Gunnedah and Tamworth have new DPI agronomists

NSW Department of Primary Industries has appointed new district agronomists for the Tamworth and Gunnedah districts that will take effect next Monday (November 14).

Regional Director Agriculture and Fisheries for the North West New England Region, Bob Freebairn, today announced the appointment of Loretta Serafin as district agronomist at Tamworth and Bill Manning as district agronomist at Gunnedah.

‘Ms Serafin is well known throughout the north-west region, having spent the past three and a half years as district agronomist at Gunnedah and a further period prior to that as district agronomist for Moree East,’ Mr Freebairn said.

‘She has built a strong reputation among farmers, agronomists and researchers and brings a wealth of experience to the role of agronomist for the Tamworth district.

‘Starting her career with the Department as a trainee agronomist at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute in 1999, Ms Serafin spent a year working with senior researchers prior to taking up the appointment at Moree.

‘Since that time she has worked with a range of crops and pastures including the winter pulse crops chickpea and faba bean, summer crops of sorghum and sunflower and the winter cereals.’

Ms Serafin is involved in a number of research projects across northwest NSW and is also chair of the north-west branch of the Grassland Society of NSW - working towards improvement of northwest pastures and their management.

She has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Systems Agriculture from the University of Western Sydney and a Diploma in Education from the University of New England.

Meanwhile, newly appointed district agronomist for the Gunnedah district, Bill Manning, has a strong research and extension background which he gained from working the past nine years at the Tamworth Agricultural Institute.

‘Mr Manning was involved in extension work on pulse crops and cereal diseases in northern NSW before switching to research,’ Mr Freebairn said.

‘He initially researched cropping soil characteristics in northern NSW to determine their potential productivity and then worked with the Eastern Farming Systems project.

‘There he was involved in examining the role of lucerne pastures in providing nitrogen for mixed farming systems, optimal row spacing and plant populations for sorghum on the Liverpool Plains, the influence of saline subsoils on crop production, and chickpea production in cereal stubble.

‘During the last several years Mr Manning has run workshops for farmers looking in detail at soil water and crop rotations.’

Mr Manning has a degree in Agricultural Science and a diploma in education from the Sydney University.

Media contact: Annette Cross on 02 6763 1243 or 0427 201 840.