Wallace Cowling is Professor in plant breeding and genetics at The University of Western Australia. He has released more than 90 canola, lupin and lucerne cultivars which have greatly improved the value of Australian agriculture. Professor Cowling’s research has accelerated genetic gain in grain yield, grain quality and disease resistance in canola, beans and field peas. He supervises several PhD projects on genetics and molecular breeding of Brassica crops, field peas, wheat and lupins. Professor Cowling has published more than 130 papers in leading international journals, which describe new approaches to improve the long-term outcomes of plant breeding.