Dr Harbans Bariana, Professor of Cereal Rust Genetics, migrated to Australia in 1986 after gaining a scholarship to do his PhD in agriculture. His main area of research was focused on finding genes and chromosomes that could help to produce rust-free wheat and other crops.
Dr Bariana told SBS Punjabi: "My main contribution is finding out resistance of translocations that emerged from wild families of wheat and other similar crops. These crop diseases are much like human flu and keep changing every year, requiring scientists to find suitable resistive genes and chromosomes."
"The research on crops is like a journey and not a destination that you arrive at and finish the research. It is a continuous process where we, the scientists, research on finding solutions for new crop diseases."
Dr Bariana has spent more than 30 years researching in the Australian Cereal Rust Control Program to improve the plant quality.
The University of Sydney established its first-ever national research center after the major nationwide crop epidemic in the year 1973-74.
Dr Bariana has guided numerous students in their research in the last more than 30 years of working on improving the plant breeding quality and some of them are now working in high positions at international agricultural research organisations.
Speaking on the issue of depleting water table in Punjab, Dr Bariana expressed concern at the severity of the issue and said more research was required on optimum use of water in agriculture in Punjab.
Dr Harbans Bariana has been well connected with Punjabi community since his arrival in Australia and has been a champion of many community development projects in Sydney.
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