Trish Fraser

Patricia Margaret Fraser (23 January 1966 – 24 April 2025) was a New Zealand soil scientist at Crown Research Institute Plant & Food Research in Lincoln. Her work focused on the role of earthworms in the soil, and nitrate leaching, to further understand soil quality in cropping systems. She won a 2020 New Zealand Woman of Influence Award in the rural category, and became a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Agricultural and Horticultural Science in 2024.

Early life and education Fraser grew up on a mixed cropping farm at Balvattie on the Black Isle in Scotland. She completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Aberdeen in 1988, followed by a PhD from the Department of Soil and Physical Sciences at Lincoln University in 1992. Her doctoral thesis was titled The fate of nitrogen under an animal urine patch, and was supervised by Keith Cameron and Rob Sherlock.

Research and professional service

Fraser researched nitrate leaching, cropping systems and the role of earthworms in soil quality. In 2015, Fraser was awarded the Researcher of the Year Award by the Foundation for Arable Research. She was a Fellow and a life member of the New Zealand Society of Soil Science.

Fraser won the Rural category of the Woman of Influence Awards in 2020. Her collaborative approach and unusual ability to communicate science to farmers were lauded by the judges.

Personal life and death Fraser and her husband, Steve Kirsopp, had three children. They lived on a small farm close to the Selwyn River / Waikirikiri, and bred beef cattle.

Selected publications