Phil Tickle
Co-Founder & Managing Director
Toowoomba, QLD
Phil is a co-founder and Managing Director of Cibo Labs. He has a background in agriculture, growing up on mixed farms in southern Australia. Phil has over 30 years experience in the application of geospatial and remote sensing solutions focused on natural resource management, agriculture and climate change. He has worked in both private and government sectors undertaking applied research, providing science-policy advice, and leading national research and operational programs. Phil is passionate about delivering pragmatic solutions that support profitable farm businesses, the broader agricultural sector and more sustainable landscapes.
In his spare time Phil enjoys getting out in the bush with the family, riding (motorbikes and horses), camping, hiking and fishing.
Dr Peter Scarth
Principal Research Scientist
Brisbane, QLD
Peter is a co-founder and Principal Scientist for Cibo Labs. Peter has been a jackaroo, a sustainable timber harvester and a youth ambassador. Over the last 20 years he has played a key role in the development of Australia’s public remote sensing capabilities.
Peter is a world-leading scientist in full stack remote sensing across terrestrial and aquatic environments. He’s passionate about delivering real-world solutions through: open collaboration; big spatial and small messy field data; OpenData APIs; computation on bare metal, cloud and IoT.
Peter also maintains a position at the University of Queensland School of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
Alastair Rayner
National Adoption & Extension Manager
Calderwood, NSW
Alastair is a highly regarded extension specialist. Starting his career with NSW Agriculture as a Livestock Officer in Training (Beef Products) in 1996, Alastair progressed to District Livestock Officer (Beef Products) at Glen Innes & Tamworth. His role involved working directly with beef producers and focused on grazing management and the extension of Beef CRC research – particularly managing the effects of pre and post weaning.
In 2013 Alastair commenced his own specialist consultancy – RaynerAg where he continues to work with producers on aspects of nutrition, genetics and livestock selection. His extension skills and experience are particularly suited to his role in managing the extension and adoption process for the join Cibo Labs & MLA Australian Feedbase Monitor.
Alastair has a Masters in Philosophy from the University of Qld, awarded for his research into extension practice in the NSW beef industry, as well as B.App Sci (Systems Agriculture) from UWS – Hawkesbury and a Cert IV Training & Assessment.
Jess Paton
Customer Support Manager (Grazing Technologies)
Roma, QLD
Jess started her role as the Cibo Labs customer support manager in April 2022 and is based in Roma QLD. She grew up on her family property in Tooma, South-East NSW where they run a commercial beef cattle enterprise. Jess successfully completed a Bachelor Agriculture/Bachelor of Business through the University of New England. She has experience in livestock production, genetics and reproduction, customer service and support, administration and data management. For the past 2 years, Jess worked as a cattle embryo transfer technician at the Holbrook Vet Centre.
She is passionate about the livestock industry and extremely excited to work with producers to improve their business efficiency and productivity through use of the Cibo Labs technology. Jess also works part-time with Rhonda Toms-Morgan at ConnectAg, where she is involved in project planning and event management in the South-West QLD region.
Nik Henry
Senior GeoSpatial Analyst
Canowindra, NSW
Nik has extensive experience integrating and administering software systems to optimise business outcomes. With over 18 years working in NSW government, initially (1999) as the Salinity Technical Officer based in Cowra NSW mapping Landuse and Saline outbreaks throughout the Central West. Then working in several roles through this time, as a Systems Administrator with some technical support for the state-wide spatial mapping system the “Land Management Database”. Later as the Senior Business Analyst with project management responsibilities working on critical spatial system development and platform integrations.
Nik has a flair for problem solving, systems life-cycle-management and integration utilising Agile techniques. With extensive experience administering and utilising platforms like Atlassian Cloud (Jira and Confluence), ArcGIS Online and other cloud-based GIS environments. Also, solid grounding with customer support and success, working on the deployment of systems to meet client requirements.
Wendy Gill
Extension and Support Team
Forbes, NSW
Wendy has worked in the Agricultural Advisory and extension space for more than 20 years, She has extensive experience and qualifications in mixed farming agricultural systems, livestock production – wool sheep, beef, genetics, reproduction, pasture and winter forage agronomy, grazing management, biosecurity, invasive species management, emergency management, and technical research from her work in private and government sectors.
She has a key focus on applying and extending new research, and ag technology in a practical, and relatable way to producers and industry to create efficiencies in their business processes.
When away from Cibo Labs, Wendy runs her own private advisory & consultancy business, for clients and collaborates with the industry on extension projects, based in Central West NSW.
In her spare time, she also is passionate about running her own Merino sheep and wool business, following sports, reading, experimenting in the kitchen and spending time with family and friends.
Juan Guerschman
Senior Remote Sensing Scientist
Canberra, ACT
Juan is a highly experienced Remote Sensing Scientist. He joined Cibo Labs in March of 2022, where he develops novel approaches to measuring, modelling and monitoring Australia’s agricultural lands. He works closely with Cibo’s AgTech and research partners and key clients to bring world-leading science to the agricultural sector with the ultimate goals of underpinning more profitable farms and more sustainable landscapes.
Before joining Cibo Labs, Juan spent 16 years with CSIRO as a Postdoc and Research Scientist. He worked with Government agencies, Industry and International partners in remote sensing product development and applications for Natural Resources Management in the land sector.
Juan has a degree in Agriculture Engineering and a PhD from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
When not working he can be found sailing in lake Burley Griffin or the South Coast. Or if not sailing he may be playing football or spending time with his family and friends.
Emily Baylis
Extension & Support Team
Moree, NSW
Emily began working for Cibo Labs in October 2023 after successfully completing a Bachelor of Business/Bachelor of Agriculture at the University of New England in 2022 and a 6-month hiatus travelling solo overseas in 2023.
Throughout her studies she worked in the UNE Marketing Department in Student Support and Administration and has developed a high regard for customer satisfaction and quality assurance.
From droving cattle in western NSW with her family in the drought of 2002, growing up on the family property in Katherine then Mataranka Station, NT, agriculture and particularly beef cattle have always been a part of her life and something she has a strong passion for.
She is keen to work with producers all over Australia to assist with building an understanding of pasture sustainability and productivity efficiency in the livestock industry with the application of Cibo Labs technology.
Tony Gill
Senior Applications Developer
Dubbo, NSW
Tony is a remote sensing scientist and software developer. He commenced at Cibo Labs in July 2022, wanting to work on projects that contribute towards profitable farms and well managed landscapes. Tony builds and monitors data processing systems, with the goal of delivering information to customers quickly and reliably. He has a Bachelor of Science from Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, and a PhD in remote sensing from the University of Queensland.
In the 20 years prior to joining Cibo Labs, Tony honed his skills in industry, research and government. He built computer visualisation systems for the mining industry, researched methods for estimating vegetation cover from satellite images, and developed information systems to support landscape monitoring programs in Queensland and New South Wales.
Away from the office, he watches basketball and goes running whenever he can. He may also be found planting trees on his four-acre block in Dubbo, chasing after his daughters, or playing board games with family and friends.