Dr Jack Desbiolles

Dr Jack Desbiolles specialises in the On-Farm Machinery Area of the Agricultural Machinery Research and Design Centre, at the University of South Australia. He is based at the Mawson Lakes Campus.

Jack is an Agricultural Research Engineer with a farming background and 17 years of research experience. He has developed widespread practical skills in applied field and laboratory research and development, in the areas of soil tillage, crop seeding - spraying and harvesting machinery.

Jack has a proven ability to successfully develop and maintain working linkages with the farming industry and machinery manufacturers, integrated into on-farm participatory research programmes, at both local and regional levels in Australia.

He has successfully developed engineering research components into multi-disciplinary collaborative farming system research programs, and actively disseminated research findings to support broad-scale adoption within the grain growing industry. He regularly presents his research at national and international conferences.

Dr Desbiolles has also worked in mechanisation projects for the palm oil industry and is currently developing collaborative research linkages in South India on integrated engineering solutions for small scale conservation farming, and in Sri Lanka on the mechanisation of tea growing and harvesting operations. He is also contributing to a development project in Eritrea focussing on enhancing skills and capabilities in applied farming systems.

Example linkage with farming system groups: on-farm participatory research project - GRDC funded "Mallee Sustainable Farming Inc."

Example linkage with farming system groups: on-farm participatory research project - SAGIT funded "Direct drill technologies and crop/weed interactions" and GRDC funded "Harvest technologies for quality grains"

1994: Doctor of Philosophy, Agricultural Engineering, Cranfield University, UK

1985: Higher National Diploma in Agricultural Machinery, Lycée Agricole du Chesnoy (France)

1983: National Diploma in Mechanical Engineering, Lycée Germain Sommeiller (France)

• No-till/zero-till seeding technologies
• Integrated engineering solutions in conservation agriculture
• Mechanics of ground engaging tools and soil tillage engineering
• Harvester modifications and field evaluation
• Technologies for precision agriculture
• Spray technology and sprayer evaluation
• Agricultural soil dynamics and force prediction - PhD thesis: "development of semi-empirical draught force models for primary tillage implements", Silsoe College of Cranfield University - UK.

M. R. Golzarian, J. M. Fielke, J. M.A. Desbiolles (2007). A novel approach to improve the plant-background segmentation in computer vision systems. Paper 30 of the proceedings of the biennial conference of the Australian Society for Engineering in Agriculture (SEAg), published by SEAg, Editors: T. Banhazi and C. Saunders - 23-26 September 2007, Adelaide, South Australia. p.235-242.

G. Shahgoli, C. Saunders, J. Desbiolles and J. Fielke (2007). An investigation into the performance of oscillatory tillage using different frequencies. Paper 21 of the Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for Engineering in Agriculture (SEAg), published by SEAg, Editors: T. Banhazi and C. Saunders - 23-26 September 2007, Adelaide, South Australia. p.154-166

G. Shahgoli, C. Saunders, J. Desbiolles and J. Fielke (2007). The effect of oscillation angle on the performance of oscillatory tillage. Paper 22 of the Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for Engineering in Agriculture (SEAg), published by SEAg, Editors: T. Banhazi and C. Saunders - 23-26 September 2007, Adelaide, South Australia. p.167-178

G. Shahgoli, C. Saunders, J. Fielke and J. Desbiolles (2007). Simulation of the dynamic behaviour of a tractor-oscillating subsoiler system. Paper 23 of the Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Australian Society for Engineering in Agriculture (SEAg), published by SEAg, Editors: T. Banhazi and C. Saunders - 23-26 September 2007, Adelaide, South Australia. p.179-189.

- Golzarian M, Desbiolles JMA and Lee MK (2007). Colour index evaluation method for plant segmentation from a soil background. Proceedings of the 6th European Conference on Precision Agriculture, Skiathos, Greece, 3-6 June 2007. Ed. JV Stafford. Wageningen Academic Publishers, The Netherlands. p.325-330

- Desbiolles JMA (2007). Optimising ribbon sowing at 50cm row spacing in Mallee environment. Eyre Peninsula Farming Systems 2006 Summary, PIRSA Publishing Services: Adelaide, March 2007. p.169-172

- Desbiolles, J.M.A. and Raz, J. (2007). Improving the safe use of portable grain augers through technological innovation. E-Proceedings of the International Conference on Crop Harvesting and Processing, 11-13 Feb 2007, Louisville KY, USA. http://asae.frymulti.com/conference.asp?confid=chp2007

- Desbiolles J and Saunders C (2006). Soil throw characteristics of no-till furrow openers: a pilot study. E-Proceedings of the 17th Triennial Conference of the International Soil Tillage Research Organisation "Sustainability - its Impact on Soil Management and Environment", ISBN 3-9811134-0-3. Kiel, Germany, 28 Aug-3 Sept. 2006, pp.796-803.

- Shahgoli G, Saunders C, Desbiolles J and Fielke J (2006). An investigation into the performance of of vibratory tillage using straight and bent leg tines. Advances in GeoEcology 38: Soil Management for Sustainability. Chapter 1: Soil Dynamics and Traction. Eds Horn R, Fleige H, Peth S and Peng X. Catena Verlag Gmbh, Germany. pp. 21-30.

- Assoodar MA and Desbiolles J (2005). No-till sowing performance under dryland farming conditions. Sustainable Development and Management of Drylands in the Twenty-first Century - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Development of drylands ICCD, 14-17 September 2003, Tehran, Iran. Published by International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas - ICARDA (ISBN 92--127-179-x), pp.458-464.

- Saunders C, Desbiolles JMA, Slattery M (2004). Soil loosening energy: a new concept in deep tillage energy comparisons. Proceedings of the SEAg Biennial Conference on Agricultural Engineering, 14-17 September 2004, Dubbo NSW, Australia.

- Slattery M and Desbiolles J (2003). Effects of vibrating tines, multi-depth and multi-pass subsoiling on soil loosening and tractor power use. Proceedings of the 16th Triennial International Soil Tillage Research Organisation ISTRO Conference, 13-18 July, University of Queensland, Brisbane. pp. 1149-1156.

- Desbiolles J and Kleemann S (2003). Seeding system factors influence no-till cropping results. Proceedings of the 16th Triennial International Soil Tillage Research Organisation ISTRO Conference, 13-18 July, University of Queensland, Brisbane. pp.364-372.

- Desbiolles J, Ballantyne T and Richards M (2003). Harvesting snail infested snail crops: Part I: snail dislodger bar designs and performance, and Part II: Effects of snail dislodger bars on harvesting results. Papers 28-29 of the ASAE Proceedings of the international conference on crop harvesting and processing –ICCHP 2003. 9-11 February, Louisville, KY USA

- Sharma S, Desbiolles J and Heidenreich C (2002). Evaluation of post harvest grain cleaning machines for snail removal. Paper 8 of the E-Proceedings of the 2002 Australian Conference on Engineering in Agriculture, 26-29 September 2002 Wagga Wagga - New South Wales, Australia

- Slattery M and Desbiolles J (2002). Energy Use and Soil Loosening performance of a vibratory subsoiler for soil amelioration in established vineyards. Paper 28 of the E-Proceedings of the 2002 Australian Conference on Engineering in Agriculture, 26-29 September 2002 Wagga Wagga - New South Wales, Australia.

- Jones BR and Desbiolles J (2001). Assessing the potential of wide row farming systems in the Mallee. Paper #315 - E-Proceedings of the 10th Australian Agronomy Conference, Hobart - Tasmania.

- Desbiolles J and Slattery M (2000). Seed and fertiliser placement issues with dual banding boot technology. Proceedings of the 2000 Australian Conference on Engineering in Agriculture, 2-5 April 2000 - Adelaide, South Australia. Paper TM6 (11p.)

- Desbiolles J and Godwin RJ (2000). In-situ soil strength characterisation for tillage draft prediction. Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Soil Dynamics ICSD-IV, 26-30 March 2000, Adelaide South Australia. pp. 89-96

- Desbiolles JMA, Godwin RJ, Kilgour J and Blackmore BS (1999). Prediction of tillage implement draught using cone penetrometer data. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 73, pp. 65-76.

- Desbiolles JMA, Godwin RJ, Kilgour J and Blackmore BS (1997). A novel approach to the prediction of tillage tool draught using a standard tine. Journal of Agricultural Engineering Research, 66, pp. 295-309.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Engineering

• Farming Machinery
• Conservation Farming