Joe’s career a window to the world of agriculture
AT just 26, Joe Masters reckons his job at Fletchers International is a dream come true.
He markets wheat and barley, setting prices for container sales into a host of mainly southeast Asian nations, working to ensure the company can do its best to meet demands which fluctuate wildly on a daily basis.
“In the container market, the growth’s been phenomenal in the last 10 years. It’s been something we’ve seen as an opportunity and the growth at Fletchers here in the grain facility has been huge and allowed us to go into a number of different commodities,” Joe said.
“I handle the wheat and barley but there’s also a number of other commodities such as pulses and oilseeds such as canola and cottonseed that we’re pushing through this facility.”
Joe grew up on a property 40 kilometres from Wellington.
“I’ve always had a strong tie to the family farm and wanted to be close by but work in the agribusiness sector. I also had a strong will to travel the world and I think this job gives me the opportunity to be in a business environment where every day there’s something new.
“You’ve always got variables in the job such as the futures, the wheat futures and the currency, but it also comes back to my roots which is agriculture which I’ve always had a really strong passion for,” Joe told Dubbo Photo News.
“I did a Bachelor of Agricultural Economics at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale and that set the foundations up to come in to a job that entailed a lot of the core fundamentals of supply and demand and trying to derive the best price for the grower and the company.
Joe points out that most of the main hubs of the grain industry are based out of Singapore, Melbourne, Sydney or Brisbane – given the industry’s large scale it’s is very rare for one of the key players in the southeast Asia and Australian marketplace to be a family-owned and operated business. He says it’s fantastic and much better in the way you’re looked after
“I’ve done quite a bit of travelling in the three years I’ve been here. I’ve been to Taiwan, China, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, India, South Korea and other countries,” he said.
He said the job was a steep learning curve for a boy from Wello.
“It is very challenging but I think with the experience of Roger and the team it sets you up well.
“For my first few trips I was taken with a senior guy from the company and taught how we want to sell Fletchers, and how we support the customers – that’s set the foundations of what I’ve learnt,” Joe said, commenting that while he learnt the academic basics at UNE, the in-house training that Fletchers provides is vital.
“It’s a big thing – I think it is important to have that core information you do learn at uni but I think you quickly learn straight off the bat that you are very green and experience is a big thing.
“You don’t learn unless you’re out there doing it and that’s the biggest thing I think over the past three years, I’ve been thrown in there and been able to learn as I go and learn from the others within the company,” Joe said.
“The company puts a lot of faith and trust in people like myself.”