Working for an agrochemicals company combines Lauren McAloney’s love for science and team work, but it has also introduced a new passion – agriculture.
The 25 year-old grew up in Mount Macedon and spent most of her high school years in Shanghai, where her father David was working.
The family decided to return to Australia for Lauren and her siblings to complete their schooling.
Lauren went onto do a Bachelor of Science with Honours at the University of Melbourne. She majored in biochemistry and molecular biology.
“I love science. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do (in the long-term) so I just kept doing what I enjoyed, which led me to biochemistry,” Lauren said.
During her honours year, her research involved manipulating plants’ DNA to affect the carbon content in their cell walls.
“The end result was to help improve plants for human nutrition by balancing soluble and insoluble fibres.
“We worked on annual rye grass, barley and wheat; and that was the first introduction I had to anything to do with agriculture.”
Lauren continued on as a research assistant in the laboratory, but she found research very solitary.
Although she had always pictured herself doing research, Lauren decided she wanted to try something more commercial.
“I was a bit stuck; I looked for jobs without knowing what I wanted to do.”
A friend who’d studied agriculture at the University of Melbourne suggested she consider a job in agriculture. Lauren said before she started working in the field, she had a common and narrow idea of agriculture as limited to farming.
“I had no idea of the wide variety of jobs available in agriculture and agribusiness.”
Following her friend’s suggestion, Lauren got in contact with agribusiness recruitment specialists Rimfire Resources who quickly found a company that could provide her a job that drew on her unique experiences in science and China (Lauren can speak Mandarin).
Almost two years ago, Lauren joined Sinochem Australia – a manufacturer and supplier of agricultural crop protection chemicals, including Roundup®, into the Australian and New Zealand agricultural markets.
Sinochem Australia is a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinochem International, a listed company on the Shanghai Stock Exchange.
To start her graduate program, Lauren did six months in customer service. She said it was a great way to understand their clients and products.
She then moved into a Regulatory and Marketing Support, and continued to find the variety of the role enjoyable.
“Every day is pretty different. It’s very seasonal, generally the biggest season is autumn and then a smaller spring, but this year, autumn was quieter than usual but we’ve had a great spring.
“Since it’s started to dry out, we’ve had increased demand for glyphosate; it’s one of the biggest springs we’ve ever had in our four years of operation.”
Lauren helps the marketing department to bring new products to market and promote existing products. She helps develop promotions and marketing campaigns, and provides technical support to the sales team who work in the field. She also has some interaction with customers.
Her plant science research helps Lauren understand data from Sinochem Australia’s field trials. She collects data, analyses reports and helps develop marketing materials, such as flyers, that explain the trial results to farmers.
One of the things that has surprised Lauren about agriculture is the people.
“Both customers and colleagues, everyone is so friendly and down to earth. Everyone has been encouraging and in my experience, that’s unique agriculture.
“And everyone knows everyone. In my age bracket, everyone from uni moves in similar circles, which is great for networking.”
She urged other young people to consider careers in agriculture and agribusiness.
“Ag is not going anywhere; people are always going to need food and clothes to wear.
“I think more than ever, now is the time.”
She said there were so many related industries people could pursue in agribusiness including science and robotics.
Lauren said another benefit of working in this vital field was being able to dispel commonly held misconceptions about farming.
“Chemicals are essential to farming and the sustainability of farming. Now I’m happy to challenge people’s opinions about that and other issues including GMOs.
“We can’t feed the world’s population without chemicals and other farm inputs that some people criticise.”