National Career’s Week: Taelyn Male’s agronomy story

by Val Febbo on May 20, 2022

You would be forgiven if you didn’t know what an agronomist was, but Tasmanian-based Pathaways Jackaroo Taelyn Male certainly does, and he absolutely loves his career outside of bowls.

The 25-year-old has always worked around grass or crops, greenkeeping throughout his tertiary studies before developing a fascination for the mechanics of how greenery grows and how to maintain crop health.

“Agronomists assist farming operations whether it’s cropping or fruit, and my area is cropping, so we do a lot of crop monitoring, which involves walking through crops once a week to check for insects, weeds or fungal diseases,” Male said.

“Then we give advice relating to crops to try to fix any issues for the grower.

“I kind of just fell into it, I was greenkeeping through bowls and I had a little background in science through uni and from that I turned to agriculture pretty much.”

The Tasmanian Tridents player continued to pursue the career from there, citing curiosity in the science of the grass.

“I kind of just got interested in the science behind the grass, and my boss wanted to study agricultural science but never got around to completing it due to a busy schedule so he suggested it to me,” Male said.

“He suggested it would be a good idea to give it a crack, so I went back to university to study agricultural science.”

When it comes to juggling the full-time role with his bowls commitments, Male labels the support of his employer as phenomenal.

“I use a lot of leave and leave without pay,” he quipped.

“Work has been very good with assisting me through this, I’m also able to do a bit of work when I’m away as well.

“When I am away on bowls trips I can do a little bit of work as the day finishes or during the event.

“In Winter in Tasmania it’s so cold that it makes it hard for anything to grow so we do get a little bit of down time so it helps as a lot of national events are around that time.”

This week is National Careers Week, running from May 16 to 22, 2022, supported by the Career Industry Council of Australia (CICA).

Now in its fourth year, the week celebrates careers, development and practitioners, and promotes the economic, social and personal benefits of career development.