Adama Australia is underlining its commitment to the future of agriculture by showcasing emerging talent in its Young Agronomist of the Year Award.
Since it was launched in 2015 the competition has already shone a light on dozens of enthusiastic young people who are working to promote good, sustainable farming practice. “Young agronomists are unsung heroes and our future,” Adama Australia’s marketing general manager Adam Phelan said.
“The Young Agronomist of the Year Award was created to ensure their contribution to our industry is acknowledged, now and for the long term.” Mr Phelan emphasised the important role that young agronomists play in helping farmers to adopt new technology and become more efficient. “Adama takes great pride in the investment it makes to bring new innovations and technologies to the Australian market. Without a strong agronomy network the potential gains of these innovations may never be realised,” he said.
Mr Phelan also highlighted the need to retain burgeoning talent. “Given the shortage of agriculture graduates we want to ensure we retain our highly skilled young people and to help them develop their careers,” he said. “We do not want to lose these people to other industries.”
The Young Agronomist of the Year Award has become established and won appreciation across the industry. In its first year more than 100 agronomists under the age of 30 took part. “Our distributor partners have told us that it’s a great initiative and that it’s a great way to recognise the younger generation in our industry,” Mr Phelan said.
The inaugural Young Agronomist of the Year winner was Courtney Piesse from Kojonup, Western Australia, who impressed the judges with his agronomic skills and capacity to win the trust of his farmer clients.
Courtney and the two runners-up, Andrew McMahen from Manangatang, Victoria, and Matt Foulis from Wilmington, South Australia, won the opportunity to travel across America on an agricultural study tour.
The competition has become an annual fixture in the farming calendar and will serve as a springboard for further initiatives. “The Young Agronomist of the Year competition will continue to highlight the great young talent we have in this country,” Mr Phelan said. “We also want to build networking opportunities for this group of young agronomists to enable them to share ideas and insights amongst each other, and engage with them in testing some of our future digital initiatives.”