New CEO appointed for the Experienced soft fruit agronomist National Fruit Show joins advisory team

The Marden Fruit Show Society (MFSS) has appointed Sally Flanagan, a long-standing committee member and former executive director of The East Malling Trust, as its new chief executive o cer

Sally Flanagan takes over the reins from Sarah Calcutt, who has stepped down as the executive chair and now becomes the honorary chair.

Having been involved as a committee member for a number of years, Sally assumes all the day-today responsibilities of running the MFSS, which includes the annual National Fruit Show, education programme for the industry and schools and competitions for growers and producers throughout the year.

Sally comments: “It’s an absolute honour to be appointed CEO. The work of the MFSS is essential in promoting access to knowledge and best practice relating to agriculture and horticulture here in the UK as well as information and best practice for the storage, packaging and marketing of fruit.

“We also have a team who provide a successful and growing outreach programme of science, nutrition and careers education to schools and with additional sponsorship funding, we can expand this across the UK.”

Sarah Calcutt, honorary chair of the National Fruit Show, adds: “After two years as the executive chair and due to my broader work commitments, I’m delighted to hand the baton over to Sally and I’m looking forward to working with her and the team to continue to support the work of MFSS. We have worked hard over the last 14 years to build the society to the point where we could recruit its rst CEO. I could not be happier that we could secure someone of Sally’s calibre and experience; the show and the broader work of the society could not be in better hands.”

Andrew Tinsley, chair of the trustees at the MFSS, comments: “I would like to thank Sarah for her terri c contribution over the last 16 years, and we are grateful to have her ongoing support as she reverts to the role her predecessors took. We are very pleased Sally has accepted the challenge to take on the role of CEO. As we look ahead to the future and developing our support for fruit growers and the wider industry in our 90th year, the MFSS seeks to work with and bring together more growers, the wider industry, schools and colleges to help identify and nd solutions to some of the challenges they face. Whether that is from the latest scienti c research and thinking on all aspects of growing fruit in our ever-changing climate, using the latest technology to better manage production, storage and sales of fruit, to helping to provide the workforce of the future.”

The 90th National Fruit Show will take place on Wednesday 1st and Thursday 2nd November 2023 at the Kent County Showground, Detling. Further information can be found at www.nationalfruitshow.org.uk

Agrovista has appointed Karen Morgan to

Fruit

strengthening the company’s agronomy service in the South East as well as the Midlands

Karen Morgan brings a wealth of experience to the team, having worked as a soft fruit agronomist in Kent for more than 24 years.

Karen, who started at Agrovista at the beginning of November, is a graduate of Reading University, where she gained an Honours Degree in horticulture in 1996.

The four-year course included 12 months’ practical experience, half of which was spent at Edward Vinson, one of Kent’s best-known strawberry and soft fruit growers, sparking an interest which was to become Karen’s specialism.

“I’ve always been an outdoors person – I was never going to settle into a 9–5 o ce job,” says Karen. “After leaving university, I joined the Fruit Advisory Services Team (FAST) in Faversham.”

Here she honed her soft fruit advisory skills, staying with FAST for 24 years before leaving at the beginning of 2022.

“A few months later I received a call from Mark Davies, head of fruit at Agrovista, asking whether I’d be interested in joining the fruit team there.

Despite her considerable experience, Karen believes the new position o ers plenty of opportunity. “I will be taking on some existing Agrovista customers and will also be developing new business.

“I’m looking forward to getting my teeth into things again. I think there will be plenty of opportunities coming that I shall embrace.”

Karen was involved in advising on biological control programmes in her previous job, so this was a big part of the attraction with Agrovista, which has a leading presence in the sector, pushing ahead with integrated crop management and forging key partnerships with manufacturers.

“I recently took a trip to Rotterdam to visit Koppert, which was extremely interesting,” says Karen. “Biological controls are now a crucial component of pest control regimes on the majority of farms, partly driven by end users and partly by necessity as the arsenal and e cacy of chemicals available for use continues to reduce.”

Apart from loss of chemistry, growers face other major challenges including rising costs, challenging sales and labour shortages. As such, good advice has probably never been more important.

“My aim is to help growers to manage their businesses as e ciently and as pro tably as they can,” Karen explains. “Soft fruit is a very professional sector and growers are open to new thinking and new ideas, but they will challenge you as well.

“I’m looking forward to extending my knowledge further in the hope I can deliver as much bene t as possible to existing and new customers alike.”

THE UK'S LEADING SPECIALISTS IN NEW AND USED TRACTORS, MACHINERY AND EQUIPMENT FOR FRUIT, HOP AND VINE GROWERS. PLUS SPARE PARTS, SERVICE,

CARE.