Young Farming Champion Dr Jo Newton is part of a growing group of bright young minds seeing agriculture as an incubation hub for cutting edge research. We are very excited to announce that Jo has been announced as the winner of the Dairy Research Foundation (DRF) 2017 Emerging Scientist Award at their annual symposium

Listen to Jo’s sixty second promotion for her presentation 

The DRF  annual Symposium, is widely recognised throughout the Australian dairy industry as a showcase of dairy science in application – that brings together the farm and dairy science communities with a special focus on nurturing and developing young and emerging scientists – and linking them with the farm sector.

Each participating young scientist is asked to prepare a presentation that relies on flip charts and items to show and tell (strictly no use of PowerPoint). Scientists are grouped together by ‘common interest/theme’ on platforms, with up to three young scientists per platform. They present multiple times (normally 3-4 times) to groups of 20-50 people each time.  Each platform also features a dairy industry mentor (a farmer/scientist/service provider) whose role is to comment on the projects under profile and discuss how the work may be integrated at a farm level.  Each young scientist has five minutes to deliver their presentation followed by 5 minutes of question and discussion should follow each young scientist’s presentation.

The Dairy Research Foundation Emerging Scientist competition is a unique opportunity for farmers to learn and engage from the young and vibrant researchers who are committed to addressing  current and future industry needs and challenges

2017 DRF Emerging Scientists (From left to right: Alexandra Green from University of Sydney, Ashleigh Wildridge from University of Sydney, Paul Cheng from University of Melbourne, Alex John from University of Sydney, Nicolas Lyons from NSW DPI Dairy, Veronika Vicic from Charles Sturt University, Laura Senge from Murdoch University, Jo Newton from Agriculture Victoria, Beth Scott from Wageningen University and Juan Molfino from University of Sydney)

Nine emerging scientist from all around Australia kept the audience engaged, entertained and informed of the latest work and trends in the industry. This allowed farmers to get insights into the latest research from vibrant young science communicators  who have chosen the dairy industry as the place they want to be.

‘The quality of the Emerging Scientist competition is getting better every year. Jo  shared her work, her passion and her findings in an interactive and engaging way with the audience and was a well deserved winner  of the 2017 Emerging Scientist competition” said Dr Nicolas Lyons 

Dr Jo Newton presenting her work at the Dairy Research Foundation Symposium 

Jo works as a research scientist on the Gardiner Dairy Foundation initiated Project, ImProving Herds. The project is demonstrating the impact investing in genetics and herd improvement has on the bottom line for dairy farmers. For example, the project has recently been able to show cows sired by high genetic merit bulls make greater contributions to farm profit over their lifetime than other cows do.

“I’m passionate about ensuring that research outcomes don’t just reside in scientific journals. We have world-class research facilities and minds in Australia but haven’t always done a very good job of translating research into action. I think projects like ImProving Herds, where research and extension are intrinsically woven together, is a good way to work towards achieving this. I really enjoy the challenge of collaborating with diverse industry stakeholders to ensure that the work we are doing is relevant, useful and delivered in a way that the industry can use. For example, in a ‘typical week’ I may be working with economists, farm consultants, farmers, vets, extension staff and breed societies. At 16, I was told I was too smart to study agriculture. I’m passionate about being involved in changing the stigma surrounding careers in agriculture and hope that one day every young person, regardless of their background, views agriculture as a rewarding career pathway.” Jo Newton  2107 DRF Emerging Scientist Winner 

Well done Jo  another milestone in a stellar career journey