Members of the fertiliser industry honoured two of their finest contributors, at the industry’s annual conference, in Torquay.
They were Garry Kuhn, who retired last month after 43 years with Incitec Pivot Fertilisers (IPF) and Dr Rob Norton, who is also retiring after a lifelong career in agricultural research and education.
Dr Norton served most recently as Regional Director of the International Plant Nutrition Institute (IPNI).
The pair were recognised at Fertiliser 2017, the joint national conference of Fertilizer Australia and the Australian Fertiliser Service Association (AFSA) Victorian branch.
Fertiliser Australia head Nick Drew described Mr Kuhn as a valuable contributor to the industry’s training and accreditation program, Fertcare, and many other issues.
IPF head of agronomy solutions Charlie Walker said Mr Kuhn had trained thousands of agronomists and other staff in the fundamentals of plant nutrition and fertiliser stewardship during his career.
“Over more than four decades, Incitec Pivot Fertilisers and the industry at large have benefited from Garry’s knowledge and insight, and he is well recognised as ‘the voice of reason’ and a pragmatist among his colleagues,” Mr Walker said.
Best known for his environmental and stewardship work, Mr Kuhn had been a tireless member of numerous Fertcare committees.
He had been instrumental in establishing industry codes of practices, including guidelines for managing heavy metals in fertilisers and crops.
A well-respected agricultural researcher and educator, Dr Rob Norton is recognised as an expert in agronomy and crop nutrition of grain crops, especially canola.
An outstanding communicator, Dr Norton is renowned for taking the most technical and complex issues, like climate change or nutrient use efficiency, boiling them down to their practical essence, and delivering them in an understandable way.
Before his appointment to IPNI, Dr Norton worked for The University of Melbourne, based in Horsham, where he led projects on how climate change affects grain crops, soil and plant nutrition, oilseed agronomy, crop water use, alternative grain crops and farming systems.
Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) Southern Panel deputy chair Professor Mike McLauglin said Dr Norton has made a tremendous contribution to the grains industry in Australia, not only in research where he is an expert on nitrogen nutrition of crops, but also in extension and education.
“At GRDC updates and workshops, Rob’s presentations are not just informative and focused on the hot topics for the season, but they are also engaging and humorous,” Prof McLaughlin said.
A prolific writer, Dr Norton has authored more than 130 refereed journals, book chapters and conference papers plus more than 300 conference and extension articles.
He has successfully supervised 15 higher degree students and taught a generation of undergraduate students.
