Science and Innovation Award

Jaco Zandberg from UWA’s Crop Genomics Group was recently part of a team that identified an ‘ice-nucleating’ bacteria linked to severe frost damage in grain crops, a problem that costs Australian farmers an estimated $400 million each year.
The bacteria – known as Pseudomonas – produces proteins that raise the temperature at which water freezes in the environment. It means frost damage can occur at temperatures as high as -2°C, rather than the -8°C to -10°C usually needed in the field.
The PhD candidate was one of 12 recipients in the Federal Government’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment 2022 Science and Innovation Awards.

Mr Zandberg was awarded the Young People in Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry prize, designed to recognise big ideas for agriculture from young rural innovators, which comes with $22,000 towards making his vision a reality.