Australia
March 21, 2012

Given the high stakes involved in allowing agricultural research to decline, now is the time to attract the best and brightest students to study critical areas of expertise such as agronomy, plant pathology, entomology and soil science.

That's the view of educator, plant scientist and Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) northern panellist, Professor Mark Sutherland, based at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ), Toowoomba.

Professor Sutherland says food security, regional peace and feeding the rapidly rising world population are three good reasons why robust succession plans need to be put in place to ensure Australia maintains the brains behind its world class agricultural science research reputation.

"I've been teaching at Australian universities for 30 years and have observed a slow but steady decrease in the number of students going into studies such as plant sciences," Prof Sutherland said.
"This has included a spectacular decrease in agriculture-centred studies."

Prof Sutherland has added his voice to calls for a whole-of-industry approach to ensure the future supply of agricultural graduates.

"As researchers we rely on a stream of graduates coming through the universities to take up postgraduate studies," he said.

"We rely on attracting very good students into research on agricultural topics because these students become the researchers that support agricultural industries in the future, applying their skill and intellect to resolving both on-going and novel challenges to crop production."

Creating effective succession strategies for Australia's leading agricultural researchers is high on the list of priorities for the GRDC northern panel led by James Clark.

The panel is working closely with research providers to attract young high calibre researchers who can work closely with and learn from the incumbent researchers in fields such as plant pathology and entomology.

"Research providers need to replace their senior and most experienced scientists who are nearing retirement with young people coming up behind them," Prof Sutherland said.

These young researchers will, in the first instance, learn from and then, when the senior scientist moves on to a well-earned retirement, take their place.

"We also need to ensure we are building on the collective knowledge from past research and not covering ground that has already been researched."

He says the generous GRDC postgraduate research scholarships continue to attract the cream of our science students but the next step is to ensure they continue to research challenging agricultural issues once they graduate.

"We need a situation analysis of the current workforce particularly with regard to current and future demand for skilled advisors in fields such as disease and pest management, agronomy and soil science," he said.

Prof Sutherland says industry traineeships for new graduates would be a valuable next step for GRDC in its efforts to address the issue.

"It may be a radical departure from the ways of the past but it is time for the Australian Government and GRDC to consider ways of supporting some of the undergraduate courses that are under threat to ensure agriculture's workforce skills base and research community is not further eroded," he said.

Prof Sutherland says GRDC already has valuable runs on the board in supporting succession planning. For example, GRDC has been very active in helping growers design and implement succession plans within their businesses. This includes the well-received GRDC Succession Planning Guide which can be downloaded from www.grdc.com.au/GRDC_FS_SuccessionPlanning.
 

Website: http://www.grdc.com.au

Published: March 21, 2012