Prof Michael McLaughlin is the laureate of the 2015 IFA Norman Borlaug Award

Every year since 1993 the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) grants the "Norman Borlaug Award - For Excellence in Crop Nutrition Research" for the scientist that has led to significant advances in crop nutrition.

For 2015, IFA announced Professor Mike McLaughlin, as the IFA Norman Borlaug Award laureate.

The IFA press release is reproduced below:

Paris, France, 20 March 2015

Prof. Michael McLaughlin is the 2015 IFA Norman Borlaug Award laureate. He was nominated by The Mosaic Company and was selected from ten other excellent contestants.
Professor McLaughlin is a Science Fellow in Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and a Research Professor in Soil Science at the Waite Campus of the University of Adelaide. Professor McLaughlin has more than 30 years of experience in soil fertility and plant nutrition research, covering more than three continents starting first in Africa, and then in Australia and southeast Asia. His research now has a global impact and coverage through the establishment of The University of Adelaide Fertiliser Technology Research Centre.
Professor McLaughlin's research is characterized by a focus on the fundamental mechanisms of fertilizer behaviour in soils and linking these to field observations to improve fertilizer effectiveness.

Professor McLaughlin's research is also characterized by the using of new methods to examine fertilizer behaviour and effectiveness, such as isotope tracing and dilution methods to determine the fate of added fertilizer and to benchmark improvements in crop nutrition effectiveness.

One of Prof. McLaughlin’s merits is that he is also an apt and avid communicator of his research. Due to a severe drought in Australia in 2006, many growers and farmers requested information on how to manage fertilizers during and after the drought, as effects of drought on fertilizer residual value and phosphorus fixation are poorly understood. Prof. McLaughlin and two colleagues quickly wrote and published a factsheet for growers detailing current scientific knowledge of nutrient management under drought conditions and recommendations for fertilizer management in the 2007 season. This material has since been widely used by growers in Australia. Moreover, Prof. McLaughlin has supervised over 20 postgraduate research students from Australia, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Germany, Iran, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.

FTRC congratulates Mike for this prestigious distinction.