Irrigationist

Without water, nothing grows – that’s why irrigationists are vital to the success of most horticultural crops. As an irrigationist at Stothart Family Farms in Bellmere, Queensland, Arman Berkett-Saleh helps produce strawberries each year by supervising and maintaining the crop’s irrigation systems.

Arman monitors the strawberry plants to determine the crop’s water and nutritional needs, making sure each plant is not underwatered or overwatered and getting fed correctly.

Arman and the team are always looking for ways to grow the crop more efficiently and adopt new irrigation technologies – such as Priva systems – to ensure they can produce the best strawberries possible.

In recent years, Stothart Family Farms have converted three-quarters its of strawberry growing area to tabletop production, instead of growing them in the ground. This method of growing strawberries, reduces disease, uses less water, and improves quality – and is a lot kinder on workers.