What is an agronomist?

There are many jobs on the farm. From the farmer and growers to the field workers and tractor drivers. Today 13 On Your Side wants to introduce you to another important job in agriculture. The Agronomist.

Meet Nate Dorsey. He is an agronomist in Yuma, Arizona.

“The way that I explain being an agronomist is basically being an agricultural scientist,” Dorsey said. “You really have to know as many things as you can about agriculture so that’s biology, how plants grow, how they use water, how they use nutrients, also thing like weather and soils…there is a lot of things that come into play with agronomy,” he added.

A lot of agronomists specialize in different things like looking for bugs or diseases in plants.

“It’s pretty varied but pretty much anything that is going on on the farm, an agronomist is expected to be an expert on all of that,” he said.

Dorsey specializes in precision agriculture, which means he helps farmers use technology to improve their efficiency, be more profitable and farm better.

He tells 13 On Your Side what makes him most excited about working in Ag is being able to find solutions for farmers.

Dorsey is also the expert that teaches tractor operators how to work the new technology on tractors.