Abundant, cheap nitrogen for Australian farmers: a history of Australian Nodulation and Nitrogen Fixation Conferences

The first in a series of what are now known as Australian Nitrogen Fixation Conferences took place in Sydney in 1955. It was convened to discuss the shortcomings of the infant Australian legume inoculant industry and widespread failures of legume nodulation in the field. There have been 12 such conferences since. This review traces their development from the beginnings, when the emphasis was very much on practical matters, to the present day. During that time, the content of conference presentations represented a microcosm of the development, over nearly half a century, of nitrogen fixation research in Australia, how it was divided between fundamental and applied work, and the marriage of the two. The review concludes with prognostication about the future of the conference series.