Dr Bill Bowden

Dr Bill Bowden is one of Australia’s pre-eminent agricultural scientists and one of the profession’s living treasures.  He has made a significant contribution to the development of agriculture, to the philosophy of agricultural science and to the professional development of three generations of scientists during a forty-year career in agricultural science.  His research and development work has been directed at extending research information from site, season and management specific field trials, to be broadly applicable to any farming situation.  He has made a lasting impact on the profession and the practice of agriculture in Australia through his work on phosphate adsorption on variable charge soils, on the phosphorus nutrition of crops and pastures, on the nitrogen nutrition of crops and, most importantly, in the development of models that are used by researchers, farmers, advisers and students to place the results of research in a wider context, to assess the likely outcomes of management options and to better understand agricultural systems.

Bill began his career as a cadet with the Western Australian Department of Agriculture in 1961 and has worked for the Department ever since.  He graduated with a BSc. (Agric.) from The University of Western Australia in 1965.  He returned to further study at The University of Western Australia in 1968, graduating with a PhD in soil chemistry in 1973.  In 1980 Bill received a Reserve Bank Fellowship and conducted work on fertiliser dissolution, placement and effectiveness while on sabbatical at the New England University in Armidale.  He played an important role establishing the CRC for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture (CLIMA) and was a Sub-program Leader in the Centre from 1992 to 1997.  From 1996 to 1999 he was Manager of the Cereal Nutrition Project within the Department of Agriculture.  Bill stepped aside from management roles within the Department in 1999 to concentrate on science and to allow younger staff their opportunity to take a formal leadership role; a move that is indicative of his philosophy of developing the profession and other agricultural scientists.

Bill continues to be a significant leader within the organisation. He is key contributor to four major inter-institutional, national GRDC research initiatives, the Subsoil Constraints Initiative, Precision Agriculture Initiative, Nutrient Management Initiative and Soil Biology Initiative.  He is the formal or informal mentor for staff working in a number of areas including crop nutrition, soil chemistry, seasonal variability, pasture nutrition and modelling and is always the first port of call for queries in these areas from people both within and outside the organisation. Throughout his career Bill has supervised honours and postgraduate students and he is currently the external supervisor for two PhD students and an honours student.  He is involved in collaborative work with colleagues in both private companies and public organisations in WA and throughout Australia such as CSIRO, NSW Agriculture, APSRU, Birchip Crop Improvement Group, SARDI, The University of Western Australia, CLIMA, agribusiness companies and private consultants.  This list is indicative of the breadth of Bill’s work and the high regard in which he is held both nationally and internationally.

The most tangible legacy of Bill’s long and illustrious career is the many modelling tools that he has developed.  His career has been dedicated to extending the results of research beyond the site, season and management specificities under which they were collected.  The tools that he has developed have been and continue to be used by farmers, advisers, agribusiness, researchers and students to assist with decision making, to evaluate management options, to undertake analyses and to enhance their understanding of important mechanisms and interactions.

His career began with research on phosphorus (P) nutrition of crops and pastures.  He took this further during his PhD by developing models of ion adsorption in variable charge soils.  This work contributed to the development of Decide, the first fertiliser decision support system (DSS) used in Australia.  This DSS remains the basis of P recommendation systems to determine the most profitable amount of fertiliser P to apply to crops and pastures according to the circumstance.

The list of DSS that Bill has developed individually or collaboratively include: Decide, Woolmodel, NPDecide, SPLAT, Navail, Pavail, the TopCrop Nitrogen Calculator, Select Your Nitrogen (SYN), the Lime and Nutrient calculator, Optlime, WA Wheat, KASM and commercial fertiliser recommendation systems.  His work in this area continues with the further development and refinement of tools for nitrogen and potassium nutrition of crops, for evaluating the impacts of tillage and row spacing on fertiliser recommendations and in providing assessments of the impact of precision agriculture. The DSS developed by Bill are tools aimed at specific uses and components of agricultural systems that allow for assessments of options and their impacts.

Bill has made a significant contribution to the philosophy of agricultural science.  He is renowned for taking a critical approach and challenging existing dogma and simplistic solutions.  He objects to simple slogans and simple packages which may make good communications sense, but ignore the wide range of farming situations and the wider range of farmer preferences.  He rails against notions of a single “optimum” rotation, an “optimum” whole farm system, or even something as simple as a single “optimum” fertiliser rate.  He has attempted to instil this same sense of critical thinking in the members of the three generations of scientists who have been his colleagues, postgraduate students, mentees and friends.

Bill’s publication list highlights the breadth of his work and the influence of his career to date.  He has authored or co-authored 173 papers, book chapters and reports relating to crop nutrition, soil acidity, pasture production, seasonal variability, wool production, tillage, modelling and soil and tissue testing.  His 1977 paper entitled “Ionic adsorption on variable charge mineral surfaces. Theoretical - Charge development and titration curves” was awarded the rare distinction of ‘Citation Classic’ by the ISI in Philadelphia, USA. In addition to the scientific literature he has published widely in quasi-scientific and farmer publications.  These latter publications have been a major focus of his career as he has seen one of his main roles as working for and with the farming community.

While the main focus of Bill’s work has been on research and development work targeting the agricultural industries of Western Australia and Australia, he has also had a direct impact internationally. In 1972 he toured Argentina and the former Soviet Union to study agrochemical services. In the 1980s he was a consultant to the Department of Primary Industry in Canberra on a mission to China related to soil improvement.

Dr Bill Bowden’s distinguished career as a scientist, thinker, modeller, critic, cynic, helpful colleague and inspiring supervisor make him a worthy recipient of the 2006 Donald Medal.  He has made and continues to make a big impact on the practice and science of agriculture in Australia.