A career in agriculture didn't seem likely for an upcoming barley breeder, who at first had aspirations of becoming a lawyer.
Growing up in Brisbane, Hannah Robinson had no idea what a plant breeder was or what a career in agriculture looked like.
"When I was in high school, I just completely thought that you couldn't have a career in agriculture unless you grew up on a farm," Dr Robinson said.
"I just assumed there's farmers and agronomists and that's it.
"There's so much more to it and I think that's why I really like to share my story, because it's a little bit unconventional and it's also just to show that there's lots of different careers in ag out there and in science as well."
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When Hannah realised that law wasn't for her, she enrolled in a biomedical degree and it was a few years into that when she was offered a summer internship within the plant science aspect of CSIRO in Canberra.
"Law was not really for me and then I fell into science inadvertently through starting a degree in nutrition and dietetics - the first couple years of that is just like pretty science-based," she said.
"Later in my studies, I got more into plant science initially and I did some work with the CSIRO in wheat and had exposure to plants.
"I really enjoyed all the different elements and then even more when I went into my PhD and started to do a lot of field work and getting out in the paddock meeting farmers."
Hannah now holds a PhD in barley genetics from the University of Queensland, as well as an Honours degree in Plant Science from the Australian National University in collaboration with CSIRO.
Her research focused on improved understanding of the genetics controlling the barley root system, as well as the potential role of roots in improved yield stability under water-limited conditions.
Boasting an impressive understanding of plant science, Dr Robinson moved to Perth to work as the early generation barley breeder at Intergrain in 2017.
Dr Robinson said it was quite the pivot from being the Brisbane girl who hardly knew what barley was.
"I had no idea what a plant breeder was or did when I was in high school. I think the key thing for me was I couldn't believe how much we didn't know about plants," she said.
"A lot of my PhD was about drought and root traits and how we can adapt root systems to different growing environments to get the most water out of our soils.
"I still work for the Perth-based company, I've just been based back in Queensland, to assist I suppose with COVID and all the borders shutting, especially with WA."
Motivated by the challenges agriculture encounters in plant breeding, Dr Robinson said she's determined to improve barley production for a growing population.
"The main aim of my job is to develop new barley varieties for our farmers.
"What we want to do is improve the number of grains the plant produces, so improve the yield and also improve the quality of those grains," she said.
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