Albury gets new DPI district agronomist

Farmers throughout the Albury district have a new NSW Department of Primary Industries (DPI) district agronomist.

Janet Wilkins has started in her new role and brings a wealth of information with her from previous postings with NSW DPI at Finley, Coonamble and Tamworth.

Acting NSW DPI Deputy Director-General (agriculture and fisheries), Doug Hocking, today said Ms Wilkins has excellent agricultural extension skills and a solid understanding of cropping systems and pasture management.

“Ms Wilkins will be a reliable and knowledgeable source of information for farmers in her district,” Mr Hocking said.

“After completing a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at Sydney University, she has worked with the department on a number of projects, trained as a district agronomist at Tamworth and worked as our district agronomist at Coonamble.

“Ms Wilkins also worked with the DPI’s lucerne breeding team at Tamworth.

“This culmination of experience has provided Janet with a good understanding of dryland cropping systems which she will be able to apply in the State’s south.

“She has worked with numerous farmer groups and has coordinated a pasture management Prograze group in Coonamble as well as a series of alternative pasture legume trials.

“Another of Ms Wilkins’ strengths is winter wheat production. She has a worked on projects specifically looking at the importance of cropping rotations in dryland agriculture.”

While at Coonamble she worked closely with researchers as part of the Western Farming Systems group as well as a number of crop benchmarking projects looking at lupin and field pea management.

“She has also worked with Eastern Farming Systems programs looking at soil water and extending important information on this topic to dryland farmers, plus DPI work investigating no-till farming options,” Mr Hocking said.

Media Contact: Brett Fifield 02 6391 3311, 0427 029 511