Western Australia and Zhejiang University in China have signed two historic agreements related to plant breeding to develop high tolerant varieties.
WA's Agriculture and food minister Kim Chance visited China last week, to establish a joint research project looking at breeding barley varieties with better acid soil tolerance and the transfer of genetic material between China and WA.
Mr Chance said these agreements offered great hope and potential to both Australian and Chinese farmers as a means of adapting to climate change, soil acidity and developing functional foods with better health outcomes.
"Under these two agreements, WA will now have access to genetic material previously unavailable outside China. By using advanced biotechnology to produce non-GM plant breeding outcomes, WA and China are embarking on an historic collaboration in plant breeding," he said.