Agriculture is calling out for more young IT experts
IT and science graduates are discovering their skills are crucial to farming, and a new program from Nutrien is inspiring them to consider a career in the ag industry.
Young IT and science grads are discovering strong career prospects in agriculture, as farming service companies put more focus on recruiting people with tech expertise.
Precision agronomist Kimberly Pellosis recently landed a job with an agtech company, where she uses remote sensing and satellite imagery data to help broadacre farmers optimise applications of fertilisers and herbicides.
The 27-year-old believes there is huge capacity for more young science and IT experts to join ag.
“There are definitely a lot of job opportunities,” said Kimberly, who completed a bachelor of science and masters of agriculture science at University of Melbourne.
“There are oodles and oodles of options, especially if you are willing to relocate for work, which is what you should expect from ag.
“Ag is a very multifaceted massive industry. It is not just farming, whatever your skill set, there is a space.”
Young IT experts Denice Dao and Sheldon Thayil are discovering how their skills can help farmers through a new IT graduate program launched this year by Nutrien Ag Solutions.
Nutrien Ag Solutions head of IT Lloyd Dias said the program would bring “creative diversity, fresh ideas and new perspectives” to the business.
“We want people who are excited about ag and want to be part of the digital evolution that is taking place as we speak within ag,” he said.
“During the two-year program, the graduates will be exposed to different aspects of the business such as research and development, project management, technical support, coding and cyber security.”
Denice, 21, completed a bachelor of cybersecurity at La Trobe University. She applied for the program to find out how her fields of interest – system administration and security – were being used within ag.
“Because with IT, it is not just IT by itself, it is always IT and some other business,” she said.
“I never really thought about IT being essential to agriculture … whenever I thought about agriculture I thought farmers, but there is so much that happens behind the scenes.”
Sheldon Thayil, 30, said he was excited to learn how his skills could help feed the world.
“I believe areas like digital technology, AI and machine learning are critical in the way we support farmers to sustainably produce food and I am excited to be part of that transformation through Nutrien Ag Solutions,” he said.
IT graduate programs, such as Nutrien’s, are a much-needed development in the industry, according to agtech innovator Phil Chan.
Phil is chief product officer for farm management software company AgriWebb, which has doubled its staff from 30 to 60 in the past 18 months.
“As we have gone to market to hire people, probably in last couple of years, everyone we talk to has the same story of not really thinking that ag is an area that has a lot of tech in it,” he said.
“They get a little interested it the company and when we talk to them they say I can see I can do something meaningful with my skills. And the word meaningful comes up with every candidate.
“To do something that has a very broad impact across everyone has really resonated with people that we have spoken to.”
Denice and Sheldon are the only two graduates taking part in Nutrien’s pilot program this year, but there are plans to increase the program’s capacity for the next intake.
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