NEW branch manager at AFGRI Equipment - Esperance, Michael Perry, quite literally knows John Deere machines from the inside out.
That is because before being promoted to branch manager, he worked in the parts section and then was parts manager at AFGRI Equipment - Esperance.
From a farming background, Mr Perry grew up at Carnamah where his parents Neil and Karen Perry still farm and are John Deere customers at the local AFGRI branch.
He then attended Wesley College in Perth as a boarder before working for a plumbing supplies company in Perth for 13 years.
Having met and married an Esperance girl, Kirsty-Lee, and started a family - they have three children, son Duke, 7, and daughters Indiana, 4, and Gigi, 1 - Mr Perry said they decided to leave the city behind and move to Esperance three years ago.
There he joined AFGRI Equipment - Esperance, initially as a salesman, then quickly moved to parts.
"I had some learning to do after being out of agriculture for 13 years," Mr Perry, 36, said.
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"From when I left the farm at Carnamah to when I joined AFGRI at Esperance, the machines had changed quite a bit.
"But I think working in parts was an excellent way to get to know the machines, how they work and what they do.
"Esperance is a magic place and my family and I are happily settled into the community here.
"For us, it's a long-term move."
A keen footballer, Mr Perry played junior football with Carnamah and country football before graduating to playing a couple of seasons with Western Australian Football League club Subiaco.
"I played on the backline, I enjoyed it back there," he said.
Moving to Esperance he joined Ports Football Club in the Esperance District Football Association.
"We won the flag my first year here with Ports so that was good," Mr Perry said.
But during the pre-season last year he suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury which kept him out of the game last season.
"This season, I've been filling in with a few games in A Grade and B Grade," he said.
"I'm taking it pretty carefully, I've got to look after the knee."
Mr Perry replaces Brad Forrester as AFGRI Equipment - Esperance branch manager.
Mr Forrester has moved to AFGRI Equipment's South Guildford headquarters and will take on a new senior role later in the year.
