Maurilio Rezende Silva Neto: Meet Nutrien's Brazilian broadacre guru
Moving from Brazil to Australia in 2010, Maurillio joined the Mareeba and Tolga branch in 2019 after almost 10 years spent working as an agronomist in the NSW Riverina.
Specialising in mainly broadacre crops such as cotton, corn, sorghum and pastures, Maurilio is committed to helping the growers of the far north combat the unique challenges associated with tropical farming.
“Here on the tropics, we can pretty much grow anything and there’s a lot of clients trying new things,” Maurilio said.
“I look after mainly broadacre crops up here so cotton, corn, sorghum, a little bit of soybeans, mungbeans and plenty of pastures.
“I have growers who come from grazing backgrounds who are trying broadacre farming for the first time on their properties.
“One thing we know for sure is we’re going to get a wet season, we just don’t know how wet it’s going to be. The best years so far have been the drier years like this year where we saw really good results on our crops.”
Growing up on a dairy farm in Brazil, Maurilio knew his heart always lied in agriculture and after graduating as an agronomist he was particularly eager to work within the Australian cotton industry.
“Having worked with cotton in Brazil, the quality and yield of cotton here was really renowned worldwide. I always wanted the opportunity to come to Australia and spend some time in this agricultural landscape,” he said.
“When I first came to Australia, I worked for a farming group but in 2014 I joined Nutrien, working as an agronomist out of the Hay and Hillston branches.
“It was challenging to start in NSW as it was very different to the farming I was used to in Brazil. But I had really good support there and learnt so much.”
Since moving with his wife and two sons to Tolga in 2019, Maurilio has found a home in the Far North and is now one of the most experienced agronomists in the area.
“Here’s a lot more like home in terms of tropical farming and I can lean on my existing experience to see what we can do here,” he said.
“There’s a lot of challenges as an agronomist but it’s really rewarding when you get a result at the end of the year.
“I’m also surrounded by a great team here at Mareeba and Tolga, I think we all learn a lot off each other with some agronomists focusing on horticulture and others in broadacre.”
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