As an agronomist trained and practising for 6 years now and also having just celebrated my 30th birthday last week I find your frequent slapdash comments on the above highly offensive.
Despite what you know and what you think you know, the arable and especially the horticultural sectors still need Agronomists and some farms arguably need them more than ever and good ones at that. I commend you for being the successful farmer and businessman that reading this forum would suggest that you are. Its pretty clear to me that you know your stuff, are getting results and enjoy what you do. But, you do not represent the majority of UK farmers, in fact you probably represent a very small percentage. I work in an area dominated by livestock farms and mixed farms, many using arable enterprise to complement their main livestock sectors. Many of these farms are small like 100-200ha and many of the business owners and managers are aged 50plus. The climate here can also be particularly challenging for arable farming. Say what you like about such small and mixed farms but many are very well run and indeed profitable. Many are not but that could be said of many UK farming business irrespective of size. These farms need good sound advice on crop management and crop protection, and they are perfectly entitled to have it. For many they do not have the time to keep up to date with the latest changes in crop protection products and what they should or should not be using (legally), many would not know one end of a cereal plant from the other but they can still grow 12t/ha crops of wheat and run very profitable enterprises- which is what matters ultimately! To help them achieve this they need agronomists, good agronomists and ones that are fair and not there as salesmen to rip them off. The veg farmers out there, a few of which I deal with undoubtedly need good agronomists more than they ever have before, crop protection in these crops is more changing by the month, never mind the year. With respect, Wheat is easy compared to this.
I absolutely do not disagree that technology is evolving at a fantastic rate and in most cases is fantastic in what it can show or tell us. Satellites and mapping among many many other things are making decisions on inputs and strategies easier and probably better but ultimately most of these things can provide you with information, probably more than a crop walking agronomist can but it can’t provide experience and decision making. Hence why most of them can be referred to as decision ‘support’.
I also don’t disagree at all that there are plenty of ‘not so good’ to put it mildly ‘agronomists’ out there, plenty both independent and distributer are glorified salesmen selling whatever they can do to put most in their pension pot each season, many don’t even walk crops where I live and they still have the trust of their customers- don’t ask me how.
This is totally and utterly wrong and should be policed more heavily but god knows how. However, no matter the industry you will get people that abuse their position and do their job selfishly and badly. This also applies to farmers.
So you are entitled to your opinion but can I suggest you stop and engage your brain before constantly coming off with slapdash comments that go way beyond your own situation. I liken it to me saying if I were a farmer below 60 I would go and retrain- because when subsidies firstly get cut and eventually go in their current form at least, many many of you will be up the perverbial creek with no paddle.
I have no farm, I only wish I had. If there was one thing I have always wanted to do it was arable farm but I can’t where I live, at least at the minute. So I do what I consider the next best thing, work with farmers and help their businesses to thrive. I am good at it and most of the time I enjoy it, and take great satisfaction from helping customers get the results they want. I am no salesman I don’t rip people off and I consider it an ever and rapidly changing career, not a job!
Only natural to be defensive when your profession is under threat long term I guess. Most tractor drivers are not keen on the idea of driverless machines either !
What do you think a algorithms / remote sensors / satellite / high res images or small robot image won’t be able to do that only a human can ?
Sone of this tech will see and predict things that no human no matter how skilled will be able to
Genuinely interested as I actually think it will be a shame see skilled people disappear from fields, I feel it’s inevitable however ?
The beginning is “decision support”. (We already have a lot of that) When it learns enough about those decisions the next step becomes decision replacing embrace
I’m afraid it’s inevitable hence my comment re retraining !