• Mr Peter Clingeleffer wins Horticulture Australia's Graham Gregory Award 
• Mr Khongsak Pinyopusarerk's project named most outstanding by CARD 
• Prof Mick Poole wins Western Australia's Farrer Memorial Medal 

Mr Peter Clingeleffer wins Horticulture Australia's Graham Gregory Award

Internationally recognised expert in vine management and vine improvement, Mr Peter Clingeleffer was recently announced the 2010 Graham Gregory Award winner at the Horticulture Australia Limited (HAL) Awards held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

Mr Clingeleffer has been an enthusiastic and tireless supporter of Australian horticulture for nearly 40 years.

He is regarded as an expert in the development of modern practices and improved varieties for dried grape, table grape and wine grape production with significant worldwide impact at both the scientific and industry adoption levels.

Mr Clingeleffer has been involved in CSIRO Plant Industry's vine management and vine improvement research since joining the CSIRO division of Horticulture in 1972. 

The award recognises his significant research achievements and ongoing contributions to the development of modern table grape, dried grape and wine grape industries based on adoption of innovative and sound scientific outcomes, his international reputation, his role in science management and influence on colleagues.

Despite his long-standing career with the CSIRO and his significant contributions to the industry over the years, Mr Clingeleffer was surprised to be given the Graham Gregory Award. 

'It was very unexpected and I am absolutely delighted to be honoured with such a recognised industry award', Mr Clingeleffer said.

For more information about CSIRO’s work in grapes and wine, please visit Grapes and wine overview.

Text has been sourced from: Horticulture Australia Ltd [external link]

Mr Khongsak Pinyopusarerk's project named most outstanding by CARD

A CSIRO co-managed community forest project in Vietnam led by CSIRO Plant Industry’s Mr Khongsak Pinyopusererk and Brian Gunn has been recognised as the most outstanding project under the Forestry Collaboration in Agriculture and Rural Development (CARD) program.

The project delivered through CSIRO’s Sustainable Agriculture Flagship and co-funded by AusAID’s CARD program in Vietnam is an example of community-based forest management systems that can create sustainable livelihoods through agroforestry, while protecting the remaining native forests in a remote mountainous region of northern Vietnam.

This has enabled four villages to take ownership and management responsibility of 560 ha of forest land and benefit from community-based forest management (CBFM). The result has been improved forest protection, and elimination of illegal tree cutting.

Farmers have also developed tree nurseries and are evaluating agroforestry models that will integrate planted fast-growing tree crops into their maize-based farming systems, to diversify incomes and improve soil conservation on steeply sloping agricultural lands.

For more information about CSIRO’s work in sustainable forestry visit Developing a sustainable plantation-based wood supply in Indonesia and Vietnam.

Prof Mick Poole wins Western Australia's Farrer Memorial Medal

CSIRO Fellow and The University of Western Australia (UWA) Professorial Fellow Mick Poole has won the coveted Farrer Memorial Medal for his outstanding contribution to agriculture research in Australia.

This award recognises Prof Poole’s many years of cutting edge agricultural research in areas such as salinity control, crop production, water use efficiency and sustainable cropping, to name but a few. 

Prof Poole began his career as a Pasture Research Officer with the Western Australia Department of Agriculture moving to CSIRO and becoming the head of the Centre for Mediterranean Agricultural Research and a Program Leader in CSIRO Plant Industry.

He has also been chair or board member on a range of influential agricultural committees, centres and working parties such as the Australian Plant Industries Committee.

The Farrer Memorial Medal was established in 1911 to encourage and inspire agricultural scientists, perpetuating the memory of William Farrer, remembered as the ‘father of the Australian wheat industry’.

The medal presentation ceremony will be held in Perth, Western Australia, on 23 February 2011.

Read other articles from the CSIRO Plant Industry newsletter.