It might seem a long stretch from the fertile farmland around Warwick in southern Queensland to the more challenging terrain of sub-Saharan Africa.
Yet some of our keenest ag-science minds are working there to develop sustainable sorghum crops that can cope with increased climate variability on both sides of the Indian Ocean.
Indeed there's a cheerful optimism and energy about the team from the University of Queensland's Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI) that convinces you that with enough time, enough funding and enough bright sparks, practically anything's possible.
Dr Emma Mace is a molecular geneticist with QAAFI's sorghum breeding program.
"We're looking at drought tolerance, disease resistance, grain quality and ultimately how these characteristics impact on plant performance – that is yields in the field," she said.
Serendipitously we met recently on International Women's Day – smack in the middle of the trial site.
"We need to produce more crops, with less water and with less land in potentially hotter climates – certainly more variable climates, " Dr Mace said.
"And we need to encourage more young people, particularly more young women, into studying the so-called STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) to meet those challenges."
The work at the Hermitage Research Centre just outside Warwick is being underwritten by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which also has a very clear focus on the role of women in agriculture.
"Recently they described poverty and access to food as sexist issues, in that they disproportionately hit women hardest,” Dr Mace said.
"The opportunity to contribute to find solutions to food security challenges is something I feel very passionate about."
So her work and that of her QAAFI colleagues won't just boost returns to Australia's half billion dollar sorghum industry; it will help put food on the table for some of the poorest on the planet.
Which, come to think of it, is a pretty special reason to study science.
- Peter Lewis, freelance journalist and consultant.