Lok Chow of Coolibah Herbs is one of the faces of the Follow a Farmer series
BASF Agricultural Solutions Australia has launched Follow a Farmer, a new video series that takes Australians behind the farm gate, helping them connect with the people behind their food and showing the realities of life on the land.
Videos build on last year’s Ask a Farmer campaign with Jane Bunn, and this year’s iteration invites Australians to spend a day on a farm with two people working in very different corners of agriculture.
One of this year’s farmers is Victorian senior agronomist Lok Chow of Coolibah Herbs in Pearcedale, on the Mornington Peninsula. Chow had initially intended to study veterinary science, but enrolling in a Bachelor of Agriculture led him to a different area of agriculture, where he now works with more than 800ha of salad greens, herbs and vegetables.
“People assume you’re just digging around in the dirt all day,” said Chow. “To put it simply, an agronomist is like a plant doctor. I manage everything from pests and disease to soil nutrition and irrigation, basically anything that needs to happen, so we have good crops for people to eat.”
Chow said it would be a positive if shoppers better understood how their food gets to the supermarket.
“A lot of crops are grown outside, so they’re open to weather, insects and animals. Having an appreciation for that can change your mindset on what’s acceptable in a bag of spinach,” he said.
“Agriculture tends to be a little bit behind sometimes, but there’s a lot of adoption of cool tech now,” Chow added, pointing to laser weeders, spray drones and autonomous tractors that help with weed control and labour shortages.
Parvana Wali, head of agricultural solutions at BASF Australia and New Zealand, said the series was about letting farmers speak for themselves.
“We often talk about farming as the biggest job on earth, but many Australians don’t get the chance to see what that really involves. Through Edwina and Lok’s stories, we’re giving people a behind-the-scenes look at modern farming, helping them connect with the people behind their food, understand the challenges they face, and appreciate the care they take for the land every day.
