Wheatbelt work rewarded
Highly regarded eastern wheatbelt scientist Bob French has been formally recognised by the Agricultural Institute Australia for his long-term contribution to the field of agriculture science in WA.
Presented with the Award of Excellence by AIA chairperson Dr Lyn Abbot at the Merredin Research Facility Field day, Dr French began his career with DAFWA in Merredin in 1984.
With a doctorate investigating water stress responses in wheat, Dr French has been involved in significant scientific work that has had practical applications for farmers across the wheatbelt.
According to Dr Abbot, Dr French has been a prolific contributor to the industry, sharing knowledge and finding new questions to explore with growers.
"He has established many field trials to investigate agronomic traits of plants and sowing trials," she said.
"Dr French originally focused on adaptation and agronomy of field peas, then broadened his research into encompass lupins and other pulses.
"Subsequently he investigated how break crops could be introduced into crop sequences and more recently he has been collaborating on research on canola agronomy and wheat agronomy for low rainfall environments in WA, and on selecting wheat genotypes for tolerance to drought during the crop establishment phase."
Dr Abbott said Dr French's work was highly recognised throughout the scientific community.
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