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Founded in 2013, Grassland Agro is a manufacturer specialising in soil, plant and animal nutrition. The business covers three different strands; speciality, dairy hygiene and commodity. The demand for specialist advisors resulted in a recruitment drive over the last 18 months.
One of the driving forces behind the increase in employees was the company’s Soil Sustainability Programme, launched three years ago to help farmers improve soil health across three pillars: chemical, physical and biological.
With the geographical areas getting bigger, the existing team of sales reps weren’t able to deal with the workload.
The team was expanded from 22 to 46 according to Lorraine Rossiter, group human resource manager.
“Working in partnership with merchants and co-ops has in turn has made the whole aspect of what we do busier. That’s the driving force behind the increase in demand and employment and that doesn’t seem to be easing up at all,” says Lorraine.
With everything that’s happening at the minute with the fertiliser register and the changes in farming, all new employees that they hire have an agricultural degree and masters.
“It’s been really busy, but it’s been really positive,” she says.
Finding the right fit
With full employment in the country, it is an employee’s market which has made it particularly difficult to fill roles and find qualified staff.
“We have lost a few employees recently, not to other competitors, but to people going abroad to travel. With a lot of people in 22 to 28 age brackets, if they didn’t get to travel during Covid-19, they’re now leaving to experience that,” says Lorraine.
Having good links with colleges and providing a student work placement scheme has helped Grassland Agro attract talent.
“We put them into an area, they do soil sampling, silage analysis and other tests on site as part of the sustainability program. They’re seeing what the guys do on the ground, so if they decide to go into a career in sales, they have that experience,” she says.
Current vacancies
There are current vacancies and opportunities in Grassland Agro for technical sales advisers and technical product and sustainability managers.
“When a sales advisor starts with us, they go through a fairly intensive training programme for 12 weeks. Employees learn all the products out on farm with other reps, regional managers and product and marketing teams. It’s changing all the time, so training never ends with Grassland Agro,” says Lorraine.
As part of every recruitment process, she tells every applicant this is 50:50, “you choose us and we choose you”.
With 24 years’ experience in HR, Lorraine has seen people come in for an interview with doubts about whether they want the role they are applying for. For her, it’s important that each employee delivers a high-level service to farmers.
“We have partnerships with merchants and co-ops, so we have to be able to deliver a high level of service.
“We take it really seriously and because of that I say to them all If you don’t like what we do, or if there are any doubts about what we do, you need to clear that up,” she says.
• For more information about Grassland Agro, visit ie.timacagro.com
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