Growing up on the family farm in the Lockyer Valley resulted in a keen interest in Agriculture. This farm had quite a few disease problems and much of the developing years were spent spraying fungicides which seemed to be ineffective. These issues resulted in a project on Downey Mildew in Onion as the fourth year project of a Bachelor of Agricultural Science degree at UQ St Lucia.
The years from 1992 -1994 were spent on a project at South Johnston QDPI evaluating prediction systems for Sigatoka. In mid 1994 Shane left the QDPI and began pest scouting in bananas, principally recommending fungicide applications. Upon Grower requests soil sampling became part of the business. Up until this time ineffective fungicides had been a common problem across crops. A trend identifying higher calcium as a factor in blocks with less fungal disease had been seen when the company was introduced to Ward Penwarn and the Petrik soil test interpretation. With this clarification the disease relationship became obvious. In 2003 a paper outlining this nutrition/disease relationship was published in the Australian Journal of Experimental Agriculture. Since 2000 biological farming principals have underpinned all of the work the company is involved in. In early 2008 TGS purchased Petrik Australia of Ward Penwarn and now operates as PPD the Australian Petrik distributor.
Liam grew up in the country town of Stanthorpe surrounded mostly by apples, stonefruit and vineyards. Liam completed a certificate 2 in horticulture at the DPI in Applethorpe after completing year 12 in 2003. Liam began at the University of Queensland in 2004 studying a Bachelor of Applied Science, majoring in agronomy and horticulture, where he graduated from University in June 2007 and started with Total Grower Services in July 2007.
Growing up and working on her family's banana farm in Kennedy, Anita developed a strong interest in agriculture. This led her to complete a Bachelor of Applied Science at the University of Queensland from which she graduated with Honors. Anita initially began working with Shane Fitz Gerald back in 2000 while the business was trading as Fitz Gerald Horticultural Consultancy. Anita re-joined the TGS team in 2006 on a part time basis while she and her husband raise their 3 children.
Nathan attended the University of Queensland Gatton campus before commencing employment as an agronomist on the Sunshine Coast in south-east Queensland. During previous employment, Nathan was introduced to biological farming and the many benefits of taking a holistic approach to agriculture. He was fortunate enough to spend some of his time travelling both interstate and oversees presenting seminars in sustainable agriculture. Nathan joined the Total Grower Services team in March 2009.