Adelaide wheat breeder awarded 2002 Farrer Memorial Medal

The 2002 Farrer Memorial Medal has been awarded to Associate Professor Gil Hollamby, former leader of the wheat breeding research team at Adelaide University.

Announcing the award today, Dr Kevin Sheridan, Farrer Memorial Trust Chairman and Director-General of NSW Agriculture, said Professor Hollamby had made a significant contribution to the wheat industry in Australia.

“Professor Hollamby has been involved in breeding wheat varieties since 1961 when he was appointed Assistant Plant Breeder of South Australia's Roseworthy College,” Dr Sheridan said.

The Farrer Memorial Medal, first presented in 1941, is conferred annually to perpetuate the memory of the wheat breeder William James Farrer and to provide encouragement and inspiration to Australian agricultural scientists.

"Professor Hollamby bred wheats to produce improved high yielding varieties for southern Australia, well adapted to the uncertainties and stresses of the region's Mediterranean environment," Dr Sheridan said.

"Varieties released by Professor Hollamby include Blade, Dagger, Excalibur, Machete, Spear, Stiletto and Trident.

"They were selected for adaptation to soils deficient in trace elements or having potentially toxic levels of Boron.  Resistance to stem, strip and leaf rust, to septoria tritici blotch and cereal cyst nematode were other important attributes.

"Spear became the most widely grown variety in Australia during the 1990s.  In years with high grain returns such as 1997-98, Professor Hollamby's varieties together represented a gross value to the Australian economy of over $1 billion dollars."

In the 2001 National Science Week, Professor Hollamby was recognised as the "unsung Hero of South Australian Science".

Professor Hollamby will be presented with the prestigious Farrer Memorial Medal at the University of Adelaide on 3 September 2002 to coincide with the Royal Adelaide Show.

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