Nuffield scholar Dr Miriam King works at Stahmann Webster

The chief science officer at Stahmann Webster will use the $30,000 to tackle one of the biggest issues in farming.

A Bargara nut farmer hopes to use a recent scholarship win to fund international research into holistic growing practices.

Dr Miriam King works as the chief science officer at Stahmann Webster, and hopes to use the $30,000 Nuffield scholarship grant to do international research into more holistic growing practises for the farm’s diverse nut crops.

Dr King nominated herself for the highly prized scholarship, and was one of 19 participants awarded.

“I got awarded, and my research topic was in finding more sustainable ways to grow walnuts, but with the idea to bring that into the tree nut industry,” she said.

In her position at Stahmann Webster farms Dr King oversees a number of teams focused on the improvement of crop practises in walnuts, macadamias, pecans and almonds.

“I chose walnuts as my focus because they are more complicated, and they have more issues than other tree nuts,” said Dr King.

Dr King hopes to tackle the biggest issue in her industry, the reliance on chemical input into crops.

“Looking into water efficiency, what it is out there with new genetics and looking into more holistic approaches instead of using chemicals for soil health.

“Better soil health will give you more resistant plants, which will give you better yields,” she said.

Dr King plans to head overseas in early 2023, and hopes to visit a variety of farms in Chile, Spain, Italy and California.

“The first place I want to go is California, as many people know they have issues with water supply,” she said.

As Australia faces its own water shortages, Dr King hopes to apply her new found knowledge to improve the potential of homegrown nut trees.

Her research will not only benefit her bosses at Stahmann Webster, but a condition of the scholarship is her findings are to be published for public use.

“That’s how it should be if we want to tackle climate change and all the different challenges that we have, we have to work together,” she said.

On the home front, she has already had successes with her ideas, and her work with a pecan farm has led to the farm becoming pesticide free.

Dr King plans to put her vast skill set to use to benefit the Australian nut industry, and hopes she can help Australian growers improve yields long term

“The past is the key to the future, so we look at data and how different environmental factors contribute to different yields,” she said.