Nurturing international agriculture leaders in Australia
07 December 2022, Australia: After joining Bayer in 2015 during ‘summer school break’ as a sales student in Canada, Andria Karstens has since been establishing her career at Bayer in Crop Science marketing and operations. Due to her interest and experience in digital farming and the learning and development opportunities for global staff at Bayer, Andria has been able to take advantage of a three- month short-term assignment with Bayer’s Crops Science team in Australia.
Having recently launched the digital farming platform FieldView in Canada, Andria’s manager and peers in the Australian Crop Science team saw the opportunity for a short assignment to not only bring global insights to the launch of Field View in Australia, but support Andria’s learning and development.
“When the time came for FieldView to be launched in Australia, my experience with the product in Canada meant I was given the opportunity to support the Australian launch in an even bigger capacity. My manager played a big part in this, advocating for me and supporting me throughout the process. “
“Bayer has several tools in place for employees to let their managers know what they are interested in, and what they would like to do in the future. What I will remember most about my time working with Bayer in Australia, aside from people making fun of the way I pronounce certain words, is the people!“
“Not only has the Digital Farming team been incredible to work with, there are so many other Bayer colleagues I’ve gotten to meet and work with. Everyone has been so welcoming and the time I spent out in the field meeting farmers and agronomists has been personally and professionally rewarding. I want to take the chance to thank all the amazing people I have crossed paths with during this assignment – the people are what made this experience what it was!”
Andria is familiar with the common challenges faced by Aussie and Canadian farmers, “Farmers want what’s best for their land – they live there, and their land is their livelihood, but they need their practices to be economical. When it comes to digital ag, Australian and Canadian farmers have similar experiences and challenges. Advances in technology have provided some incredible opportunities and will continue to do so, but the products, tools and systems must be easy to use and must provide farmers with value or an economic return”.
Having grown up in small town Saskatchewan, coming to Australia and visiting farms and small communities has reminded me a lot of home – lots of space, canola and wheat for as far as the eye can see, and great people. After chatting for a couple hours in the combine with a farmer from WA, we concluded farmers in Canada and Australia deal with many of the same challenges – weather, markets, challenges of the family farm, labour shortages and regulations. Tools like FieldView will empower farmers to tell their story like never before – keeping them more sustainable for next generation.”
Also Read: World Soil Day 2022: FAO publishes first global report on black soils
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