Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to commend an outstanding farmer, innovator and inventor, Ray Harrington, who recently won the gold medal in the smart agriculture category of the prestigious Edison Awards in New York. Ray has long been at the forefront of innovation in agriculture and was last year awarded the Order of Australia in the general division for his services to agriculture.

Best known as one of the early pioneers of no-till farming, Ray's quest to reduce weed seed burdens has led to the invention of the Harrington seed destructor. Towed behind the harvester, this machine crushes and destroys at least 95 per cent of weeds that enter the header at harvest, preventing them from returning to the seed bank. It reduces herbicide use and is thus a formidable tool against herbicide resistance. Designed and built with the assistance of local farmer Ron Knapp and Mike and Geoff Glenn of Agmaster, the Harrington seed destructor was launched by the Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative in 2012 and was funded by the Grains Research and Development Corporation. Now in full commercial production, it has been the focus of a recent harvest weed management tour of the US and Canada. The Harrington seed destructor is now being trialled in research projects in both the US and Canada.

I again congratulate the great work of Ray Harrington in collaboration with Australian Herbicide Resistance Initiative director Stephen Powles and researcher Michael Walsh, Don Hare of the Great Southern engineers and the GRDC's Paul Meibusch and commend their efforts to revolutionise the war on weeds.