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17/11/2022
Ryan Petersen exemplifies the vision for agricultural professionals – where careers span well beyond the farm gate, and enjoy universal appeal in both the country and city.
While not from a traditional farming background, Ryan grew up on the Atherton Tablelands, where farming is weaved throughout the region, producing everything from fruits and vegetables, to dairy and coffee.
With his uncle a dairy farmer, he was exposed to agriculture throughout his childhood.
He also worked casually on an avocado farm doing maintenance, fertigation as well as machine picking Kifler potatoes, yet Ryan’s interest in ag lies firmly out of the paddock.
Currently studying a Bachelor of Engineering majoring in Electronic Systems and Internet of Things at James Cook University Ryan’s interests are in IT, electronics, and technology. And it’s in this space Ryan is keen to contribute to the rural sector.
“Agriculture is a field encompassing emerging technologies for all manner of tasks such as GPS guided tractors or data logging, and my current goal and university thesis are both focused on agricultural advancement,” Ryan said.
And he now has even further opportunity to contribute to the industry, thanks to a $15,000 Rabo Tertiary Pathways Scholarship, which provides an opportunity to gain valuable experience and insight into rural banking.
“I am a firm believer that you should expose yourself to many different experiences in life as we grow best as we learn new things.”
“Rabobank interested me because it is a bank, which is new, but work in agribusiness and ag-tech, which I have an interest in.”
“Having grown up around farms and worked on one for a while, translating those learnings to a business that facilitates farming is a new and exciting step.”
As part of his scholarship, Ryan has had the opportunity to work in Rabobank’s Atherton branch, under a dedicated mentor, Gavin Kruger, as well as prepare a research project with support from Rabobank’s wealth of resources.
Ryan’s research explores agricultural photovoltaics, or agrivoltaics, which he describes as “a fancy word for bringing solar technology and agriculture together through shared land use”
“Picture arrays of panels above crops of various types working in tandem to both generate power and high crop yield for sun-sensitive plants – but it’s much more than just that.”
“Agrivoltaics has broad applications, so through my project I’ll do my best to capture specific examples to illustrate how this technology can help sustainable practices.”