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Mt Barker farmer Terry Enright last night became the first farmer to be awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Agriculture from The University of Western Australia (UWA).

Dr Enright, who grows barley, canola and pulses and grazes sheep and cattle on his Great Southern property, has devoted 25 years to agriculture, natural resource management and research and has played a leading role in the administration and strategic direction of agricultural research and education.

UWA Vice-Chancellor, Professor Alan Robson, who is also Hackett Chair in Agriculture at UWA, praised Dr Enright’s significant contributions to the University and said he was a very worthy recipient of the Honorary Doctorate.

“Dr Enright has played a major role in the administration of agricultural policy in WA and the promotion of agronomy and has represented the interests of WA growers and state agricultural research institutions in the national research agenda,” Prof Robson said. “He was instrumental in establishing a Chair of Agronomy and a lecturer position in Production Agronomy and Farming Systems, in partnership with UWA.”

As Chairman of Albany Port Authority from 1993 to 2003, Dr Enright presided over the $15 million port expansion to accommodate the growing grain and wood-chip industries of the Great Southern.

Dr Enright is a former Chair of the Board of the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC) – he was appointed in 2002 – where he supported international initiatives to conserve genetic resources and established strong links with the international agricultural sector.

He is a past member of the WA State Barley Research Committee (which allocated and administered the research levy paid on all barley grain delivered in WA) and assisted in the development of important new barley varieties by helping establish the barley genetic resources project at UWA.

As a member of the GRDC Western Region Panel from 1991 to 1996, a period of tremendous expansion in agricultural research, he allocated research funds drawn from compulsory levies on all WA broadacre crops. He was Panel Chair from 1996 to 1999.

Dr Enright was on the Advisory Board of the Centre for Legumes In Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) from 1992 to 2000, assisted in the formation of the WA Herbicide Resistance Initiative (WAHRI) within UWA’s Faculty of Agricultural Sciences (1998 to 2001) and was a Board member of the Export Grains Centre (EGC), an associated party to UWA-based Canola Breeders WA Pty Ltd.

From 2004 to 2007 he was ‘Chair of Chairs’ of the Federal Government’s rural research and development corporations. He is currently a Board member of Agricultural Research Western Australia (ARWA), Chair of ATSE Crawford Fund WA Committee and a Commissioner on the Export Wheat Commission.

Media references

Authorised by ‘Institute of Agriculture – UWA’ and issued on its behalf by
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MEDIA REFERENCES
Professor Kadambot Siddique Chair in Agriculture    +61 8 6488 7012, 0411 155 396
Janine MacDonald UWA Public Affairs     +61 8 6488 5563, 0432 637 716