AgriFood Skills Australia – the key body on skills training and workforce development issues in the agrifood industry and regional Australia – has awarded three International Fellowships as part of its ongoing support for innovation.The awards, offered in conjunction with International Specialised Skills Institute, were announced at the opening dinner for the 2010 AgriFood National Conference in Melbourne on Wednesday night. The conference, which attracted some 200 delegates from government, industry and education, was themed Australia’s Region’s: Australia’s Future.

The recipients included Dr Robin Dobos, a research scientist at the Beef Industry Centre of Excellence at the University of New England in Armidale, New South Wales. Robin will travel to Europe to meet researchers in the fields of animal movement, analysis and modelling which utilises GPS technology.

Recipient Peter Reynolds is a horticulturist at Yenda in New South Wales. He will travel to countries with similar climatic, farming and water conditions to Southern Australia to look at irrigation and water management techniques in the horticulture sector.

The final winner, Paul Wilson, is a dairy farmer and small cheese producer at the Nimbin Valley Diary in New South Wales. He will undertake research into biogas generation at the University of Hohenheim in Germany.

The Fellowship program provides successful applicants with the opportunity to travel overseas and research a topic of particular value to the agrifood industry, examining innovative approaches that demonstrate potential benefits for, and application in, Australia.

The three recipients will be required to prepare detailed reports upon their return, and AgriFood Skills Australia will work with them to share, publicise and promote their findings and recommendations gathered from their research.

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