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture represented the first serious attempt at tropical agriculture on the banks of the Ord River in Kununurra, having been established in 1945.

In an average year, the Ord River horticultural area now produces more than 33,500 tonnes of fruit and vegetables, including mangoes, bananas, grapefruit, lime, melons, pumpkins and beans. 

Research

Over the past 75 years, the Frank Wise Institute of Tropical Agriculture has led research into sugar cane, cotton, rice, sorghum, maize, winter cereals, safflower, linseed, peanuts, lemongrass, kenaf, and other fibre crops.  

Over recent years, the Western Australian government has revitalised the facility, with more than 12 project collaborations underway including cassava, cotton, industrial hemp, forage crops, jackfruit, mango, plantago, sesame, sterile leucaena, and wheat. 

A key focus of research is the evaluation of crops that will fit into a cotton production sequence. The intent is to identify production systems that underpin the expansion of a viable cotton industry in the Ord River Irrigation Area. Current trials are evaluating industrial hemp and sesame as dry season options. Sesame and a range of other forage and cover crops are being evaluated as wet season options. 

The research farm covers 450 hectares of flood-irrigated clay soil farmland, with an additional 12 hectares of sandy loam levee soil, under pressurised irrigation. The institute has a guaranteed supply of high-quality water throughout the year. 

The institute oversees off-season seed production of southern summer crops, such as hybrid sorghum and temperate cereals, enabling two generations of the crops per year, for breeding purposes. 

Cattle yards and feeding facilities are currently being renovated to enable a new livestock research program. This work will investigate the performance of local cattle fed rations sourced from crops typically produced in the ORIA, such as maize and cotton seed.  

Staff are highly experienced in field and horticultural crop agronomy and the institute accommodates plant pathology and entomology specialists.