Bayer CropScience has added a specialist fruit agronomist to their UK field trials and horticulture campaign teams.
Peter Bevan has been recruited following his work in the soft-fruit trade with Berry Gardens.
Mike Read, Bayer’s UK field trials manager said: “We’ve got a lot of work going on to bring new fungicides and insecticides to fruit growers so Peter’s experience will be of great value to our development pipeline and the UK Horticulture team.”
Prior to joining Bayer, Bevan worked with Berry Gardens where he provided agronomy advice to strawberry growers and conducted trials on development of new strawberry varieties.
Based in Kent he will now undertake trials locally and co-ordinate others in Oxfordshire, Hereford and Yorkshire for the development and registration of new products and support of current Bayer products on top and soft fruit.
Bevan said: “With forthcoming innovations in crop protection and agronomy the outlook for UK fruit growing is exciting. Strawberry growers in particular can expect big steps forward in the understanding of plant nutrition and how light quality influences flowering to achieve much more consistent cropping within plantations. With our market approaching saturation this will all help to distinguish UK product in European markets.”
