Despite some twists and turns along the way, it seems Mel Turner was always destined for a career in horticulture.
As a teenager sticking labels onto Coppox fungicide bags after school to help her father and earn some handy pocket money, Mel vowed never to get into ‘the business’.
Fast forward three decades and it’s a rather different picture, as Mel is carving out a rewarding career in a dual role at national marketing manager and sales manager for Western Australia and the Northern Territory at 7 Worlds Ag.
“The teenager in me would never have imagined it, but I’ve landed in butter,” she says.
“At 7 Worlds Ag, I work with great people in an exciting industry at the forefront of new developments.
“And I’m particularly lucky to be working in the west and the Territory at a time when the horticulture industry is developing in many different directions.”
After almost three years in the two roles, Mel believes they work well together, allowing her to gather insights and feedback from dealers and growers and apply them in her marketing role.
While Mel spends most of her time talking with customers, it’s been as national marketing manager at 7 Worlds Ag where she has enjoyed her biggest and most visible achievement of her career so far.
A new platform
In business, few companies change their name and identity, not only because it is costly, but it is also challenging and often controversial.
But as customers have seen in the past 18 months, Grochem Australia has been become 7 Worlds Ag in a strategic and considered campaign to relaunch the new look company.
The new 7 Worlds Ag is on show through vehicles such as advertising (seen here in Rural Business for example), the company’s website, social media, industry field days and events, product labels and merchandise, right down to the shirts worn by team members on a daily basis.
In 2023, chief executive Ben Coombe asked Mel to take up the challenge of transitioning the 10-year-old Grochem Australia into the future.
“I’d never tackled anything like this before, so I was quite apprehensive to begin with, but it has been one of the most rewarding projects I have ever worked on,” Mel says.
“From day one of the launch in September 2024, the response from dealers, growers and industry people has been really positive.”
Mel is quick to admit there was lot more involved than she imagined.
“This was a real team effort, enabling our people to gather around the table and drill down to our core values – the things that get us out of bed every morning – understanding what we stand for, agreeing on our priorities and setting a new direction, with the guidance of our marketing agency.
“It’s been far more than creating a new look. It’s given the business a fresh platform to reaffirm who we are, where we’re heading, and how we will keep supporting dealers and growers across Australia with innovative and practical solutions.
“The creation of 7 Worlds Ag has helped put the spotlight on our core priorities of sustainability, research and development, and growing our range of products tailored to horticulture.
“For our team, it’s opened up key conversations about softer chemistries, organic inputs and longer-term solutions aligning with what growers need and market trends.”
Mel is very grateful for the opportunity to work on this program, recognising how rare it is for companies and their marketing people to embark on campaigns of this significance.
“On reflection, it is even more ambitious for a small, independent, Australian-owned business like 7 Worlds Ag.”
So how did the feisty teenager, Mel Turner, who hated sticking labels on bags after school end up here, with a most rewarding career in horticulture?
As so many of us have learned over the years, it’s a lesson in taking opportunities, exploring different pathways and enjoying the journey.
After finishing high school in Perth, Mel studied health sciences at university with ambitions to become an occupational therapist, but after two years, she realised it wasn’t for her.
Interestingly, while at university, she had a part-time sales job in Perth, going door to door to sell what she still describes as ‘crap’ solely on commission – such as pens, jumpers, first aid kits, and Wiggles gear.
“Despite the quality of the merchandise, it was a good job because it tested my work ethic, as I had to be out and about knocking on strangers’ doors, rain, hail or shine, but on another level, it was a fascinating job that sparked my interest in marketing,” she says.
That led her to switch her studies to a business degree majoring in marketing at Curtin University.
Soon after, however, Mel contracted Ross River virus, a nasty mosquito-borne infection requiring months of recovery.
As a result, she had no option but to pause her studies, give up her door-to-door sales job, put her stubbornness to one side and reassess her plans.
Of course, the twist in all this is that Mel’s father, Hamish Turner, has spent a lifetime in the crop protection industry.
Among numerous roles, Hamish worked for ICI Rural Division, later known as ICI Crop Care and then Crop Care, back in the 1980s.
Back then, the company introduced minimum tillage in Australia with innovative herbicides such as Spray.Seed and Fusilade, the first of the grass-selective herbicides which led to a quiet revolution in cropping practices across the country.
Joining the family business
In 1992, Hamish left the corporate world to launch his own business, Melpat, specialising mainly in copper fungicides, while Mel was still at primary school.
Behind the scenes, particularly in the early days, was Chris Turner, Hamish’s wife and Mel’s mother, who helped set up Melpat and later worked there full-time before she exited the business in 2014.
Mel’s time at Melpat began in 1999, despite vowing as a teenager that she’d never work in the family business.
Hamish picked his time, approaching Mel to do just that when she was back home recovering from Ross River fever.
“Dad was wise, explaining he needed some extra help as the business was expanding and it would allow me the time to get better and resume my studies part-time,” Mel says.
“It was a smart manoeuvre on his part as I ended up working with him full-time from 2000 as he added more copper products to the Melpat range and then took on the agency role for Farmoz products in WA and the Territory after the company was launched in Australia in 2004.”
Later, Hamish became state manager for Farmoz, but as the Melpat business kept growing and Mel finished her marketing degree, she stepped into sales and marketing at Melpat, hitting the road visiting dealers Australia wide for months at a time.
All up, Mel spent 12 years on the road representing the family business in what she describes as a fabulous experience where she saw more of Australia than most people, travelling from north to south, east to west visiting dealers and growers.
For Mel, it came with the added bonus of spending weekends seeing somewhere different and making friends with lots of great people along the way.
“I had a massive suitcase, loaded up with clothes, promotional materials and dive gear while the hire car became my home on a month on, month off basis.
“Looking back, I appreciate that dad placed so much trust in me during those years, but the travel got a bit much, he wanted to step back, and the competition was stepping up.
“We realised it was time for Melpat to begin a new chapter, so when Ben Coombe approached dad to buy the business and incorporate it into Grochem Australia more than nine years ago, it seemed like a perfect fit.”
Both businesses were focused on horticulture, had complementary portfolios and were family owned in their operating style.
“Dad and I are happy to see how things worked out and it’s good to see our legacy continuing at 7 Worlds Ag where products that came from Melpat still carry the distinctive arch on the product logos,” Mel says.
While Hamish continued in a technical role with Grochem Australia until his retirement in 2018, Mel joined the company to look after customers in Western Australia, South Australia and Sunraysia, to build its presence in the growing almond industry.
Another tough decision
Eager to take a different path after 17 years on the road with Melpat and Grochem Australia, Mel decided to take up a new opportunity to manage a scuba diving store at Welshpool, Perth.
A lifelong water baby and talented scuba diver, Mel spent most of her leisure time in the water and taught scuba diving at the weekends.
As manager of the independently owned dive shop, Mel found herself working with a cross-section of people, learning what goes on in retailing and pricing behind the scenes, in a recreational setting that was both exciting and dangerous.
“It was gruelling in many ways, turning up with a smile every day in front of customers who were there to have fun in potentially treacherous conditions,” she says.
“DeaIers won’t be surprised about this, but I rapidly developed far more empathy for all rural retailers during those four years I managed the dive shop.
“Even worse, I missed everything about horticulture from the moment I left Grochem Australia. Six months into managing the dive shop, I completed a diploma in agricultural business through the University of Tasmania in my spare time.
“Wisely, Ben stayed in touch with me while I had my four-year ‘sabbatical’ at the dive shop, and in 2023. I was grateful when he asked me to come back to Grochem Australia.
“As John Denver sings, it’s good to be back home again.”
Who knows which twists and turns lie ahead, but Mel is convinced every step along the way has landed her the most rewarding career in an industry in which she’s proud to play a part.
