William Farrer

William James Farrer ( born April 3, 1845 in Docker in what is now Cumbria, United Kingdom, † April 16, 1906 ) was an Australian agronomist and wheat breeder. He is well known as a breeder of wheat variety " Federation ", which is distributed since 1903.

His early years

Farrer was given a scholarship to Christ's Hospital in London, where he received awards for his mathematical abilities. After studying at Cambridge University, which he finished in 1868, he emigrated to Australia in 1870. He did this for health reasons, for he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Australia's climate was suitable for him and he had friends in Parramatta, Sydney, where he could stay.

At first he lived with his friends, but then he moved to the country. In 1873 he published his book Grass and Sheep - farming A Paper: Speculative and Suggestive, which provides information on the appropriate soils for grass growth and sheep farming. After working as a teacher at the George Campbell's sheep station at Duntroon in today's Australian Capital Territory, 1875, he qualified surveyor. Then Farrer worked from 1875-1886 for the Department of Lands, in regions where wheat grown in New South Wales. During this time he married his wife, Nina de Salisist 1882, a member of a family that lived in what is now the Australian State Capital stands.

Lambrigg experiments

In 1986 he bought a property on the Murrumbidgee River at Lambrigg Farm, near the present-day Canberra. At first he tried grapes on his land to cultivate. This failed because the ground was inappropriate and so he decided to grow wheat.

A number of heavy rainfall meant that his wheat crop got rust fungus. Then he began to breed wheat varieties that were immune to infection by rust fungi. The next 20 years he built on wheat, to develop better varieties; He recorded his results, he also used the Mendelian rules in his work. As a kind of side project he worked as working to develop wheat varieties that were resistant to Bunt ( fungal disease ) and Smut - ball, another dangerous disease. Due to his success in this project, the NSW Department of Agriculture a job as wheat experts offered him, which he accepted.

Success had granted him develop a rust - resistant variety in 1900, when his new variety was available. They were called " Federation " variety named after the impending Federation of Australia. Then he was still developing more varieties like Canberra, Firbank, Cleveland and Florence.

These wheat varieties led to an improvement in the Australian wheat industry within a few years. The Federationsorte 1903 available for farmers. Between 1900 and 1920, Australia's wheat harvest nearly tripled due to these varieties.

Death and aftermath

Farrer died of a heart attack on Lambrigg 1906 and was buried on his property the next day at dusk. His grave was on a stony hill and had to be blown up with explosives. It was only after considerable delay him a memorial was erected. A statue of him was erected in 1935 in Queanbeyan and another in Lambrigg in 1938.

Since then, a suburb of Canberra and an electoral district was named after him. Farrer has also come out in 1966 Australian 2 dollar bill dedicated (now however no longer in circulation ). A special Academy of Agricultural Sciences was named after him, which, Tamworth NSW to teach Farrer Memorial Agricultural High School in the future agronomic topics. At Farrer also is thought in Wagga Wagga by the Farrer Hotel and Farrer Football League in the Australian Rules Football.

On 12 July 1948, the Australian Post issued a stamp in honor of William Farrer to 2 ½ d.