AIC's Hazel Doonan marks 20 years as Head of Crop Protection and Agronomy
Hazel Doonan, Head of Crop Protection and Agronomy at the Agricultural Industries Confederation (AIC), celebrates 20 years of working at the agri-supply trade association today (26 July).
For two decades Hazel has led AIC's policy work on behalf of Member businesses in the UK distributor agronomy sector.
In 2004, she joined AIC and brought strong expertise and experience in crop protection and agronomy having previously worked for 18 years as a BASIS-qualified agronomist. Hazel was also previously responsible for managing a regional agrochemical department with a national distributor business.
AIC's Chief Executive, Robert Sheasby, said: "On behalf of the AIC team and our Members, I congratulate Hazel on this impressive career milestone.
"For two decades, Hazel has diligently supported and guided AIC Members in the crop protection and agronomy sector to navigate complex challenges and create positive opportunities to promote the stewardship of agronomy in the UK.
"Her wealth of experience is a great asset to AIC as it works in support of modern, sustainable, commercial agriculture, and I'd like to thank her for her continued dedication to her sector."
20 years of industry service
Reflecting on her career at AIC so far, Hazel says that while much has changed in the crop protection and agronomy sector the work of supporting UK farmers and growers to produce profitable and sustainable crops remains unchanged.
One of her proudest achievements has been to support the work of the Voluntary Initiative (VI) - an industry-led programme to promote the responsible use of plant protection products (PPPs) through an IPM-based approach to sustainable agriculture.
"The Voluntary Initiative (VI) was in its infancy - just a few years old - as I joined AIC," she says.
"Over the past 20 years, the VI has promoted responsible plant protection product (PPP) use, engaging with sprayer operators through the National Register of Sprayer Operators (NRoSO), National Sprayer Testing Scheme (NSTS), and development of best practice guidance in PPP use for agronomists.
"I believe the industry continues to engage with best practice because of a willingness to do the right thing, not because of the threat of a PPP tax which the VI was initially set up to mitigate the need for."
Keeping up with advancements in technology and innovation which benefit UK crop production has been a continual part of Hazel's work at AIC. She says the use of data has become more sophisticated and valuable to farmers, growers and their agronomists over the years.
"The volume of data that agronomists use to support their agronomic decisions has increased tremendously, particularly when it comes to soil chemistry, biology and structure, pest and disease predictive tools, weather forecasting services, and satellite imagery.
"While all this information requires time to analyse, the result is greater attention to detail, and more accurate and targeted use of PPPs."
Regulation is another area of crop production that Hazel has seen evolve significantly. She has been instrumental in representing AIC Member businesses with the Government, helping to shape legislation and guidance on sustainable pesticide use throughout her AIC career.
Ultimately this is about helping to protect human and animal health, as well as the environment, she adds.
"The introduction of the Sustainable Use Directive and the regulation for Placing Plant Protection Products on the market in the EU (and UK) 2009, set standards across all EU member states for training for distributors of PPPs, sprayer operators and promotion of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
"The UK was ahead of this in some respects because of the work of the VI. The Regulation on PPPs also introduced more stringent criteria for PPP approvals across the EU."
Author
Oli Hill
As Head of Communications, Oli creates and oversees the content published on AIC's website, emails, Member briefings, print publications, and social media. A qualified multimedia journalist, he previously spent six years working at Farmers Weekly magazine as a Senior Reporter on the arable team, and latterly as Community Editor. More recently he was Communications Manager at Red Tractor.