A stellar line up of speakers headlines the 2022 Emerging Agros Network (EAN) online events with webinars set for 11, 18 and 25 March.
An industry-driven initiative with investment from the GRDC, the EAN is designed to provide training and skills development to support early career agronomists and advisers with information they need to do their jobs well.
Multi-skilled agriculturalist, businesswoman and 2020/2021 Australian Young Farmer of the Year, Emma Ayliffe, kicks off the webinar series with When your job comes with a community on 11 March at 3pm Queensland time/4pm NSW time.
Emma is a consultant, researcher and director of her company, Summit Ag Agricultural Consulting, as well as a farmer and industry advocate.
She was runner up Adama Young Agronomist of the Year in 2018 and has held a range of community roles from sitting on local GRDC committees to being a Young Farming Champion.
Emma says putting her hand up for positions has helped her settle into regional and rural communities as she has moved locations for her career, ultimately enabling her to set up her own farming group.
The second EAN webinar on 18 March features southern NSW consultant Chris Minehan, Rural Management Strategies, discussing Understanding grower motivation.
Chris has extensive experience in production agronomy and farm business management, having worked as a farm management consultant in northern NSW for four years prior to returning to southern NSW, where he grew up on a mixed farm.
Chris says he enjoys working with multi-generational family farming businesses, where he can use his technical knowledge, experience and inter-personal skills to help these families achieve their business and personal goals.
The webinar series wraps up on 25 March when an experienced panel tackles technology, discussing Using data on-farm. The multi-discipline panel features Richard Heath, Australian Farm Institute executive director, Tim Neale, DataFarming managing director, and Scott Bartlett, Agpro Consulting.
Richard brings a cross-industry perspective as a former Liverpool Plains farmer and Associate Professor of Agronomy and Farm Management at the University of Sydney.
He is a GRDC director, sits on the Advisory Committee for CSIRO Agriculture and Food, a Nuffield scholar and former director of Nuffield Australia.
Tim was named Australian agricultural consultant of the year 2018 and has more than 25 years’ experience across Australia and internationally, 20 of which has been running his own agtech business. Tim’s key focus is on adoption of technology, with the DataFarming software platform servicing more than 27,000 farms in 50 countries.
Scott brings an on-the-ground perspective to the discussion as the provider of cereal, pulse, oilseed and pasture agronomic services in north east Victoria. He uses precision agriculture technologies to optimise farm productivity and sustainability for his clients.
This year’s webinars build on two years of networking opportunities and skill-building for early career agronomists in the northern region, with a particular focus on soft skills such as negotiation, client management and having difficult conversations.
Register for the webinar series and join the GRDC Emerging Agros Network Facebook group and page for updates.