Agronomy in Practice Training Upgrade
Improvements to Agronomy in Practice this year mean that people who successfully complete the training program will be automatically recognised as Fertcare® Accredited Advisors (FAA), a symbol of quality soil and plant nutrition advice.
Agronomy in Practice, which is part of the Nutrient Advantage offering, has earnt a reputation as valuable agronomist training course.
Nigel Bodinnar, Training and Quality Manager with Nutrient Advantage, said a number of changes were being introduced this year to make the course a better learning experience for participants and offer more valuable qualifications on completion.
“We have integrated Fertcare C into the updated Agronomy in Practice training resources and it has been independently assessed as meeting the FAA performance standards for soil and plant nutrition advice,” he said.
“This means people will no longer need to do two separate workshops to achieve initial FAA status, as has been the case in the past,” said Mr Bodinnar.
Successfully completing Agronomy in Practice and being recognised as a FAA will result in:
- Improved fertilizer advice flowing on to productivity and economic benefits for farmers
- Competent agronomists who can confidently provide professional soil and plant nutrition advice
- A reduction in business risk associated with provision of fertilizer advice for businesses
- Improved assurance that the fertilizer industry is acting responsibly for natural resource managers and government.
In welcoming the initiative, Jeff Kraak, Fertcare Program Manager, said Nutrient Advantage has been a long standing Fertcare assessed nutrient decision support system.
“It is great to see that Nutrient Advantage has made it simple for agronomists to be initially recognised and proudly display the FAA logo on their recommendations and other personal communications,” he said.
“The quality of advice farmers receive from both fertilizer supply companies and independent advisory businesses can vary widely.
“FAA provides farmers and other stakeholders with confidence that farm managers are receiving soil management and fertilizer advice of a high standard.
“It provides assurance that matters such as the process of making recommendations, the underlying supporting data, sampling methodology and laboratory competence are based on good practice and accepted science in Australia.”
For more information, visit the Training & Accreditation section of the Nutrient Advantage website or the Fertcare website.