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.
‘‘My background has been fairly varied within agriculture,’’ he said.
‘‘From gaining a qualification in the UK to driving different machines to working as an assistant manager when I first left university — and then I got into sales agronomy.
‘‘I think I’ve learned in that time the aspects that are lacking in what guys on-farm are looking for.
‘‘What attracted me (to the role) is I did two years with Emmetts in their precision ag team with John Deere, in South Australia, and I really enjoyed that — working with customers, working with salesmen, trying to get results for people who have bought equipment.’’
Mr Sawyer said there were misconceptions around what type of farms technology could be used on.
‘‘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,’’ he said.
‘‘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 out of Kelvin View (15km south-east of Euroa), said the reason for Precision Agriculture’s expansion was to fill a space in the industry.
‘‘There is representation (in this area) within machinery dealerships ... 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,’’ he said.
‘‘There are a lot of people doing a lot of elements of it.
‘‘We will work with some of the other people that have representations in this area which will help us put it all together.
‘‘So I think what attracted me was the whole picture — being able to have an influence and, by using my experience, trying to make solutions for people.’’
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.