Growing a career as an agronomist – The Scottish Farmer

James Hope is a young agronomist working for Hutchinsons originally from Longtown and now based in Penrith. Fairly new to agronomy and farming in general, James speaks to The SF all about his journey getting to where he is today.

How did you get into agronomy?

I always had an interest in the back of my mind but at the time I was working on a farm and I thought to myself that would be quite a nice job walking around fields on a sunny day, being out and about, although it’s not always so sunny. I have always been interested in arable farming and producing healthy crops. So I started looking into a career and that’s how I got involve with Hutchinsons.

Did you come from a farming background?

No, when I left school I wanted to be a gamekeeper so I did an apprenticeship in gamekeeping then ended I working for an estate for ten years becoming a farm manager. My family wasn’t from farming and my dad’s a lorry driver but I was interested in shooting and being in the countryside so gamekeeping was my focus and then it progressed from there.

How long have you been working as an agronomist?

It will be two years in April as I joined Hutchinsons in 2022. I started a bit earlier than a lot of the other trainees in the foundation programme because there was an agronomist I helped with soil sampling and recording. It meant I was able to get a start working in the fields getting the experience before I had all my training and exams.

What did your course entail?

It’s a foundation course which is a three-year training programme. In the first year you focus on your FACTS and BASIS certificates and then all the training is done in-house with a lot of practical outside learning with the technical support team. There is also college and university training with courses in skills and personal development.

We had six three-day blocks at the University of Lincoln with university style lectures teaching us everything we needed for our two big exams – FACTS and BASIS. Then the in-house technical training gave us more experience and knowledge allowing us to help agronomists in the field and learning from the people who have done it for years.

What do you enjoy most about agronomy?

It’s the freedom, you get to manage your own time and plan your day to how it suits you. I get to be out and about and meeting with customers, it takes away the loneliness as you aren’t just stuck on one farm but get to visit three or four farms a day. I see lots of different types of agricultural businesses and get to speak to lots of different people and learn from them, as well as picking up experience from my colleagues.

Do you face any obstacles in your work?

I think it’s a daunting task as a new agronomist going down a farm drive speaking to a farmer that could have had an agronomist for the last 25 years and telling them that they could be doing things differently. It can be challenging but I like being able to provide a fresh perspective on things and hopefully the more experience I get, I can build on that.

Any advice for anyone who would like to go into agronomy?

Just get out and about, if you have a farm at home with an agronomist just ask if you can go with them and get some experience and ask questions. Try and go to a lot of agri events as there is often good people to speak to and network. It is about getting good experience and being able to speak to working agronomists to find out what it’s all about.