Agrovista has appointed Simon Warren and Alex Radu as joint leaders of its Fruit division following head of fruit Mark Davies’ decision to step back from full-time involvement to concentrate on the Botanicoir area of the business.

Both appointees have considerable experience in their respective roles. Simon joined as a soft-fruit agronomist in 2017 and was recently promoted to commercial manager. Alex joined Agrovista in 2009, advising on orchard and soft fruit, and became technical manager in 2019.

Simon will continue his agronomy role and, as commercial manager, will lead product development and marketing. Since joining Agrovista he has built strong relationships with his customers and suppliers.

“Good relationships are key to everything we do,” says Simon. “Commercially, we have always been a very forward-looking business, partnering a range of leading suppliers to our mutual benefit and that of our growers. It’s a formula that Mark has been passionate about. It has worked brilliantly and our aim is to strengthen this moving forwards.

“Growers have many challenges to address, particularly the need to implement effective strategies to replace withdrawn crop protection products and to reduce residues. This has become more difficult following the loss of RPA funding for producer organisations that had been available to smaller growers to invest in the sustainability of their businesses,” he adds.

“But, by working together with growers and manufacturers, I believe we can find ways to help reduce the impact of that loss, while maintaining good levels of control on farm via good agronomy and appropriate product choices.”

Alex will add training and HR management to his technical and full-time agronomy roles, and will support Simon in his commercial role.

“Technically, we will continue to focus on IPM strategies first and foremost – everything else hangs off that strategy,” says Alex. “In that respect it will be business as usual, delivering the best results for our growers to help them optimise yields, quality and profits.

“We are a very tight-knit team at Agrovista Fruit and it’s a formula that works very well. All our agronomists take on a range of responsibilities and autonomy, and Simon and I will ensure we are there to provide support when needed, whether it be technical, commercial or personal.

“Of course we are looking to expand, but it is vital that we find the right people that will fit in well and align with our core values. That way we will maintain a dynamic team that works well together, building on what Mark has achieved over the past 15 years.”

Transparent service offer

Mark Davies joined Agrovista UK in 2009, when the company’s fruit business was in its infancy, having gained a wealth of experience in practical farming and commercial management.

The team focused on the adoption of IPM and the introduction of a viable 100% peat-free substrate for growing soft fruit as key points of difference. “Commercially we decoupled advice charges and product supply, providing a transparent service offer to our fruit clients,” says Mark.

The team was relatively young compared to the competition, aiding the adoption of technology, which was beginning to play an important role on farm. “We now lead the charge in the adoption of pest and disease modelling, forecasting and precision mapping of growth, vigour and fruit counting with our partners Aurea Imaging,” says Mark.

He has worked with Koppert UK for around 35 years, a partnership that has driven Agrovista Fruit’s expertise on IPM, delivering well-designed and monitored biological control programmes for fruit crops. “This partnership goes from strength to strength as we become even more reliant on non-chemical interventions,” says Mark.

Over the past 16 years Mark has worked with Botanicoir to develop a high quality and reliable 100% coir substrate, growing the business year on year. “I will continue my association with Agrovista Fruit as I focus on managing their UK Botanicoir Fruit business – something that is dear to my heart,” he adds.

Mark, who has led the fruit team since 2016, says the most satisfying part of his job has been seeing clients businesses grow and team members blossom into talented agronomists.

“We believe in good old fashioned service values, coupled with cutting edge agronomy and product offerings. I have always made it clear to the team that they have to ensure they are adding value for the grower at all times,” he says.

“I’d like to thank Agrovista UK and its parent company the Marubeni Corporation for giving their full support to developing this specialist fruit business into what it is today, trusting our vision and management to provide a successful, safe pair of hands that it is considered to be today for both growers and manufacturers.”