2020 Playford Trust PhD scholar Alison Gill has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study at the University of California Berkeley next year.
She’ll be a visiting research student from March to December, continuing her work on water use and drought tolerance of industrial hemp.
Ali says: “Research is desperately needed to establish whether hemp has a place in low water-use cropping systems, such as those in southern Australia and California. While the Australian hemp industry is only just developing, the US industry is far more established.”
She hopes to gain valuable knowledge on hemp agronomy that can be used to guide the industry here, as well as establish lasting collaborations between her two universities.
“The research will assist in understanding implications of water availability on hemp production and will investigate how agroecology approaches can address future challenges,” Ali added.
“As hemp is notoriously under-researched, this research has the potential to be a game-changer for the Australian agricultural industry.”