A dream to revolutionise the agricultural sector, coupled with a passion for helping people to better feed themselves are the founding pillars of Dale Rankine’s PhD thesis — Assessing Yield Response to Water in Root Crops in Present and Future Climates: An Application of the FAO AquaCrop Model for Jamaican Sweet Potato, Ipomoea batatas.

So far, the work has fulfilled his academic ambitions and etched a few notches in his belt of personal achievements. On Wednesday, June 1, he was one of two people who the University of the West Indies bestowed with the Most Outstanding Thesis award at an annual ceremony staged by the Mona Office of Graduate Studies and Research. Dr Sandra McCalla, whose story appeared in last week’s edition, was the other awardee.

Rankine, a post-doctoral researcher at the university, is also assistant technical coordinator with the United States Agency for International Development’s Climate Economic Analysis for Development, Investment and Resilience project.

“The Most Outstanding Thesis award means a lot to me. It is recognition of how highly the University of the West Indies values the work and its contribution to the global body of knowledge. To be selected out of the batch of other excellent, scholarly work is a really prestigious honour. But more than this, it gives me a great deal of personal satisfaction for the years of hard, diligent work,” Rankine told Career & Education.

But this was not always Rankine’s dream. In fact, the only geographical space that he was deliriously happy to navigate was the air, until age 23.

“My childhood dream was to be an aircraft pilot. In fact, I had started flight lessons and was well on the way to receiving my private pilot’s licence with plans to go on to the commercial licence. But, my course was changed when I got exposed to the other side of the cockpit — meteorology, and climate change later.

“I was actually satisfied with a master’s degree — which I completed at the UWI, Cave Hill campus, in Barbados in natural resources management (specialising in climate change) — but was persuaded to go further years later by Professor Michael Taylor, who saw something in me that I never saw myself. It was then, in 2009, that my aspiration for an agricultural aspect of physics was born and I began to consider pursuing a PhD,” Rankine said.

When he gave in to the persuasion in 2010, he had already set his eyes on an area of study, but he never imagined that he would be credited with producing one of the most outstanding dissertations of the entire 2015 PhD cohort.

“My thesis represents a very intriguing convergence of ideas, interests and ideals in which I have a very keen interest,” Dr Rankine says.

“Firstly, I have an insatiable passion for investigating things that affect the lives and livelihoods of people, especially those living in Small Island Developing States like Jamaica and the wider Caribbean. Secondly, from my early exposure to crop simulation modelling while at the Meteorological Service of Jamaica, I wanted to further explore options to improve food and nutrition security and find innovative ways of reducing our reliance on imported foods, which consume so much of our foreign currency, and needlessly so. Thirdly, I have an interest in developing models or modelling future climates, how future production could be affected by climate and importantly, finding ways of limiting the adverse impacts and maximising any positives,” he explained.

The 41-year-old husband and father of two boys said the three-and-a-half year commitment to his PhD journey was expectedly difficult, but it was a small price to pay for the personal and professional benefits that accompany completing his PhD with high commendations and bagging the prestigious award.

“I always knew it was not going to be easy. It was never so designed, being the highest degree from the university; and I will admit there were periods of stress, frustration and contemplation to quit. But there were also moments of triumph, excitement and global exposure to renowned experts. I took the bitter with the sweet and ultimately, sweet prevailed in ways I could only dream of. My faith in God and the support of family, friends, colleagues and supervisors, was invaluable. I also benefitted much from the never yielding ‘Fortis’ spirit inherited from my time at my alma mater, Kingston College,” Dr Rankine said.

In terms of the national and regional reach of his research, Rankine said it has the potential to positively impact, if not revolutionise agricultural production in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, but only if crop simulation modelling is mainstreamed into the routine operations of the sector.

“This is something I have openly advocated for both here in Jamaica and around the Caribbean. Among very useful applications are the following: prediction of crop growth and yield, enhancement of better design and management systems, simulating the way in which a crop responds to its environment, and to determine the likely effects of weather on yields, for example,” Rankine said, indicating that there are a host of other benefits to be had.

Already, Rankine said that a number of local, regional and agricultural stakeholders and international organisations have expressed interest in his study and, while to date none of them have materialised into opportunities for meaningful inclusion and application of the work, he hopes that this will soon change.

In the meantime, he has already embarked on initiatives to enhance the research by exploring other applications of the work: to other crops, countries, climates, and livelihood implications. Rankine said efforts are also underway to explore other models to increase available choices in the region.