Building knowledge and networks with graduate agronomist Sam Crozier

“I met Southern NSW Innovation Hub's Drought Adoption Officer, Geoff Minchin who works with Local Land Services NSW earlier in 2025 at a workshop about understanding soils and soil health, which Harden Murrumburrah Landcare Group ran. Then I’ve also heard him speak about his role, services and the Southern NSW Innovation Hub at an event that introduced Cibolabs PastureKey, an online tool for farmers to monitor available feed via satellite remote imaging.”

Sam explained:

“Being in training means I attend a wide range of workshops. That’s probably how I first connected with the Hub – through one of those events. Our local Delta branch also has strong links with Harden Murrumburrah Landcare Group, and our network extends across the region.”

Through Delta’s involvement with FarmLink, Sam has been engaged with the Southern NSW Farming Systems trials conducted in partnership with CSIRO researchers Tony Swan and John Kirkegaard with Grassroots Agronomy’s Greg Condon. Sam also works with others on managing the trials and work underway at the CSIRO’s Boorowa Agricultural Research Station.

During his graduate case study project, he got to work with Fiona Leech from Local Land Services NSW in Yass on exploring aspects of her phosphorus in pastures project, looking into the sulphur component in pasture specifically and conducting soil testing to see what’s missing. This included visits to the Bookham demonstration site, which were part of the Hub’s Resilient Pastures project, where Fiona's work with phosphorus in pastures was being discussed.

Sam said, “We also heard from CSIRO’s Richard Simpson at the same event – he’s a whizz at all things phosphorus, particularly relating it to phosphorus cycling and maintenance in pasture systems.”

Sam works under a senior agronomist mentor and currently has one farm business that he manages the agronomy for independently, while he also works across a number of others. His client base reflects the area’s overwhelmingly mixed farming systems operations – with around 70% of his farmers running sheep alongside their cropping enterprises and around 30% running cattle.

“A typical farming system rotation in this region might include a four-year pasture phase followed by six years of cropping – usually wheat, canola, wheat,” he explains. “This year [2025], due to the late start, there has been a noticeable increase in barley plantings. Feed crops, including forage mixes for winter and summer, are also an important part of the system.”

When considering Southern NSW Innovation Hub’s projects and associated events, Sam notes that many recommended practices are already widely adopted locally.

“Stock confinement feeding is a good example – most producers in our area already have adopted some sort of confinement feeding area, especially the sheep producers. We also see some innovative solutions from the farms, such as using recycled railings for feed troughs and lots more.”

Asked where he would direct someone wanting to learn more about confinement feeding, Sam said:

“I’d look to connect them with a local producer who’s already implementing it. Technical information is available – for example, the LLS booklet on confinement feeding, which we have in the Harden store – but producers place a high value on hearing directly from their peers, especially ones who are local to them.”

For Sam, each project, client interaction and research collaboration is contributing to a solid foundation for his career in agronomy – and strengthening Delta’s connections with the farming communities it serves.