Professor Ben Hayes has made exceptional contributions to agricultural productivity and sustainability through the development and application of cutting-edge breeding technologies. He is a co-inventor of genomic selection, an approach that has revolutionised livestock and crop breeding globally and led to major advances in human health. He was also instrumental in implementing optimal haplotype selection for breeding crops which will be a foundation for other applications including gene editing and synthetic biology. Professor Hayes has built large multidisciplinary initiatives. He initiated and led the 1000 Bull Genomes Project, a consortium of 32 institutes worldwide that is now a global reference point for cattle genomics. He is Research Director for the Zero Net Emissions from Agriculture Cooperative Research Centre, working with 65 industry partners to roll out emissions reduction technologies. He plays a pivotal role in capacity building, training and mentoring staff and students.