Professor Snow Barlow is a professor of horticulture and viticulture and is currently the Head of School, Agriculture and Food Systems at Melbourne University.
He teaches in “Viticulture, Australia in the World of Wine and Emerging issues in Land Resources”
As a plant scientist, Professor Barlow’s own work is in one of the hottest areas of science. He investigates the potential impacts of climate change on agricultural crops, particularly in Australia’s important viticulture sector.
His research includes:
· Plant Physiology, Environment (H2O,CO2,Temp) determinants of grape growth and wine quality
· Water use efficiency
· Australian Viticultural Terroirs
· Impact of climate change on Australian Agricultural Systems
Professor Barlow is a former President of Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), the peak representative body for 60,000 Australian scientists and technologists.
He is a member of Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and innovation Council (PMSEIC) Greenhouse and Climate Change particularly as it relates to water and landscape management. He has published more than a 100 papers in environmental plant biology including plant water use efficiency and impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture.
Prior to joining Melbourne University he was Foundation Professor of Horticulture and Plant Physiology and Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Horticulture at the University of Western Sydney.
Professor Barlow has also held the position of Chief Scientist, in the Bureau of Resource Sciences and Chief of Agriculture, Forestry and Quarantine Sciences with the Agriculture Fisheries and Forestry Australia where he had responsibility for Scientific Policy advice to the Minister of Agriculture.
He was born and grew up at Mungindi at the Darling River in North-Western NSW prior to completing an Honours degree in Rural Science at the University of New England where he was also awarded Cricket and Rugby blues. He then traveled to Oregon State University where he completed a PhD in Soil-Plant-Water relations.
Together with his partner Winsome McCaughey, he owns and operates a commercial vineyard and farm forestry enterprise at Warrenbayne in the Strathbogie Ranges in North Eastern Victoria.