Career spanning five decades sees Phil engineer solutions for agriculture sector
Principal Consultant Phil Metcalfe joined RSK Group company ADAS while studying for his master’s degree in agricultural engineering, never imagining that he would end up building a 50-years-and-counting career with the business.
Having always had an interest in cars and engineering in general, Phil pursued a degree in mechanical engineering before entering the aeronautical industry. He said: “After a year, I decided to switch to agricultural engineering, as I felt it would be a better fit for me and would give me the opportunity to specialise. When I was studying for my master’s, one of the other students on my course was a general agricultural adviser at ADAS who was being retrained to be a mechanisation adviser. He made me aware of the business and encouraged me to apply for a position.”
Working at ADAS would also give him experience to support his family’s farming business, which he had initially planned to return to. Phil said: “As ADAS developed, I continued to take up the various opportunities on offer at the business. In time, we gained access to better business in the land-based industry sector for waste management, energy and associated land use.
“Engineering is all about solving a problem, so we as engineers responded to the opportunities in waste processing, including composting for recycling to land. ADAS went from consultancy and research to adding organic waste treatment contracting. The challenge was to define the investment in regulatory-compliant systems for the reduction of pollution of major catchments.
“ADAS continues to provide farm infrastructure and livestock manure advice to farmers in England under catchment-sensitive farming.”
The wide range of applications for agricultural engineering skills enabled Phil to respond to opportunities that have grown through development with colleagues and are now cornerstones of the business. These include life cycle analysis for composting systems, as well as energy and carbon comparison of organic farming combined with energy auditing and renewables.
In the half century since Phil joined the business, engineering in agriculture has evolved. When he was a student, he researched the development of digital data acquisition using hand-soldered binary counters, but he said digital analysis has grown exponentially over the last five decades, not just in agricultural engineering but in all aspects of life: “Now we have touchscreens in the tractor cab, and machinery is guided within millimetres through global positioning systems (GPS).
“When I joined ADAS, the emphasis was on production driven by ‘food from our own resources’ policy documents. The country was in the grip of rising fuel costs, and over the years this has resurfaced regularly, including now. The effects of fossil fuels on global warming are now evident, and engineers study and address global warming emissions from food production and land management.”
On the important role agricultural engineers play, Phil said that the beauty of the discipline is that it applies to all agricultural production and its adaptability means it can respond to challenges. With a dramatic rise in the world population since the mid-20th century, Phil said that productivity must be increased without destroying the environment that underpins all production.
As he reflects on 50 years at ADAS, for Phil it is business as usual. However, he credited the people he has met and worked with over the years as a particular highlight, as well as all the training he has received and projects he has worked on and led.
Phil added: “I put together the first ADAS-led contract for the European Union in 1994, which involved assembling a team from within ADAS to deliver agricultural extensions to increase production in other countries.
“That led onto a series of project preparation consultancies for the World Bank on recycling farm and village waste in Romania, Turkey, Serbia and Russia to reduce pollution of the Danube and Black Sea.”
For anyone considering a career in agricultural engineering, Phil said it is important to have a good background in the broader aspects of engineering and applied sciences: “It will make you adaptable to different challenges. I would also recommend joining the Institution of Agricultural Engineers (IAgrE), as it is a great way of networking with industry professionals and supporting professional development. These things combined will help you build a fulfilling, interesting and long-lasting career in the field.”
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ADAS
ADAS is the UK’s largest independent provider of agricultural and environmental consultancy, rural development services, research and development and policy advice. It has more than 75 years’ experience of delivering national agricultural and environmental consultancy services that tackle two major issues of modern times: securing the food supply and enhancing the environment. ADAS works alongside farmers, landowners, corporate organisations and the government to help them achieve their sustainability goals.