Robbie King, farm trader at McCreath Simpson & Prentice (MSP) in Berwick, a trading division of Simpsons Malt Ltd, has been awarded a highly accredited BASIS Certificate in Crop Protection.
The qualification – which involved in-depth training on all aspects of crop protection and agronomy of cereals, oilseeds, peas and beans, root crops and grassland – allows Robbie to operate as an agronomist and give technical advice on crop protection.
Robbie has been with MSP for three and half years as a buyer of malting barley and all other grains, and a seller of fertiliser, seeds, grass seeds, animal feeds.
He also offers agronomy services, which is where the BASIS Certification will be invaluable.
Robbie covers Perthshire, Kinross, and also the West of Fife, but having BASIS will now allow Robbie to support his colleagues in Angus, allowing the division to offer agronomy services to the John Guthrie customer base.
“Simpsons Malt were very supportive during the course, giving me all the necessary training, and helping me gain field based experience,” Robbie said.
“Being both FACTS qualified and now BASIS qualified, I am able to offer my customers technical advice on growing all the crops in their rotation.”
Agrochemical/Grass Seed director David Cairns added: “The qualification enables Robbie to give agronomic advice to Simpson’s Malts’ farmer grower customers, and further strengthens their commitment to supplying the best advice to their customers.”