Courtney Ramsey has spent time working in the family business. Both of them, actually.
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Currently a Grower Relations Manager at Grains Research and Development Corporation in Horsham, she grew up on a cereal and sheep farm at Buckleboo on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula. She spent some time working on a neighbours' farm prior to arriving in Horsham.
She is also the daughter of Rowan Ramsey, Liberal Party Member for the federal seat of Grey - which covers 92 per cent of the state of South Australia.
She worked as an electorate officer for South Australia's shadow trade, investment and sport minister Tim Whetstone, who is now the Agriculture Minister in the Marshall liberal government.
"It was a fascinating job because it was so diverse," she said.
"With the thing people would come to you about every day, you really had to do your research and learn the ins and outs of the actual issues and know what legislation that might relate to to even look at how you might implement change."
She said building a business case for mobile blackspot towers in the Chaffey electorate, based around Renmark and Berri, was what she was proudest to have been involved in during this time.
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"Your members are there for a reason, and there is nothing better than direct engagement when you've got an issue that needs resolving. It's all good to be a keyboard warrior, but it won't get you as far as an in-depth person-to-person conversation."
Ms Ramsey to the Wimmera in march 2019 via GRDC's Canberra offices, and has also spent time in Peru working with subsistence farmers.
"The move (to Horsham) has been interesting because it's a marginal low-rainfall zone where I come from. It's been really interesting trying to wrap my head around the differences between the systems," she said.
"Pulse production is a lot more reliable in this rainfall zone and when and where to sew, even just timing of operations throughout the year is really different here compared to home. You often get heat stress and drought much earlier in the growing season at home, adn to feed your crop there is a lot more nitrogen involved"
An avid painter, Ms Ramsey started her career at Adelaide University's Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics.
"I worked in salinity tolerance there until I worked out a lab was not where I wanted to be. It took me a while before I figured out what kind of role in industry suited me and the things that really drive you that make you get out of bed in the morning. For me it's really about impact and wanting to effect positive change and be an agent for that.
"I've found out I can get that from a wide array of roles, and it doesn't really matter whether that's outdoors and actually delivering the science or the role I'm in now. It's hard for me to say, but I do really enjoy working with people which is helpful in a job like this."
Ms Ramsey said GRDC planned to hose a series of workshops on harvester setup later this year, aimed at helping farmers get the most yield out of after-purchase attachments to their machines.
The organisation initially planned to have international experts, but in light of COVID-19 intends to secure Australian expertise for the workshops.
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