Robinson's philosophy

The Northern Ireland farmer's son, who has gained a world-wide reputation as a leading expert in animal reproduction, believes that scientists have a clear duty to maintain effective communication not only with the farming industry, but with the general public.

''We have got to remember we should not play around with genetic modification. I am keen to put the new biotechnology into perspective. One of the things you cannot do is sit still and hope to survive. We might get it wrong, but it is not going to stop if we stop. You have got to understand it more and more,'' he says.

The Robinson view is that scientists have to raise awareness of developments in their own field, engage younger people in the process and, as a result, reduce some of the areas for misunderstanding. It is a philosophy fine tuned in a career in which close working with the farming industry and ensuring that the lines of communication are kept open, have been the top priorities.

He has always made himself available to farmers, many of whom know his home and work telephone numbers and have been known to use the former at 7am and before.

But Robinson is concerned that this profession in general has ''lost out in communicating science to the nation''. He longs for the day when figures like Magnus Pyke popped up on television and fascinated the viewing public with such basic things as food production. Robinson believes there is a need to ''generate enthusiasm'' among younger people for science in general. ''How many 17-year-olds debate if they want genetically modified plants?'' he asks.

The debate about food standards, animal welfare, cloning and genetic manipulation has excited a new interest in the work of agricultural scientists and their research programmes. Robinson is unequivocal in his belief that scientific programmes have to relate to the industry they serve.

''I think it is essential science programmes have an appreciation of the wider context of the industry they serve. Those who do research have a huge reluctance to learn to grow up and live with the rest of the world.''

During his tenure as president of the British Society for Animal Production he was keen to introduce ''a wider spectrum on our thinking on animal production,'' and he argues that given the increased public interest in that area scientists have to offer a ''calculated view'' and seek balance.

''As the number of science disciplines which impinge on animal production expand the need to transmit that information becomes greater,'' he says. He agrees that there is a difficulty in getting scientists who can express a view in a way which can be popularly understood.

''One of the big things we do need to reassess is how do we communicate through newspapers. A greater awareness of what is going on makes change a lot easier,'' he says.

He points to a recent visit to Malaysia where he was impressed by the well-written science articles in newspapers. ''I was back three months before I read anything similar in The Times,'' he says.

Robinson is insistent that scientists should not lose contact with farmers. Those working in animal production should be ''as comfortable at Thainstone (agricultural centre) talking to the farming community as talking to their peers on scientific terms. If you lose touch with the industry you have no right to call on it for support.

''The intellectual gap is zero. Farmers think and live in a much wider world. If a farmer puts a question to you, you should never dismiss it as irrelevant,'' he says.

Robinson is concerned intensification in agriculture, a route followed by the pig and poultry sectors and their virtual removal from farmers' hands.

Holland, he says, offers the most dramatic example of where intensification has taken place with a resulting ''plethora of problems'' including pollution and land despoiling.

''I still think it is important we do not get into the situation where large numbers of production units disappear because we have failed to inform them of what is expected to produce food in a controlled way. Major industrialised production is driving us in the UK. I think we do not want to go that way with the ruminant livestock sector.''

The link between stockmanship and research is one which he believes should not be underestimated. More could be gained from a closer observation of farm animals.

''Observation skills can play a vital role in terms of new techniques. Some of the major genes being discovered are by good observation ultimately generated by farmers.''

He is also concerned about the effect of greater concentration on the rural population. ''We have seen the problems we create by taking people away from the countryside.''

And he points out that those who criticise the level of public support for farming should remember that urban communities spawn their own costly burdens.

Robinson's interest in farming owes its genesis to his upbringing on a small, 120-acre holding in Co Down. It was here, under the guidance of a father who delegated responsibility without berating his three sons when things went wrong, that he took a keen and abiding interest in sheep.

Young John Robinson was put in charge of the sheep flock while the other brothers worked on seed potatoes, seed for hay and pigs and beef.

His farming background gave him a sense of the industry's relevance to the wider world which has never deserted him. ''We were made to believe we were good for society because you fed people. It came out of the war effort and the 1947 Agriculture Act.''

But the family farm was too small for all the boys, and heelected to study agriculture at Queen's University, Belfast. He followed a degree in the subject with a doctorate on nutrition and reproduction, and this in turn lead to a fellowship.

Jobs, on the eve of the research boom in the 1960s, were not as plentiful as appears with hindsight but after a raft of applications he was offered several posts at one time, including one in Canada. He was approached to take up a position at the Rowett Research Institute in Aberdeen which he did in 1968 but only after he insisted that he did not want to become too involved in administration, and as a result removed from the ''interface'' with the industry.

The bulk of his time at the Rowett was spent in the applied nutrition department. His research programmes have been directed to improving the efficiency of animal production, particularly sheep, through the influence on nutrition on reproduction.

He owes a great deal to the former Rowett director, Sir Kenneth Blaxter, a man who ''still kept going when everyone else stopped,'' and who ensured that bureaucracy did not clog up his staff's work.

He moved to the SAC in 1994 as senior scientist in animal production, and the creation of a personal chair is a sign of his standing in the industry.