Lisa Birrell

“Staying in the city wasn’t for me. I was always going to be a country girl,” declares Lisa.

"My mother's side of the family is from west of Hamilton, so we used to spend all our school holidays on the farm with my grandparents. I think that's where I developed the love for the country, and from watching the television show All Creatures Great and Small. But there are just so many great things about Shepparton,” Lisa explains.

"Greater Shepparton has 70-75,000 people, so it’s a good size, it has great schools, a big hospital, it’s a couple of hours out of Melbourne, and everything that I need is here. There is so much diversity in the agricultural sector here too. From the animal side with dairy, sheep, beef cattle and pigs, to the fantastic horticultural sector growing stone fruit, citrus, apples, and pears.

"There is also a lot of cropping that's happening in either grain production or for animal production. So, for an agricultural scientist, there’s a lot to do.”

Lisa graduated with a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at the University of Melbourne in 1996, when it was a four-year degree. “We were a small cohort back then, but over the years we have kept in contact and caught up with each other. It's amazing when you run into your fellow Ags at different functions,” she shares.

“It is a wonderful degree. I was exposed to such a variety of subjects and all sorts of training, which has been invaluable throughout my career. In workplaces it’s becoming more common to work in small teams, which we did a lot of at uni. Often we didn't pick those teams, we were just put into groups, so we learned to work with a variety of different people with different work styles and abilities. That is very powerful.

“The skills I developed during my agricultural degree are still ones I draw on all the time in my professional life.”

After finishing university, Lisa started a job in the pig and poultry industry with Southern Cross Biotech, before it became Alpharma Animal Health. “I got to travel to Mexico in that role, which was a really fascinating part of my journey,” she says.

“There are many travel opportunities with agriculture, which people don’t realise. There are so many companies and countries that would welcome you in with your skillset as it’s so practical.”

Lisa first landed in Shepparton in 2002 as a dairy cow nutritionist and consultant across the Goulburn and Murray Valleys. She then moved to a role at Fonterra, where she worked directly with farmers on ways to improve milk quality and increase on-farm productivity. Lisa further strengthened these ties as a regional extension officer with Murray Dairy, where she facilitated research, courses and workshops for dairy farmers in the Murray and Goulburn areas.

With her agricultural science training, varied industry experience, deep connection with northern Victoria and knowledge exchange expertise – what she calls ‘joining the dots’ across the agriculture value chain – Lisa was the natural choice to lead NorVicFoods.

NorVicFoods was established in 2021 to bring together research and innovation in science, technology, engineering and policy to enhance the Hume region’s agri-food businesses and deliver economic value to the area.

“We all need to eat, and at the end of the day, with an Ag degree, what we are talking about is growing food. Whether it’s growing wheat and barley for people, or wheat and barley for cattle, sheep, pigs or poultry, we’re really talking about food production. Food is always going to be the most important, most essential industry,” explains Lisa.

For anyone thinking about studying agriculture or pursuing a career in ag, Lisa is very encouraging. “The degree can take you anywhere, and you can work in so many different areas. For example, we definitely need more people in the agricultural research and innovation space. Is there technology we haven’t thought of that can help us cope with climate change and make our lives easier?”

In her experience, people are sometimes surprised to learn that someone in industry started their career with an agriculture degree. “The head of Macquarie Bank is an agricultural scientist,” says Lisa. “I think agricultural science as a degree is misunderstood, because everyone thinks you're going to be an agronomist or a farmer. I certainly got that a lot.”

For Lisa, the future of agriculture is bright. “We're on the cusp of so much fantastic progress in the agriculture and food space. There is a lot happening and there is so much possibility. It's one of the most exciting fields you can work in.”

Story by Ben Keirnan.