One of the industry’s most respected researchers, Dr Joe Panozzo, has retired after more than 35 years of service with Agriculture Victoria.
In the eyes of his former colleagues, Dr Panozzo remains an incredibly humble and approachable person despite all of his achievements in agricultural research.
Having started with the grower-funded Victorian Wheat Institute as a wheat quality scientist in the 1980s, Dr Panozzo worked closely with three wheat breeding programs to determine quality traits in the early generations of the varieties.
A friend and mentor to many, he has supervised 11 PhD students and continues to instill his passion for agricultural research as an honorary supervisor at the University of Melbourne.
Dr Simone Warner, head of Agriculture Victoria research, said: “Dr Panozzo is recognised globally for his vast experience in grains research.
“He has led research and development projects in wheat breeding, pulses, oilseeds and ruminant feed nutrition from, which many organisations have benefitted.
“The significance of his scientific contributions is evident in the 140-plus publications which bear his name and his team’s research findings have been cited more than 4300 times.
“Agriculture Victoria is very thankful to Joe for his contributions, which have been such a benefit to Victoria.”
Acting research director and Horsham SmartFarm site manager Dr Garry Rosewarne said Dr Panozzo had been a great colleague and friend to many.
“‘I worked with Joe first-hand in our pulse breeding programs and he has revolutionised how we assess quality in such a way it goes hand in hand with our genomics capabilities,” Dr Rosewarne said.
“His wealth of knowledge and experience will be sorely missed.”
Dr Panozzo said he would look back at his time at Agriculture Victoria with fondness and the Horsham site as a truly wonderful place to undertake agricultural-based research which had clear economic benefits for the state.
At the height of his career, Dr Panozzo was awarded the Farrer Medal (which perpetuates the achievements of Australia’s first wheat breeder, William Farrer) and the prestigious Australasian Grain Science Association FB Guthrie Medal for “outstanding scientific achievement and contribution to knowledge in the field of grain science”.
