Get to know Monique Alexander - Technical Sales Representative

Growing up chasing calves, riding tractors and drinking milk from the vat, to a career spanning zoos, camel dairy farms and ag-tech, Monique’s journey has come full circle, returning to the industry she loves.

My parents were Waikato farmers, so I had a classic Kiwi farming upbringing filled with plenty of memorable experiences. Straight out of school I studied a Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in animal management and welfare then started my career zookeeping in Hamilton and Auckland.

From there, I spent time breaking in camels for the Australian camel dairy industry before heading off on my OE.

On returning home, I joined Halter as an R&D assistant on their trial farm, looking at animal behaviour and welfare. That role reinforced something I’d already begun to realise – working directly with farmers and supporting them to achieve their goals was where I found the greatest satisfaction.

When Farm Source popped up on my radar, I went for it. I started on the shop floor and worked my way through to store manager. I later stepped into a sales role for a dairy nutrition company which reignited my passion in animal health and nutrition. When my current role came up in January for the Te Aroha area, I thought, this is the perfect fit.

Things kicked off pretty quickly when two weeks into my role, severe winds damaged around 80% of the maize crops in our area.

With all that investment flat on the ground, there was a lot of uncertainty. No one really knew how the crops would respond. I was out on-farm, assessing crops with farmers and developing management plans to get them to a point where we could attempt to harvest.

It was challenging but incredibly rewarding to be able to help farmers through that really difficult time. That kind of crisis support is one part of what I do, but day-to-day my role covers a lot more ground.

I see my role as a complimentary on-farm technical support service. I work alongside farmers to understand their goals and challenges and provide them with practical tailored advice around everything from pasture renewal and weed control to nutrition and system efficiencies.

Farmers are often surprised at the full scope of what we can help with. For example, we have access to specialists and industry experts we can bring in, at no cost.

I’ve had lots of early conversations during the winter months around planning for spring cropping, so by the time spring hits and there’s so much else going on, farmers don’t have to make many big decisions.

I love that no two days are ever the same and I enjoy the problem-solving side of my role – particularly the more complex questions that require additional research or collaboration with the wider team.

Because we’re on-farm a lot, I’ll get questions about all sorts, from milk supply to compliance. One of the strengths of Farm Source is the network behind us. If something sits outside my area of expertise, I can connect farmers with the right people and make sure they get the advice they need.

It means farmers get the right advice from the right person at the right time, without having to go searching for it themselves.