SOIL health in the Herbert will be given a boost with the appointment of full time agronomist, Phil Patene, who has recently joined the Sugar Research Australia team as Development Officer in Ingham.
SRA Executive Manager for Professional Extension and Communications (PEC) Dr Andrew Ward said the Herbert region is an important production area generating over four million tonnes annually.
“Phil has been a valuable member of the PEC team for the past two years and his breath of research and development knowledge will be an asset to Herbert cane growers,” Dr Ward said.
From a cane farming background originally, Phil developed a keen interest in soils and went off to study agronomy at Gatton.
After graduation, he was quickly picked up by SRA and has been has been stationed at SRA in the Burdekin for the past two years working as the Development Officer for harvesting and machinery.
Some of you may recognise Phil’s articles in industry publications about harvesting best practice and exploring innovations in machinery management to improve farm efficiency and profitability. He was heavily involved in the publication of the SRA Harvesting Best Practice manual and an active member of harvesting forums within Queensland and NSW.
Phil said he is really looking forward to getting back into soils and is excited to be joining the Ingham team.
“My focus will be on delivering the latest research findings to cane growers in the Ingham area. I’ll be working closely with a great team of agronomic researchers both within and outside of SRA to make sure local farmers get access to all the latest information about the best practices and technology out there,” he said.
While the role is very much focussed on soil, Phil says that he will still be involved in a raft of other SRA activities and continue to work on plant breeding, farming systems and harvesting best practice for the area.
“I can’t wait to settle in to Ingham and start meeting local growers and checking out farms across the district.
“The Herbert has such a huge variance in its soils, geography and even climate from one end to the other, it won’t be boring.”
Dr Ward said to respond to the needs of our levy payers and as part of changes to the PEC unit, is recruiting to refill two existing Development officer positions currently vacant in Queensland.
