Helping
our Farmers
Wallace Cowling
I
am Associate Professor in Plant Breeding at The University
of Western Australia, and CEO of a small university-based
canola breeding company.
My day started with a meeting with a colleague who is CEO
of a farmer investment Company. It is important that I talk
with him about how we do our business together and apart -
his farmer members have a big say in what we do in canola
breeding, as they have invested their cold hard cash in our
company.
But it is also important that the value of what I develop
(new canola varieties) is respected by farmers, and that my
CEO colleague helps us to achieve appropriate income in the
market place for our products. For too long in Australia,
farmers have expected their new crop varieties to be handed
to them on a plate from government - now the plant breeding
industry is swinging into a more private mode.
People who create value are often undervalued in the market
place, and find their work being duplicated and downloaded
for free. The writers and performers of music may be a long
way from a canola field, but the principles are the same.
People who create new ideas and products should be rewarded
for their hard work and inspiration - this drives improvement
and efficiency.
Most of all, I want my small company to succeed and produce
value for farmers, and not be put out of business by "free-loaders".
Science is never far from politics.
Back at my university office, one of my PhD students was waiting
nervously for my return. He is under the gun to finish writing
his thesis, and today we looked at some interesting data on
variation in fatty acid profile in canola oil. He will redraw
some graphs on the basis of our discussion, and I think the
new graphs will be publishable.
Just by talking together, we came up with a new way of presenting
the data, to make it easier for readers to understand our
arguments and conclusions. I am lucky to have the opportunity
to work with younger people, especially PhD students who are
generating new data, challenging old ideas, and coming up
with new concepts that can change the way we do and think
about things.
For example, my recent PhD graduate has shown that field peas
can be bred as if they were animals, and rapid progress can
be made!! A major challenge in my career has been the realization
that the major crops used by humans have been limited in their
genetic progress over the past 100 years by the stifling methodology
that has pervaded plant breeding since the rediscovery of
Mendel's Laws in the early 1900s. That's a big statement,
but to change things, I must study evolutionary genetics,
population genetics, and quantitative genetics even harder
to find ways to overcome my perceived barriers to genetic
improvement in plants.
My Chemistry teacher in Year 12 at Ringwood High School was
Mr Ivan Light. I was very confused about what I should do
after leaving school, as I couldn't face starting a science
degree without knowing what I wanted to do in the degree.
He suggested Agricultural Science, as it involved all branches
of biological science, and its integration with economics,
engineering, chemistry, physics, and more. I liked being on
farms, but more than that, I wanted to do something positive
for the future of humanity. I never looked back.
When I graduated as an Agricultural Scientist from Melbourne
University, I won a scholarship to study for the PhD in plant
pathology at the University of California Davis. That was
a life changing experience. Now I am still a student, as are
all scientists.
It is great fun learning about what you don't know, and it
is good mental exercise to accept that you were wrong before,
and perhaps a little more right now.
I hope that I will have a small impact on the future of this
planet by showing how plant breeding, whether in a private
or public setting, is most successful when based on the principles
of evolutionary genetics, and the people who understand this
best will be the most successful plant breeders, whether they
are private or public |
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