Land and Food Resources

Successful career springs from Agriculture degree

A chance meeting with a Tiger helped Rural Finance regional manager Brett Symes earn his stripes in agriculture.

About Brett

A Wimmera boy, Brett headed to Melbourne to undertake a science degree. However, a coffee with Richmond football player and agriculture lecturer David Honeybun at the end of his first year helped Brett begin an extremely successful career in agriculture.

"David suggested that I have a chat with the Dean at the Faculty of Land and Food Resources and I've never looked back. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before - I suppose it had never been bought to my attention that there are great careers to be had in agriculture."

The Rural Finance Corporation certainly appreciates the worth of an agriculture degree, as did Brett's first employer, the National Australia Bank . They offered Brett a job with the ink on the degree still drying.

With the degree's balance of practice and theory, Brett soon became the Rural Finance Corporation's Wimmera regional manager at the tender age of 27.

He says that the degree allows students to specialise, while providing the broad grounding that is constantly drawn on in everyday work.

"It is essential in my job to not only look at the financial aspects of an applicant, but also to understand the agronomy and management aspects."

Brett says that his career is only one example of the options that are available after the completing an agriculture degree. His classmates had come from the city as well as from regional areas and entered a variety of different careers including research, wine, marketing, and agribusiness journalism.

"Even though students specialise in later years, the degree is still broad and general. If you look where you see Agriculture graduates these days, you'll find them all over the industry, in jobs that are rural or city based, or even overseas."

We were a close-knit group that looked after each other and still keep in touch. It was terrific fun and a great course."

Brett returned to Wimmera, loaded with information and experience belying his age as well as the challenge of managing a region that stretches from the South Australia border across to St Arnaud and the Glenelg River to as far north as the Mallee.

All because he had a cup of coffee with a Tiger.

Course Information

The Bachelor of Agriculture or Bachelor of Science with a major in Agricultural Science prepares students for a career in a multitude of areas, including research and development organisations, biotechnology, financial institutions and banks, marketing and journalism, environmental or business consulting firms, government and policy agencies, international trade, food processing companies, extension, agriculture, agronomy.

Career pathways include postgraduate options through research and coursework:

Research Options:

 

Coursework Options:

For those interested in a shorter undergraduate program, the faculty offers the Associate Degree in Agriculture, a two year program based at the Dookie campus.

If you have any questions on careers or courses, don't hesitate to place an online enquiry.

Campus Information

Students looking for rewarding careers in agriculture can attend the Parkville Discovery Day and Dookie Open Day .

Agriculture programs make use of the University's Parkville together with the Dookie campus which is situated adjacent to Mt Major and the Dookie Bushland Reserve.

Other Student Profiles

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