Rich career comes to close
After 35 years with Pacific Seeds, stalwart Rob McCarron is retiring
WELL-KNOWN local face Rob McCarron is celebrating 35 years of service with Pacific Seeds after starting with the organisation in October 1982.
Mr McCarron, who works as the Pacific Seeds territory manager for coastal NSW, northern WA and the NT, started work as a depot supervisor in Dubbo, where Pacific Seeds operated a processing plant in the early 1980s.
Shortly after he moved to a role in Emerald, where agriculture was rapidly expanding.
“I was only in Emerald for 15 months or so but I loved it, it was some of my best time with the company. People in general were very hospitable and friendly,” Mr McCarron said.
“I was working in such big open spaces and calling on farmers was a big part of it.
“A lot of the farmers had moved up from NSW, Victoria and South Australia and were hungry for information and there wasn’t the access to it that there is today.”
Mr McCarron moved to Gunnedah shortly afterwards when a job opened up.
“The general manager at the time was reluctant to let me leave Emerald after just moving up there, but I convinced him to let me move back to my home territory and promised I’d stay in Gunnedah for 10 years and not move again. That was more than 30 years ago.”
At the time, Mr McCarron’s sales territory reached from Sydney to Forbes and up to Walgett and across to the coast, including Coffs Harbour down to Taree.
“Our territories were bigger back then when we did not have the product range to sell compared to today – we’ve got a lot more territory managers on the road now,” he said.
“Back then, sunflowers and the Hysun range were the dominant products I sold, whereas today sunflowers are a minor crop and the canola dominates.”
“If my memory serves me well, I think I was the first territory in the company to sell $1 million worth of product back in the late 1980s.
“As a result, my territory was streamlined and I concentrated on servicing the Liverpool Plains for the next few years.
“I still travel a lot up and down the coast, and up to the Kimberleys and across the Territory.
“I love it and have recently returned from a trip to Kununurra and the Territory.”
He said a career highlight with Pacific Seeds had been the camaraderie within the team and with the farmers also.
“I’m still close to a lot of the people I’ve met along the way within this company, my colleagues and the farmers I’ve met, particularly the farmers I have conducted trials with over the years,” Mr McCarron said.
“The company should really have the motto ‘one in, all in’ by now because we’ve really all pitched in over the years to help each other out – particularly between divisions within the company when the pressure was on.”
❝ I was working in such big open spaces and calling on farmers was a big part of it. — Rob McCarron