Two grains industry titans, agronomist Paul McIntosh and plant pathologist Greg Platz, have received the Service to Grains Industry award at the Queensland Grains Gala Dinner in Toowoomba.
AgForce grains president Wayne Newton said AgForce decided to present two Service to Grains Industry awards this year as it was impossible to limit the field of worthy recipients to just one.
"There are so many worthy people making outstanding contributions to our industry and they often aren't recognised, so the Queensland Grains Gala Dinner Service to industry Award is a great opportunity to publicly acknowledge them every year," he said.
Mr Newton said Paul McIntosh, who is currently the industry development agronomist at Pulse Australia and Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative, was a deserving recipient of the award.
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"Paul McIntosh has been devoted to agriculture for all of his working life and is well known throughout Australia for his agronomic knowledge and ability to relate to growers, agronomists and industry," Mr Newton said.
"In addition to his distinguished career as an agronomist, Paul ran his own agricultural supplies business that supported growers to integrate pulses into their cropping rotation. Paul provides endless insight and enthusiastic debate wherever he goes - from grower meetings, research forums and industry gatherings across Queensland."
Mr Newton said Greg Platz was celebrating 50 years with the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries this month where he has been the principal pathologist for over ten years.
"Greg's success has been his strong customer focus and outstanding ability to deliver research and development outcomes that make a real difference on farm and to industry," he said.
Mr Newton said Mr Platz's work had helped ensure cereal crops were more disease resistant and drove increased production and profitability across the entire barley supply chain.
"Mr Platz is the man the Grains Research and Development Corporation, researchers and industry respect and trust to gather, curate and provide high quality information to underpin disease risk management for the country's second largest cereal grain industry."