Originally from the United Kingdom, Richard Sawyer, who has been in Australia for five years, will manage operations for Precision Agriculture in northern Victoria and southern NSW, which will involve consultancy with grower groups and farmers.
Mr Sawyer has a varied background in agriculture and he hopes his 20 years of experience can assist in the implementation of technology on-farm.
‘‘I like to bring a practical approach to analysing data, potential agronomic benefits, and what it means to each farmer.
‘‘I’m really looking forward to bringing the best information, technologies and soil science advancements to our customers.’’
Mr Sawyer said there were misconceptions about whether technology could be used on smaller farms.
‘‘A lot of people think technology has to be broadacre but I think there’s aspects and elements of it that will fit in every element of industry working on land.
‘‘I was talking to a stud this morning (February 5) and they are looking at the basic software approaches that will help streamline some of their information and understandings of what they are doing.’’
Mr Sawyer, who is based at Kelvin View (15km south-east of Euroa), said Precision Agriculture was expanding to fill a space in the industry.
‘‘There is representation (in this area) within machinery dealerships, etcetera etcetera, and independently there are a few people offering soil advice and those sort of aspects of it, but at Precision Agriculture we are trying to pull the whole umbrella together if you like,’’ he said.
Services provided by Precision Agriculture include yield mapping, CPS guidance management, crop surveillance, digital farm mapping, farm productivity assessments, variable rate applications, surface water management, soil management plans and on-farm trials.