Boosting Australian graingrowers’ bottom line has been the continual goal for SA plant breeder Steve Jefferies across his 32 years in the industry.
In the Queen’s Birthday honours the Australian Grain Technologies chief executive officer was recognised with a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to agriculture, particularly grain breeding and technologies.
Dr Jefferies has headed up AGT since its inception in 2002 to its present status as Australia’s largest and market-leading wheat breeder.
In the 2014-15 harvest, 47 per cent of Australia’s wheat crop came from varieties developed by AGT.
He previously spent six years with the University of Adelaide’s wheat and barley breeding programs and undergraduate and post-graduate teaching.
He says plant breeding is one of the simplest ways to boost on-farm profitability, as it is high technology accessed by growers in the form of a simple seed. AGT’s most successful variety is Mace, which is the most widely grown variety in SA and Australia-wide.
It is estimated to have added about $40 a hectare net of end point royalties to growers’ returns and its replacement Sceptre is likely to add a similar amount.
In 2015 AGT announced its entry into barley breeding, and in February AGT took on the former WA Department of Agriculture’s lupin breeding program.
Dr Jefferies says he is humbled to receive the award but says it is recognition for all 57 AGT staff.
“I believe a large part of the reason for me getting the award is the success of AGT,” he said. “Most successful businesses cannot rely on only one person.
“It’s when you have a great team that you have great success and AGT is no exception.”
He notes his greatest achievement as bringing together the very talented team of like-minded people who are driven to make a difference to the lives of Australian farmers.
Dr Jefferies' valued industry involvement has included the Wheat Classification Council, responsible for managing the wheat quality class system in Australia, and leading the Australian End Point Royalties Steering Committee since 2010.
He has also been a non-executive director of Barley Australia and the Birchip Cropping Group. He has recently stepped down from any of these roles to take up his new position as managing director of GRDC, commencing on July 4.
“After 16 years with AGT I felt it was time to let someone else take the company to a new level and I personally was looking for a new challenge. There are not many roles other than leading GRDC that can have such a large impact on growers’ livelihoods,” he said.
