Professor James Hunt is an agronomist and crop physiologist specialising in water limited productivity of dry-land cropping and mixed farming systems. His research focuses on using combinations of management and genetics to increase productivity and profitability of grain-based farming systems. He grew up on a cropping farm in the Mallee region of southern Australia, and prior to commencing at the University of Melbourne, he worked for La Trobe University for six years, CSIRO for seven years and the Birchip Cropping Group for five years. He has received awards for research excellence and communicating research to growers in 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2025 and the outcomes of his research have been widely adopted by grain growers across south-eastern Australia. He teaches third year agronomy and holds a joint appointment with CSIRO Agriculture and Food (Systems).