In this feature, we talk with experts in what might be our most diverse and widespread region: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa (LAMSA) and Asia Oceania (AO). Not only does this region cover a wide variety of countries, landscapes and climates, it also spans both hemispheres. Director of LAMSA Agronomy Matias Ruffo, Agronomist Danilo Serio and Sales Consultant Gordon Welch discussed these unique regional differences and how they stay busy year-round.
For example, Mexico alone is split into two regions with a spring and fall planting season.
“Even in the same country, you have two regions in the same latitude, one that plants in the opposite window of the other one,” Matias explained. “Our system never stops.”
Danilo is based in Brazil, where nearly every farm also has at least two growing seasons thanks to the climate.
“The country is very diverse. In some regions, we have corn, sugar cane, oranges and coffee, so it depends on the state you’re in on when the season begins,”
Gordon is based in New Zealand and covers Australia and Asia, where he supports grain and tropical crop farmers. He also describes his region as crop diverse.
“Across the whole region, I've got virtually every crop you could imagine.”
Ag and Culture
Climate and growing conditions aren’t the only factors that differ from location to location in the LAMSA and AO regions. Culture and history also play a big role.
“In some cases, tradition plays a role in how farmers manage the crops,” Matias stated. “For example, in Argentina, you mainly have large commercial farms with a lot of equipment. They value logistics and efficiency. But where you have small-hold farmers, they tend to do more intensive work on the farm and their access to technology is more limited.”
In the AO region, immigration patterns have helped shape the agriculture industry.
“Here, most of the people in agriculture are immigrants, probably in their 4th, 5th, or 6th generation,” Gordon explained. “Most were English or Mediterranean, and their cultures set the vision of the farming scene. In New Zealand, for example, we see nice green pastures, perfectly fenced and little villages. It has a very English and Scottish feel. Then in Australia, we see more Mediterranean influences with the focus on cropping and hard grains.
“Most of Southeast Asia is a small family farm-based economy,” he continued. “Families traditionally had their own plot where they grew enough food to provide for the family through the year, but then also to trade food.”
How They Got Here
While Matias, Danilo and Gordon experience different challenges and offer different types of support for their specific regions, they all have one thing in common: they found their passion for agriculture a little later in life, and none of them grew up on a farm.
For Matias, he stated his tie to agriculture was through the community and family involvement in the industry.
“I didn't grow up on a farm, but farming and the ag sector is part of the culture in Argentina. My dad worked on the business side of the beef industry, so we always talked about and visited farms.”
He went on to explain how agronomy became one of his main topics of interest when considering his career.
“I have always been interested in life sciences, biology, and the lifestyle of agronomy versus other careers. I'm not a lab person. I enjoy being outdoors and with crops and stuff like that.”
Matias also explained how his passion for technology and innovation played a part in choosing his career as well.
“Through different interactions, I realized the ag industry is able to bring new technologies to the market quite quickly and where a lot of innovation lies,” he stated. “That really excited me.”
Danilo had a similar experience of letting his personal interests guide his career path.
“I don't have an ag background, but I always liked biology. Plus, the ag industry is very strong in Brazil, so I chose agronomy based on the potential opportunities I would have professionally. So, I studied agronomy at university and started my career as a sales guy for a fertilizer company in Brazil in 2010. In 2014, I switched to technical support as an agronomist.”
When asked on his favorite aspect of his job, Danilo stated it’s the opportunity to continue learning from others in the industry.
“I like to have contact with agriculturalists, co-ops, retailers—to be in contact with other people in the industry. I believe I can always learn more from these agronomists, these agriculturalists, and farmers.”
Gordon’s father was a lawyer, and his mother was a high school superintendent and teacher, but they made a change halfway through their careers.
“We actually went out and bought a big farm,” Gordon shared. “I was about 15 or 16 at the time and we all had a very fast learning curve on how to farm. We ended up with two and a half thousand hectares where we were lambing every year and around 300 cattle for selling.”
A few years later, his parents decided to make another change in career.
"Later, my parents decided to become Kiwi fruit growers, so they sold the farm and moved to the north of New Zealand. They ended up with quite a large operation.”
But it wasn’t the newly established family farm that piqued Gordon’s interest.
“There was a research station up the road from where I was living,” he stated. “So, I managed to get a job with them. I became a technician, mostly working on irrigation systems for subtropical crops.”
A Passion for Innovation
When asked about the area of ag they’re most passionate about, all three men agreed: it’s all about the technology and innovation.
As the Director of Agronomy for LAMSA, Matias has a lot to be excited about.
“I'm really excited about the opportunities for nitrification inhibitors in the region, which is a technology that is less developed here than in the U.S. for different reasons, he said. “I think there are a lot of opportunities from an agronomic point of view as well as from an environmental side where we have a technology that can provide a win-win for both things, and there are not many technologies available that can do that for farmers.”
Danilo is keeping an eye on biologicals and the benefits they can bring to farmers.
“Biologicals have evolved a lot in the last 10 years, and I believe they will continue to improve and innovate new organisms. It was really disruptive here, as farmers are now using a lot, and when we compare the annual growth, it's huge.”
Gordon also agreed.
“The changes in grower attitude towards management appears to be shifting to more biological control and a greater emphasis on management rather than exclusion. In addition to that, I would say the shift of focus to improved fertilizer utilization, particularly nitrogen. I think we're only just touching on the potential of technologies with fertilizer-based strategies and the technology to help manage large operations and their nutrient input.”
The National Ag Month Celebration
Thank you for following along with this month’s series as we celebrate National Ag Month and the diversity of agriculture across the world. To continue exploring, visit our other National Ag Month articles featuring the US, Canada and EMENA regions.
In celebration of National Ag Month, we are embarking on a journey around the world to talk to Koch Agronomic Services (KAS) employees about all things ag: the role it played in their early lives, how they use that experience and knowledge in their roles and what they’re most excited about as they look ahead to the future.
