The local theme of CRT stores has rung true, with Sally Douglas (pictured above), 32, of Lindenow, returning home from working as an agronomist in Southern Alberta, Canada, to join the ranks at Goodmans Seed, Farm and Garden Centre.
Long time Goodmans agronomist, Russell Dryden, has retired and Sally joins the team with Goodmans’ part-time agronomist, Eddie Mauger, based at Swifts Creek.
“I’d like to help local farmers achieve their goals,” Sally said.
“It’s all about sustainability and protecting our chemistry for future use.”
In Canada, Sally worked for CRT’s parent company, Nutrien Ag, working on pastures and broadacre crops like canola and cereals for the feedlot industry.
“They have huge calcium levels in Southern Alberta,” Sally said.
“They all have on-farm feedlots and use the manure from them over their paddocks, then use a crop like canola as a rotation and a cash crop.
“It was very different, I enjoyed it and met a lot of cool people.”
Sally grew up at Lindenow but spent much of her childhood at Benambra where her grandparents, Alan and Eileen (nee Connley) Douglas, ran their farm.
She has worked her way up through the ranks, beginning with Bulmer Farms at age 19, in the quality assurance department and food safety auditing.
Earlier, she completed a traineeship over 12 months with the East Gippsland Food Cluster, working with Bonaccord Ingram, Riviera Farms and Patties Foods, before moving on to Bulmers for a few years.
It was at Bulmers Farms she worked with an independent agronomist consultant from Ballan and thought to herself “I really like your job – I could do that”.
Sally then took a job at EE Muirs and Sons in Lindenow, working full time for nine years, while completing her agronomy course online, part time, through Charles Sturt University, focussing on horticulture.
The opportunity to go to Canada came with an offer as a cook at a guest and cattle ranch in the Rocky Mountains, cook being her ‘back-up job’, and Sally said the standout highlight of her time away was the packhorse trip she did across the Canadian Rockies.
In her spare time, Sally enjoys horseriding, camping and fishing, and “anything outdoors or in the bush”.
At work, Sally can tailor pasture seed mixes to specific requirements, making the custom blends in store, and also organise fertiliser through Caithness Spreading.
