Reece Davie is an agronomist based at Forbes, working with a range of clients in broadacre cropping.
Reece has been with Elders for two years, in which time he has become established as an agronomist in central west New South Wales.
Reece spends most of his time out in paddocks, completing crop checks, or developing tailored programs alongside his clients.
“My day to day mainly involves checking paddocks, and keeping an eye on things for my clients,” Reece said.
“Recently most of the in-crop spraying has finished up, and we are onto monitoring and spraying for insect pests which are starting to be a problem, cutting hay, fallowing paddocks for next year and preparing for harvest with windrowing and crop desiccations just around the corner.
“The main crops around Forbes are wheat, barley and canola, but we also grow some field peas, lupins, faba beans, vetch and lucerne, plus some forage sorghum and millet mostly in the irrigation country. There is also a mixture of pastures in the mixed farming enterprises – the variety certainly keeps me busy!”
Elders’ trusted network of agronomists, who are based in branches across Australia, are specialists in helping growers maximise their crop yields. With specialists in broadacre, horticulture and viticulture, Elders can help by collecting and analysing crop samples, mitigating risks for your crop, managing pests and diseases, or providing more general technical advice.
Reece, who is the only agronomist based at Forbes, says he enjoys spending time both in the field and in the branch environment.
“I try to remain the link between the branch and the paddock,” Reece said.
“I am lucky in that the Elders network is so strong, and even though I am the only Forbes agronomist, I can lean on other agronomists in the area.”
“The most important thing for me is helping growers make the right decisions at the right time, and overall increasing the productivity of their operations.”
For budding agronomists, Reece’s advice is “to get in the paddock as much as you can, and use the people around you, there is a lot of support available; make sure you take advantage of it.”
Elders also runs a Graduate Agronomy Program each year, for those looking to get their start in the field. Within the program, graduates are exposed to both horticulture and broadacre areas to expand knowledge of each, as well as gaining a broad understanding of Elders and the agricultural industry.
Meet Reece:
