AS the only purely agricultural researcher named as a finalist in the 2022 Premier's Science Awards, hackett professor Kadambot Siddique personally considers his field to be the "mother of all sciences".
Heading up The University of Western Australia's (UWA) Institute of Agriculture, he believes his area of study is not just about planting seeds, driving tractors and kicking soil, but about solving real-world problems.
"How do we sustainably produce enough food when faced with a global pandemic, rapidly rising population, economic shifts, changing climate, declining natural resources and more?," Dr Siddique said.
He was one of three people nominated for Scientist of the Year, which is awarded to a world-class scientist who has demonstrated excellence in a field of science, scientific research or technological advancement and has been active in the field, particularly in the past ten years.
With more than 35 years of experience in agricultural research, research training, technology exchange and management in Australia and overseas, Dr Siddique has a national and international reputation in various aspects of agricultural science including crop physiology, production agronomy, farming systems, genetic resources and breeding.
In particular, his crop adaptation, physiology, genetics and agronomy research has boosted cereal and grain legume production in dryland environments.
READ MORE:
Drylands cover more than 40 per cent of the world's land surface, including Australia, and are home to 2.5 billion people.
Dr Siddique said it was becoming an increasingly important sector in meeting global food requirements.
"The challenge for agriculture to produce 70pc more food and fibre by 2050 cannot be achieved without implementing more sustainable farming methods and responding to climate change/variability in dry areas," he said.
"Sustainability of dryland agriculture must consider crop cultivars and animal species which can withstand climate abnormalities, and growers who can tailor crop and animal production management practices according to the local climatic conditions.
"Practices that maintain soil organic matter and restore soils degraded by past practices must also be considered."
Throughout his research, Dr Siddque has focused on focusing on wheat, grain legumes (especially chickpea) and oilseed crops.
His PhD at UWA was the first on chickpeas in Australia.
Dr Siddique examined the adaptation of chickpeas to local conditions and developed a number of new pulse varieties for Australian farmers - chickpea, lentil and grass pea.
"Pulses play an important role in farming systems for crop diversification, nitrogen fixation and availability of other nutrients in the system," he said.
"They also play an important role for human health, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity and neuro-degenerative diseases."
In 2014, Dr Siddique was made both Western Australian of the Year and a Member of the Order of Australia.
In 2016, he received the Grains Industry Association of Western Australia award for his lifetime contribution to the pulse industry, and was a Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations special ambassador for the International Year of Pulses.
His research has flowed to the grower community and had real world impact including establishing 13 commercial grain legume crop varieties, more than 80 contributions to industry conferences/workshops and more than 100 grower publications.
At all times Dr Siddique is contributing to and actively working on research and over the course of his career, he has published more than 650 scientific papers and book chapters and books.
That culminated in him last year being named a Highly Cited Researcher in both Agricultural Sciences and Plant and Animal Science by Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics.
On top of his research, Dr Siddique is also kept busy by his role as director of the UWA Institute of Agriculture, which is a leading national and international institute for agricultural research and training, ranking number one in Australia and 16th in the world.
"I am passionate about helping consolidate, train and support an international and national network of students, researchers and producers who have contributed to the development of ideas and strategies based on science and serving the world of agriculture," he said.
"I am privileged to share my passion and knowledge of agriculture with young scientists and young producers.
"I have supervised and trained more than 50 postdoctoral fellows from various countries, 55 postgraduate students (PhD and MSc) and numerous undergraduate students, and hosted dozens of visiting scientists hailing from over 25 countries."
The winners of the 2022 Premier's Science Awards will be announced at a ceremony on Monday August 15, during National Science Week.