Achiever of the Month -  August 2010

Dr Robert Mensah  - Integrated Pest Mangement (Entomology)

Innovation and lateral thinking are attributes that most scientists strive for during their careers. This month’s award goes to one of our long term senior researchers who has a long history of originating new ideas and bringing them to the market with a commercial partner. Dr Robert Mensah has many innovative ideas and some that have reached commercialization include the beneficial attractant ‘Envirofeast’(with Rhone Poulenc) and Canopy Oil (with Caltex) which is now widely used within the industry. Robert’s current projects involve development of new biopesticides for control of mirids and silverleaf whitefly (with Becker Underwood), and the product for which this award is given ‘Plant X Extract’ (with Growth Agriculture). The development of the Plant X extract has had a long and difficult path but Robert and his staff have persisted and overcome hurdles in production of the plant in sufficient quantities, storage, extraction, formulation and field evaluation. He has also enlisted collaborators along the way including Dr Chris Moore at DEEDI and Dr David Leach at Southern Cross University. The result is a new product that offers potential to reduce Helicoverpa egg lay, reduce Helicoverpa survival, control mirids and control silverleaf whitefly. This is an inspiring example of dedication and persistence that will bring significant benefit to the industry. Congratulations Robert.

More on Robert's Projects