| 37 RURAL SOLUTIONS » Advance Agriculture Three years later, Advance Agriculture Balclutha moved into a large purpose-built facility. The facility has its own seed mixer and signi cant capacity to carry chemicals and seeds. This year, Advance Agriculture, shifted its Invercargill operation to a purpose-built facility in Lorneville. Complete with two seed mixers, the building also has three times as much storage capacity for seeds and chemicals as the previous building. Operating from Gore, Balclutha and Invercargill, the team at Advance Agriculture operates throughout Southland and Otago, across all farming sectors. In the 21 years of operation, growth and evolution, the Advance Agriculture team has increased to 34 permanent staff, along with three seasonal staff. Twenty staff are based on the road, with some staff in support roles allowing the technical eld reps to spend more time with farmers. This has allowed for a training platform. Staff succession has allowed the business to grow especially in management, precision agriculture and arable areas, to strengthen the management team. Precision agriculture and spray equipment continues to grow with the calibre of resources employed within the business. For example, team members Paul Sinclair and Callum Dickson have come from a hands-on agricultural background, so the understanding of what farmers need to achieve is inherent. Howard Clarke, who predominantly serviced the arable farmers, has been able to transition them over to Martin Sloane, who is now the company’s Arable Specialist. This has allowed Howard to focus on other key areas of the business. Martin’s arable knowledge has developed to be market leading, and Howard’s total con dence in him is evident. Due to the continued growth, Advance Agriculture has recently welcomed Andrea Fox to the arable team. General Manager, Janine Smith, says the intent has never been to grow the business but to take opportunities as they arise, and the dedicated and personable staff are a big key to the success. “While the business has certainly grown, those initial three values identi ed by the founders remains the same. Nothing has changed in twenty-one years in that regard. With exceptional staff retention, the industry knowledge amongst the team is very high and the ability to share it has been a key to our success • from page 35 • to page 39 As a company, we share that information for the bene t of the farmers’ businesses and pro tability, by adding value year after year. The ability to deliver sound factual advice with expert product knowledge drawn from years of in eld experience has been key. All our team are driven by adding value back to the farming community. It’s very much a collaboration between the farmer, eld rep and our suppliers to drive pro tability for the farmer.” Training, upskilling and keeping up to date with new industry rules, regulations, eld data and products within a constantly evolving agricultural industry has been another key measure of success for the Advance Agriculture team. Janine says recognising that each farmer’s needs are unique, and not adopting a one-size- ts all approach to solutions has been another measure of success for the company.“The solution that one farmer needs, is not the same as a neighbouring farmer, for example. Southern Technical Field Reps along with the Invercargill store staff. Watching over your brassica crop so you don’t have to INSECTICIDE Qalcova™ active Naturalyte™ Entrust™ SC HERBICIDE ULTRA Gallant™ HERBICIDE Arylex™ active Korvetto™ HERBICIDE Milestone™ HERBICIDE Radiate™ INSECTICIDE Jemvelva™ active Sparta™ INSECTICIDE Isoclast™ active Transform™ Our portfolio of powerful, proven products has helped farmers from one end of the country to the other create and maintain thriving businesses, and has earned us a reputation as New Zealand’s brassica protection specialists. With every product suitable for ground or aerial application, our suite of herbicides and insecticides provides local farmers with everything they need to win the war on pests and weeds. Delivering a complete suite of crop protection solutions for today’s forage brassica growers. Copyright © 2022 Corteva Agriscience . To see the full suite of Brassica Protection products visit us at corteva.co.nz
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