With a background in soil science and plant nutrition, Dr Anthony Whitbread is using farming systems research to improve farmer livelihoods in Australia and Africa.
Current activities
Dr Anthony Whitbread's main research focus in Australia has been in the mixed crop-livestock systems of northern NSW and southern Queensland.
He has worked collaboratively with state agricultural agencies and universities to develop and promote the use of pasture rotations as a means of maintaining soil fertility and profitability.
Internationally, he is playing a major role in projects in southern Africa on the use of tropical legumes for improving forage and grain production and using cropping systems simulation (such as the APSIM model) to devise strategies to manage risk in maize-grain legume-based systems.
He is currently leading a project on improving crop and livestock systems for subsistence and emerging farmers in Limpopo province, South Africa.
His expertise includes:
-
soil fertility management in dryland cropping systems
-
evaluation of legume and pasture grasses
-
analysis of key drivers in mixed crop-livestock systems
-
integration of plant, soil and climate simulation modelling into farming systems analysis
-
adoption of agricultural technology by smallholder farmers.
Dr Whitbread has recently moved to CSIRO's Adelaide offices to build research capacity in farming systems in southern Australia.
Background
“One way to improve soil fertility in these farming systems is to incorporate rotations of well adapted grain and forage legumes and to retain crop residues.
Dr Anthony Whitbread, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems
Dr Whitbread joined CSIRO in 1999 as a farming systems researcher in CSIRO's Toowoomba offices.
Prior to joining CSIRO, Dr Whitbread worked for the University of New England in NSW on a range of projects funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) that focussed on managing soil fertility in the cereal-growing systems of northern Australia and the rice-growing areas of South-East Asia.
The focus of this work was on finding ways to measure and maintain soil organic matter, a key driver of nutrient dynamics, soil structure and sustainability.
Academic qualifications
Dr Whitbread completed a Bachelor of Rural Science with Honours in 1993 from the University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia, with a focus on soil science and agronomy, animal production and farm business management.
He was awarded his Doctor of Philosophy in 1997 on the management of soil organic matter, nutrient dynamics and soil structure in dryland cereal systems, also from the University of New England.
Achievements
Dr Whitbread has made invited presentations in Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe on managing soil fertility, farming systems research and modelling and working with smallholder farmers.
He is the CSIRO representative in the:
-
Grain and Graze Border Rivers management committee
-
Grain and Graze Maranoa-Balonne management committee
-
North Western NSW regional advisory committee for the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).
His most recent awards include:
-
CSIRO Learning Culture Award in 2006 for his work in Africa
-
bursary from the CT de Wit Graduate School for Production Ecology and Resource Conservation at Waganingen for a sabbatical period in the Netherlands in 2003.
Find out more about Linking farmers to markets in South Africa.
Site Map | Legal Notice and Disclaimer | Privacy | Copyright | Last updated: 6 February 2007
