A digital skills application – Crop Production Magazine

After completing a degree in agriculture, Lewis McKerrow wasn’t sure which direction he wanted his career to head in, but he knew he wanted it to involve agriculture. Although having grown up on a dairy farm, he felt his future didn’t lie in milking cows, so instead he headed to Australia to gain wider experience.

Upon his return, he spent six years working on a farm, gaining practical experience which led to a focus on growing crops and the technical aspects of fertilisers. “This made me want to explore a career as an agronomist, so I secured a job as a trainee with Agrovista,” he says.

“Within the first year I took my BASIS qualification which was hard and intense but because I did it while at an agronomy firm, it meant I had support.”

He then took his FACTS which he describes as harder than BASIS, and from here moved on to creating a customer base as a practising agronomist. An opportunity then came about to be involved with the precision farming and soil analysis side of the business. “I was helping the development team to expand the software side of things such as apps and digital solutions.”

Lewis then joined Hutchinsons and became involved with Omnia to further his interest in precision technology. “This is an area that’s always evolving and changing, with new innovations providing solutions to make people’s lives easier and more efficient.

“My agronomy experience was really useful in my role on the digital side because I could see the practicalities and potential usefulness of products to the end user. It’s so rewarding to take a concept or idea, speak to farmers and bring solutions to their challenges to market.”

Practical experience in agronomy was really useful for Hutchinsons’ Lewis McKerrow when he took on a role in digital agriculture, because he could see the potential usefulness of products to the end user.