Sugar cane plant pathologist Robert Magarey has made breakthrough discoveries and worked across the Pacific in his long career but says the best part of his job is finding solutions for growers.
“The things that are satisfying and fulfilling [are] when we manage diseases,” he said.
Dr Magarey has won this year’s Excellence in Ag Research prize in the Australian Farmer of the Year awards for his contributions to pest and disease management in the sugar industry.
He has spent most of his more than 40-year career working at the Sugar Research Australia (SRA) facility in Tully, in far north Queensland.
It was there he helped discover a new pathogen which causes Pachymetra root rot — a damaging disease found only in Australia.
“It was completely new to science … we became world experts almost instantly,” he said.
Dr Magarey, the SRA’s principal research scientist, estimated the discovery and management of Pachymetra saved the industry roughly $50 million annually.
“Because the industry needed management strategies there was a lot of pressure on us to develop solutions,” he said.
“But the good thing is we did find solutions.”
Dr Magarey has also been an industry leader, with stints as president of the Australasian Plant Pathology Society (APPS) and the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists.
Dr Magarey inspecting a diseased cane plant at the research facility.(ABC Far North: Bridget Herrmann)
“[The APPS] was a significant responsibility, but I enjoyed that role and stepping out and suggesting new initiatives,” he said.
His work has taken him across the Pacific to Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, which he visited over 50 times primarily to work as a consultant.
“My role was to … understand what the disease issues were and help them to develop management strategies,” he said.
“It was a great experience; in PNG I saw wild sugarcane … it was good to see it in its natural environment.
“PNG tends to be a crossroads of sugar industry people around the world, so I learnt a lot about the industry in Africa, Caribbean and other countries.”
He said he still saw great potential in the sugar industry.
“There are many potential opportunities for sugar cane as an environmental crop, not just in production of sucrose, but maybe in production of energy … producing biomass that could be converted into different types of fuel,” he said.
Dr Magarey in an SRA greenhouse testing Pachymetra root rot resistance in cane varieties.(ABC Far North: Bridget Herrmann)
Dr Magarey encouraged young scientists to consider a role in managing crop diseases.
“We’re going to need plant pathologists to keep our crops healthy,” he said.
“That’s going to be really important into the future.”
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Posted 8h ago8 hours agoTue 20 Jun 2023 at 3:05am
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