Young agronomist enjoys helping farmers learn

“I really enjoy explaining science principles into practical uses and transferring  knowledge,” she says.

Shannon grew up on her family’s South Otago arable and livestock property and says her experiences there made tertiary study at Lincoln University an obvious choice.

After an intermediate year focused broadly on science subjects, she elected to concentrate more on agriculture and completed a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree.

She got her first taste of plant breeding and agronomy while completing a summer holiday job assisting at the Grasslanz Technology Limited farm near the Lincoln University campus.

In her final year of study, she was invited to join Barenbrug’s graduate programme, setting up a 12-18 month structured induction across the entire business, before taking on a permanent role as a research agronomist with the company.

Within a few months, she headed south to her current role as a farm systems agronomist covering Otago and Southland and has been there for just over five years.

Shannon works alongside an area sales manager and is also responsible for monitoring and recording data from the company’s trial sites in both regions. 

“A lot of my focus involves testing new varieties and work in that space, but for the reseller side and especially farmers, I take the approach of educating them on how to grow pasture and how to optimise it.”

Shannon says she puts less emphasis on variety choices and more on helping farmers and resellers understand the principles of growing more grass and creating an individual farm systems approach.

“We have these great varieties, but if people are struggling to know how to use them or to improve their system, they won’t realise all the benefits they are able to get from them. 

“So, I teach farmers how to grow pasture by talking about all those general science principles and trying to put it into a practical way to utilise the information on their farm.”

She says farmers often undervalue their own level of knowledge of forages so she has to consider that when talking at events or one-on-one with them.

Her work with the reseller network is also aimed at building their understanding of farm systems and forages.

“By doing that, they can teach their farmers how to make improved decisions that add value.“

She also has a group of farmers who are involved in the company’s own trials who host occasional demonstration days and this often leads to more direct farmer contact over time.

She admits she is also learning plenty from highly experienced staff at the reseller companies.

“You don’t get bored. There’s always someone challenging your thinking and that’s great because with agronomy there’s so much we still don’t understand yet,” she says.

While Waikato and Canterbury dominate in terms of testing the performance of cultivars through the National Forage Variety Trials, run by the Plant Breeders & Research Association, Shannon also has sites in Southland that require regular monitoring in her role as the trial operator.

Within Barenbrug, there is an annual review of all the company’s cultivars with the breeding team where the data on each one is considered and regional staff provide feedback, before decisions are made on the company’s future product strategy. 

“I provide input  from  what I’m seeing in my  regions. I’m  one voice of many but it’s important to each contribute,” she says.

For the past three years, Shannon has also been the New Zealand representative on Barenbrug’s global Young Professionals Advisory Committee (YPAC).

She will soon enter her fourth and final year of the role but says the opportunity to interact with other young professionals on big issues impacting the company and the seed industry has been enormously beneficial for her professional development.

The YPAC comprises other young professionals from the company’s staff in Australia, South Africa, Netherlands, France, UK and South America.

“That’s been an awesome part of my role because it’s allowed me to think strategically and on the future.”

She enjoys the interaction she gets with other people on the committee, all at the same or similar stage of their careers.

“It’s just a great network and a way to widen my sights and get a little more connected  in global topics.”

The entire group meets for an annual conference once a year, either online or in person. Shannon attended the global gathering in Netherlands two years ago and says this year’s location is in France.

One of Barenbrug’s many strengths is that staff are connected worldwide, she says. 

She recently returned from presenting to Chilean farmers at the Latin American Field Days, talking about New Zealand’s approach to sustainable farming systems and the products used here.

While there, Shannon says she noticed how much New Zealand technology and systems management has been adopted by local farmers in Chile.

Looking ahead, Shannon says she wants to further develop her training skills so she can be as effective as possible in passing on her agronomic knowledge to farmers and resellers. 

“I also enjoy the strategic thinking and what we can do to continually improve our products and provide the advice to support them.”

When it comes to the challenges ahead, Shannon says the impacts on agriculture from climate change has to be top of the list.

“Farmers are having to deal with more regulation because of the effects of climate change and there are pests and diseases coming further down the country as well affecting persistence.”

But she is also concerned about another big challenge ahead for the agriculture sector –  recruiting and retaining more young people.

“We get some real gold nuggets, amazing people coming into the seed industry, but I think we need more who are genuinely passionate about it. “

“Our farmers are living and breathing lifestyle and their industry and they want to be talking to resellers or industry leaders who share  their passion. “

She says technology breakthroughs like genomics are speeding up the development of new cultivars, and there are many new tools contributing to future gains.

“However, trusted advisors who are great communicators and who can have a conversation with farmers and  help them find solutions by working with them to create better outcomes on their farms is vital.”