Today, an agronomist is not just a person who has graduated from an agricultural university, knows about plants and has an understanding of crop cultivation and protection technologies. In addition, an agronomist has a lot to learn and is constantly improving his or her knowledge.
Serhii Vakulenko, Chief Agronomist at Evrosem, talks about the challenges and benefits of the agronomy profession. An article about this was published on the Super Agronomist portal in April.
Here is what Serhii says about agronomists at Evrosem:
‘Our company employs agronomists who grow hybridisation fields rather than commercial crops. This is a completely different set of hard and soft skills than ordinary agronomists. The agronomists in the Evrosem team must not only know how to grow, but also be able to organise the work of dozens of people from different farms (which, by the way, may change from year to year). Technological processes of growing on hybridisation fields require the involvement of seasonal workers, whose work is supervised and organised by our agronomists.’
He also adds that continuous learning is an integral part of a qualified agronomist’s life. ‘There is no such thing as forgetting everything you learnt at university. This knowledge will be a good foundation. A freshly minted student should be ready to learn not from scratch, but additionally while working. In any case, do not be afraid to ask a senior agronomist and take criticism adequately. A graduate of agronomy should be able to use various satellite monitoring systems (such as CropWise, for example), precision farming systems, and weather monitoring applications. This is the future, and we need to learn it now while studying.
Not all young agronomists are ready for the real challenges of work. Working as an agronomist at Evrosem, where we hybridise sunflower and corn, means a lot of responsibility, frequent communication with new people, constant business trips to different parts of Ukraine, living in the field, staying in hotels, and during the season, a completely irregular schedule when you are busy 24/7. Not everyone is ready for such challenges, but if you understand the philosophy of the field, are ready to learn and work on the land, the land will thank you generously,’ summed up Serhii Vakulenko.