28 October 2003: Leading Australian seed company, Pacific Seeds’ new canola business manager, David Strong is keenly focused on farmers' needs and challenges.

David's career in agriculture began 13 years ago, spending the first five years in broadacre sales, which has stood him in good stead in the industry.

"I think the most important thing that I have learned is to have empathy and understanding," he said. "Farmers want access to new technology and new varieties, quality products and value for money."

With this in mind, David said he aims to "make life easier" and deliver value to growers where he can."Farming is a challenging enough business. Managing the effects of the elements and the changing market prices is difficult enough without us complicating things further," he said. "If we're not improving things and delivering better value then we shouldn't be doing it."

David, who was previously with DuPont, is now based in Melbourne and looking forward to his new role."I have a strong background in brands management and I'm keen to apply this to Pacific Seeds’ canola brands," he said.

David said the canola industry is entering challenging and exciting times over the next 12 months with the next year promising something new on the horizon from Pacific Seeds."Next season we have two new exciting varieties for commercial release," he said."One is modeled on the best selling Hyola 60 line and is every bit as good and in many ways even better, whilst the other is an early-mid TT canola with outstanding early vigour."

While new to the seed industry, David is not a stranger to agriculture. "I have sold a lot of grass and broadleaf herbicides, fungicides and insecticides to growers over the years, so I certainly understand things from this angle," he said.David is also a strong believer in maintaining contact with growers."I know it sounds silly," he said. "But it's a golden rule that anybody in business should never forget - never lose sight of your customer." "You've got to constantly put yourself in your customer’s shoes, think and feel like your customer does, and you can't go wrong."

Caption: Pacific Seeds’ new canola business manager, David Strong