The new Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) farm solutions manager is relishing the challenges in a job in which she gets to work with farmers daily.
Growing up on a dairy farm, at Aparima, near Otautau, Miss Dickson always had an interest in the agriculture sector.
Weekends were spent helping on the farm and she knew from a young age it was a sector she wanted to work in, she said.
After finishing high school, Miss Dickson headed to Lincoln University and completed a diploma in agriculture and then a diploma in farm management.
As part of her studies, Miss Dickson spent time working on other farming properties and learning about how other farmers ran theiroperations.
Looking to continue learning from others, she took on the farm solutions manager role for Aparima-Western Southland with LIC.
Her position involves working with farmers throughout Western Southland, organising their farm mating plans and Protrack systems among other tasks.
While she had only been in the role for a few months, she was enjoying the challenges it encompassed, she said.
Talking with farmers and working out what worked for them was all a part of the day-to-day job, which kept her on her toes.
She was also enjoying learning from other farmers, who offered an array of experience in the dairy sector.
''I want to widen my knowledge base and meet a whole lot of different farmers in the industry.''
Miss Dickson could always see herself farming, but she wanted to do something different before settling back into on-farm life, she said.
''You need to do something else while you're younger before going back to the farm.''
Her passion for the agriculture sector meant she was taking steps in the right direction to achieving her own personal goals, she said.
''The end goal is farm ownership.''
