Agrologist

Gary Rolston

"Being with nature, being able to spend time outside.” According to Gary Rolston, this is why he chose a career as an agrologist. As a young man growing up on a ranch in British Columbia’s interior, Gary always thought that a career in agriculture was a natural choice. But after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a degree in agricultural sciences, Gary moved to Alberta and took a job in farmland leasing. After several years, his love of farming and agriculture took him back to B.C., where he started working as a district agriculturist. Almost 20 years later, Garry is now the owner and operator of From the Ground Up. This Vancouver Island agricultural consulting firm stays true to the reason he chose agrology as a career in the first place. "From the Ground Up kind of explains it all. I want to be outside. I don’t want to be sitting at my desk.” Gary has worked on a number of different agrology related projects, including developing farm management plans, providing soil fertility recommendations to farmers, developing draining and irrigation plans for farms, and even developing elaborate greenhouse systems for clients. When Gary is in the field, he’s often in a supervisory role monitoring projects or interacting directly with clients to make sure their needs are met. This means he could be overseeing the application of biosolids (sewage sludge being used as fertilizer) onto a crop, or touring a new irrigation system with a farm owner answering his questions and ensuring the system is working properly. At his desk, Gary can be found working on spreadsheets for data analysis, writing project-specific reports, or researching trends or different agricultural practices. He enjoys the variety of responsibilities his job offers: "A lot of jobs nowadays are cookie-cutter and predictable, whereas when you’re dealing with Mother Nature, she’ll throw anything at you…there’s always variety.” There are a few negative aspects to Gary’s job. As a self-employed agrologist, he says "You can’t always schedule a regular eight-hour day and schedule holidays when you want to.” However, this pales in comparison to the positive aspects. «I just enjoy what I do. I invented it and there’s enough work now to keep me busy and to allow me to make a good living.” Gary is also proud that he is actively contributing to the environmental well-being of the Island. "There are a lot of conflicting land uses in south coastal B.C.” With so many industries vying for the same land on the island, Gary is happy to be able to apply his expertise to ensure the land is used efficiently and will be around for many future generations to enjoy.