Each year at Scottish Agronomy, we recruit four summer students to assist with the seasonal workload on our trial sites. This gives us valuable support during our most hectic period of the year and gives the students a chance to gain practical experience in an agricultural trials environment. Many students return to us after their studies to take permanent positions within our trials team. Caitlin is our most recent recruit, and she joined us permanently in January after studying agriculture and working with us throughout the summer. Being exposed to our trials projects gave her insights into the technical aspects of the team’s work, like how crops are assessed for agronomic traits and scored for disease.
Caitlin says, ‘The most enjoyable part of all this experience was the varied work indoors and out, but I especially enjoyed harvest time, sitting in the combine watching a year’s worth of crop being harvested up and being put into sample envelopes.’
Emma is another of our trials officers who started her Scottish Agronomy career as a student. She was studying business at university but had a keen interest in arable farming. She joined us during her summer break and enjoyed it so much that she returned in 2020 after graduation. Since returning, Emma has been principally involved with data processing of the potato trials.
‘From going out to assess them, process the raw data, dig them and even helping to create the end of year reports!’
Senior trials officer Alistair was studying chemistry when he joined our team for a summer.
‘I applied for the student job to see if a job in agriculture would be something I would be interested in. Although I grew up on a farm, I never originally planned to go into agriculture.’
Alistair enjoys seeing the ‘real world’ applications of what he learned in the lab as well as the opportunity to travel throughout Scotland and get his boots muddy outdoors. He said, ‘Scottish Agronomy is a good way to see the more scientific side of the farming industry.’
All three would recommend students apply for the positions over the summer. Caitlin says that knowledge of agriculture is optional, and the experience teaches new skills and an understanding of agronomy in practice. Emma would encourage anyone with even a slight interest in arable farming to apply and says she learned ‘an incredible amount’ during her summer job. Alistair says that working for SA over the summer would be a good opportunity for anyone thinking about a career in agronomy.
Caitlin, Emma, and Alistair have seen their careers develop since joining Scottish Agronomy through training and development opportunities and practical experience. Caitlin has only been with us for a couple of months and has already achieved a pesticide qualification and completed a trailer training course.
Emma is looking forward to taking on more responsibility in the years to come with the senior trials team. Alistair hopes to be ‘Working more with the data analysis side of the trials and seeing how the trials results are translated into useful information for the farmer members.’
Joining Scottish Agronomy for a summer season gives young people an understanding of a career in agricultural trials and a good breadth of practical experience in the sector. Our friendly and welcoming team makes it a fun and constructive way to spend the summer months, and we all enjoy having their energy and commitment during the busy period.
For more information about our student summer jobs, contact our trials manager, Douglas d.drysdale@scottishagronomy.co.uk, or call us on 01577 862759.
