New Director appointed for the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative

Associate Professor Ken Flower has been appointed as the incoming Director of the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative at The University of Western Australia’s School of Agriculture and Environment.

AHRI is a national initiative based at the University of Western Australia with major investment from the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

It delivers solution-based research to address herbicide resistance for the broadacre cropping industry and is also globally renowned for its scientific achievements in this area of research.

Image: AHRI Director UWA Associate Professor Ken Flower.

Associate Professor Flower has been involved in AHRI projects for several years, contributing his substantial knowledge in no-till and agronomy to the AHRI Agronomy team.

With a broad farming systems skillset, including conservation farming/no-till systems, agronomy and cropping systems, precision agriculture, and weed control, Associate Professor Flower will ensure AHRI remains at the forefront of delivering efficient weed control solutions to Australian broadacre growers.

Associate Professor Flower said his vision for AHRI was to develop cropping systems with reduced dependence on herbicides for weed control.

″Despite successes in integrated weed management, we are still heavily dependent on herbicides for weed control and weed resistance is an increasing threat,″ he said.

"My aim is for the AHRI team to show leadership in developing grain production systems with less reliance on herbicides."

Associate Professor Ken Flower

″The paradigm in agriculture is changing with the rapid advances in technology and data science, yet the application has been haphazard. I believe AHRI can play a leading role by developing a farming systems approach, that is also collaborative, so that new technology solutions are pragmatic and based on their long-term weed control impact.″

Associate Professor Flower said he was keen to continue the diverse work of the AHRI team and to challenge the team with this vision.

AHRI has several projects which will continue under his leadership, as well as some new projects which will begin in 2023.

AHRI, UWA and GRDC would like to congratulate Associate Professor Flower on his appointment as AHRI Director and Professor, which will formally begin on 9 January 2023.