Potato Review

www.potatoreview.com POTATO REVIEW MARCH/APRIL 2020 37 SIGN POST SIGN POST JEFF FIELDSEND “The agrochemical industry is having to react to increasing environmental concerns linked to consumer and pressure group demands.” PROFES IONAL’S PROFILE FMC Agro’s Commercial Technical Manager tells us how he grew to appreciate custodians of the land, his outlook for the potato industry and what the next generation can expect. T ell us a little about yourself. What did you aspire to be when you were growing up? I have worked in the agricultural industry for more than 40 years and I grew up in with a farming background as my grandfather was a tenant farmer on a small farm near to Market Rasen in Lincolnshire. My early memories are of time spent on the farm helping with the harvest and tending livestock. I found the whole idea of farming not only fascinating but also exciting as I enjoyed so much being outdoors. Many of my Easter and Summer holidays were spent on the farm and I grew to understand not only the workings of a farm business, but also that farmers are custodians of the land and how the balance of nature can be quickly changed by new methods of farming. How did you embark on your career path and go about achieving your goals? I left school after achieving my ‘O’ Levels and went to work on a dairy farm near to Louth in Lincolnshire where I was quickly immersed in early morning milkings and handling livestock alongside producing silage and hay for the herd. Owing to the farmer’s early retirement, I progressed to a large mixed farming enterprise growing a wide range of arable crops as well as milking over 120 cows, which in 1976 was considered to be large dairy enterprise. I gained valuable experience from a forward-thinking team of fellow farm workers and it was here I decided that to further my knowledge and enhance my career prospects I needed a formal college education and quali cation. It was at college that my passion for all things arable was ignited and following my three years at Bishop Burton College of Agriculture, where I gained my NDA, I went to work as a eldsman for an aAgricultural business in Lincolnshire. I gained my BASIS quali cation in 1984 and worked as a technical eldsman before starting a new position with FBC as an agronomist involved with on farm agronomy and manufacturer product support. Fast forward to today, I have been involved with technical product support and marketing strategy for over 30 years. What experiences have helped to shape your career and inspire you? I believe there is no substitute to seeing and experiencing how an agrochemical active performs in the eld both in di erent climatic conditions and over a number of seasons. is has given me valuable knowledge in o ering advice and support to the range of products in our portfolio. I have worked on a number of di erent projects especially in potatoes, sugar beet and brassicas both here in the U.K. and abroad which has enabled me to understand more fully the dynamics of growing these crops and the challenges of providing advice on e ective crop protection. What are your main goals currently? My current goal is to deliver advice on best practice for the use of desiccants onto potatoes, pulses and linseed following the loss of diquat which is causing many growers, particularly in the potato sector, to change the methods they have traditionally used in desiccating their crop as well as supporting our signi cant product portfolio on a wide range of other arable crops. I am also very aware that signi cant challenges lie ahead of us with the growing loss of other key actives, increased pest, weed and disease resistance and the uncertainty of our future trading arrangements post Brexit. How has your own career outlook changed over the years? As the industry has evolved and changed over the past 40 years with new approaches to farming in particular crop protection, I have had to rethink many of my aspirations, priorities and goals based on the polarisation of the agrochemical industry, EU regulation and government policy. e agrochemical industry is having to react to increasing environmental concerns linked to consumer and pressure group demands for a reduction in the amount of pesticides being used. My technical role in supporting our product range is facing increasing pressure to consider alternative approaches to product usage as part of integrated crop management. What challenges is the industry facing at the moment and what more could be done to meet and overcome these? In my opinion our Industry is facing

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