🎓 Career & Training

• Can you tell us about your background? What training did you follow?

“I started with a BAC in economics and social sciences because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I was more attracted to maths but not to the point of making a scientific career so the ES section was an obvious choice.

During this period, I did several internships in companies, including one at SICOLY in the technical department, a real discovery for me, which I really appreciated.

So I continued with a BTS in agronomy in plant production in Valencia, which was more focused on field crops and seeds, during which I did an internship at Agroscope in Switzerland, specialising in small fruits, which reinforced my choice of orientation.

Finally, I finished with a degree in plant biotechnology and varietal creation at SIREF in Douville. In this program, I worked, for example, by testing the charlotte strawberry in order to understand its evolution. I passed my defense in mid-September and at the beginning of October, I joined SICOLY! Today I have been working at the cooperative for 6 years. »

• Did you know this environment before? Have you always wanted to work in this field?

“Absolutely, since my parents have a farm that is a member of the SICOLY cooperative! I have always had a taste for nature and I was looking for a job that made sense to me, a job in which I could feel useful. However, working as a producer like my parents was not necessarily obvious, I wanted to discover other jobs related to agriculture. It was really my internship in the technical department of the cooperative that made me discover this job of crop advisor and I immediately knew that it was for me! »

👩 🌾 The job on a daily basis

• What does your job as a crop advisor consist of?

“My job is to respond to the needs or questions of farmers: whether it is on phytosanitary choices, varieties, irrigation, fertilisation, etc. It is a service profession that member producers benefit from to relieve them in their daily lives, and to compensate for the tools they do not have. This way, they can concentrate on their job as arborists. »

• What does a typical day look like when you support SICOLY producers?

“I don’t really have a typical day, I work according to the seasons. The most intense period for me starts in March and continues until the end of October.

I organize my week by “field” or “office” days or half-days. In the field, for example, in the mornings, I visit the farms to collect trapping data, I carry out surface checks for the Eco-responsible Orchards certification, I monitor the trials of new varieties, I collect leaves from the trees, especially on small fruits for sap or fertilization analysis, I control the ripeness of the fruits as for blackcurrants for which producers are waiting for our green light for the harvest, I organize a PBI (integrated biological protection) tour for crop monitoring, etc.. For the administrative part, we list what is happening in the orchards in order to feed various bulletins that we send to our producers, I enter data on what I have seen in the field, etc.

And from November to February, I take advantage of this quieter period to take care of the HVE certification, I check for our 50 certified farms that they meet the specifications for external audits, I participate in the preparation of end-of-season meetings for each fruit family, etc. »

✅ Skills & future

• In your opinion, what human qualities are important for this job?

“You have to be friendly with the producers, you really like to exchange, share and communicate. You also have to trust yourself and not hesitate to rely on your own knowledge or technical analysis to respond to their requests. And I would also say that my job requires constant questioning and a great ability to adapt because when you work with nature, what is true today, will not necessarily be true tomorrow! »

• How do you see the evolution of your job in the coming years?

“My job evolves with nature, so it’s constantly evolving! This is also what makes it exciting. But on the other hand, I admit that the future scares me a little, because we have to deal more and more with climate change and changes in phytosanitary standards. We will have to look for solutions and adapt, but it remains a profession of passion and of the future! »