Jonathan Tole is leaving Produce World to set up two new businesses focused around soil health and technology.
Tole, a former chairman of British Onions, leaves Produce World at the end of March. He has been at the vegetable supplier since 2002, holding a wide range of positions from account director to running various business units.
Latterly, Tole ran the Soil-for-life business unit with Guy Thallon, and one of his new positions will be to help establish Soil-for-life as an independent commercial business.
Initially set up as a joint project between Produce World and Cranfield University with funding from Innovate UK, the Soil-for-life initiative aims to combine advanced agri-informatics and big data from a community of farmers to help grow more food from fewer inputs, on less land and in more uncertain climatic conditions.
It helps growers and agronomists to understand how to improve soil quality and the resilience of the soil and plants.
Tole has also set up his own business, Jonathan Tole Consulting, which will focus on helping companies use technology, and to “coach and mentor business leaders through the change of digital transformation.”
He explained that he can essentially act as a part-time IT director or CIO (chief information officer) for smaller businesses who don’t yet have the scale to hire a full-time in-house employee.
“A lot of [agricultural] businesses haven’t fully embraced what technology can do,” Tole explained. 'I'm not a techie but I understand technology and how to help business benefit from it.'
Tole will also be running special events, such as aLeading the Digital Workforce Workshop, which offers advice to managers on how to attract next-generation talent.
