The Queensland Government has announced the successful recipients of the extremely competitive Accelerate Fellowships (part of the Accelerate Queensland Science and Innovation Program). The fellowships are designed to boost innovation within Queensland’s research sector in a bid to secure future economic growth and prosperity. Dr Alison McCarthy received an early career fellowship, valued at $180,000 over three years, for her project Improving horticulture irrigation and fertiliser application using real-time, adaptive control. Dr Alison McCarthy said the fellowship was a welcome funding boost that would also allow her to expand her research. “My research is to develop an adaptive control system that will enable site-specific irrigation and fertiliser application,” she said. “Recent field trials have shown significant water savings and yield improvements on a commercial cotton farm and now this fellowship will allow me to broaden my work and develop this technology for use within the horticulture industry. “Horticulture accounts for more than $2 billion of Queensland’s irrigated agricultural production, yet irrigation and fertiliser use inefficiencies and labour shortages are increasingly limiting production and threatening the industry’s viability. “This fellowship will allow me to expand the scope of my work to include this industry, and also incorporate international conditions with field testing in New Zealand.” Dr Alison McCarthy’s project will collaborate with Landcare Research New Zealand and Growcom.