INDEPENDENT agronomy coop, Scottish Agronomy, has launched a new agronomist trainee programme, as well as opening a second office which it hopes will bring new perspectives to aid potato growing in the future.
Managing Director of Scottish Agronomy, Adam Christie, said: “We’ve always had a strong ethos at Scottish Agronomy about training up through the ranks and it’s exciting to be formalising this and opening up opportunities to those who don’t have technical agricultural or agronomy degrees. We believe it’s important to invest in the future of agriculture as well as the coop’s succession planning. Importantly, as well, these trainees will also bring different skills and perspective to strengthen the consultancy and skills we offer.”
He said the coop has evolved in recent years to include more holistic services beyond core agronomy research and advice, such as machinery reviews, Integrated Pest Management plans and healthy soils courses.
Amongst the new trainees are Emma May and Juaad Al-Saffar. Emma worked in agricultural research with the James Hutton Institute and joined Scottish Agronomy as a Trials Officer in September 2023. while Juaad, a former project manager, has spent summers tattie rogueing, has family farming connections and is a previous Forfar Young Farmers member.
Scottish Agronomy operates the largest field trials system in the north of the UK and is one of Scotland’s leading arable research organisations for potatoes.
The second office, in addition to the main office at Arlary, will be at Cortachy, near Kirriemuir, and will also provide a meeting space for the regular group agronomy meetings for potato growers in the Angus and South Aberdeenshire areas.
