Advancing the next generation – Crop Production Magazine

A lifelong passion for agriculture has resulted in Hutchinsons’ Alice Cannon coming full circle and she now imparts this love to trainee agronomists at the firm. Having worked on farms during her A-Levels, she went on to study agriculture at university, specialising in crop protection. “I secured a job with Hutchinsons before finishing my degree and so went straight into training to become an agronomist, further specialising in cover crops and soil health, which had both been fascinations of mine.”

Alice quickly embraced new challenges, becoming the first regional technical manager in North Lincolnshire and then in the East Midlands, looking after 45 agronomists as well as her own portfolio. “This opened a lot of doors for me and allowed me to pursue my passion for cover crops by coming Hutchinsons’ lead in this, as well as heading up the PGRS team. It meant I presented at a lot of farm meetings and attended open and promotional days, in-house and externally.”

The past five years have seen Alice arranging trials events, collecting data and collating key messages, but after 10 years in the business she was ready for a new challenge. “During this time, I’d often had trainees with me because it’s a career that involves learning on the job. This was something I’d really enjoyed, feeling a great level of satisfaction from seeing trainees develop and grow.”

So as of this year, Alice is now the technical training manager for Hutchinsons, as well as continuing her role heading up cover crops for the firm, and she still has a handful of agronomy clients. “I never saw myself as doing agronomy full-time for my whole career, so it’s been fascinating to explore the many different elements of agriculture. My career might have moved a bit faster than I anticipated but that’s been driven by a company that supports me.”

Alice Cannon of Hutchinsons says she’s felt a great level of satisfaction from seeing trainees under her care develop and grow.