Agriculture experts

Professor Richard Bell

Soil fertility and land management

Professor Richard Bell is an expert in soil fertility and land management. He specialises in soil management in highly weathered soils, fertility and management constraints associated with acid, salt-affected and degraded soils, fertiliser requirements for field cropping, rehabilitation of degraded land, the physiology and agronomy of food legumes, canola, wheat and rice, and mine rehabilitation.

He is also experienced in third world agricultural development issues, particularly rural development, the management and administration of research projects and training researchers in plant nutrition, soil science and land management.

Professor Nick Costa

Sustainable grazing, rumen ecology and nutrient management

Professor Nick Costa researches livestock grazing systems and the impact of trace elements, in particular the minerals selenium and copper in sheep and cattle which may be limiting productivity and reproduction among Western Australian livestock.

He specialises in sustainable grazing systems and the fundamentals of livestock nutrition and grazing management.

Professor John Edwards

Biosecurity, epidemiology, surveillance and risk analysis

Professor David Pethick

Biochemistry – from the paddock to the plate

Professor David Pethick is an agricultural scientist specialising in biochemistry and livestock nutrition. He researches carbohydrate and fat metabolism in sheep, cattle and horses and studies the biochemistry of exercise.

Professor Pethick conducts consumer taste panels to discover the qualities needed for repeat purchase of meat products, and will soon study the human health qualities of meat, such as lamb’s Omega3 and iron content which may provide useful marketing tools for the industry in the future.