Unexpected opportunities through agriculture

Published 12 February 2020

"I still can't believe it," says Craig, who leads the Global Regulatory Policy Team for Swiss-based biotech giant Syngenta. "After spending four days in Paris representing the chemical industry at a major OECD conference I returned home to Basel, Switzerland, to catch a flight back to Australia. Who would have thought that the third son of a farmer from country Victoria would be doing stuff like that!"

Craig is in Australia to present at the inaugural four-day conference on the Regulation of Agvet Chemicals and Technologies (RACT), which opened in Armidale on 16 February. Hosted by the University of New England, the conference brings together experts from around the globe to discuss emerging science and innovation risks, stewardship and surveillance, and education and training.

Craig believes Australia has one of the best pesticide regulators in the world in the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) and hopes to bring his international perspective to discussions about safe and effective access to farm chemicals and technologies. "My current job is to encourage governments to base their regulatory decisions about pesticide registration on recognised science and risk and benefit assessments," he says. "More and more, I'm involved in ensuring the free trade of agricultural commodities treated with our products."

On the back of an Agricultural Science degree from La Trobe University, Craig joined French agricultural chemical company Rhone-Poulenc, then joined Novartis in Switzerland. He has since worked for Syngenta in Sydney, Singapore and now at its Swiss headquarters - a jet-setting career that began with the decision, at the tender age of 16, to attend university.

"I was the youngest of four kids and my two elder brothers were destined to return to the family farm, but I wanted to stay connected to agriculture," Craig says. "It was a simple choice to make, but turned out to be a major turning point in my life. University is where I met my wife, who shared my passion for travel, and where I discovered my passion for crop protection."

It's a career path that Craig endorses. "We probably need ag scientists now more than ever," he says. "Agriculture is more professional, complex and riskier. Solutions to many of the complexities lie in science - in how to maintain and improve soil health, how to grow more with less inputs, how to farm sustainably, through to how to communicate better with urban consumers about why agriculture is important.

"We need scientific professionals to advise farmers, advise government policy-makers and businesses involved in the upstream and downstream value chains. An agricultural degree is so broad that it opens up all sorts of unexpected and exciting opportunities."