Meet the Field Technical Manager: an interview with Joe Martin

Tell us a little bit about your role at Corteva?

I am a Field Technical Manager with responsibilities for Biologicals, Amenity, Seed Applied Technology and Instinct, working closely with the Local Product Concept Teams (LPCT) and Category Marketing Managers, Clare Stapley and Oliver Kent, to support our new and existing products in these four areas. I am the technical lead for STAR and Crest working closely with the Key Account Managers to provide relevant technical input and information for the  distribution companies. I’m also the focal point for Water Stewardship working with the water companies on relevant projects, products and actives with best practice and stewardship advice. I also have responsibilities as Field Technical Manager for Minor Uses in Speciality crops working with Georgina Clayton to support the horticultural industry. And this year I am working with the Corteva Cereals event team helping with the plots for the Corteva stand at Cereals.

It’s a great varied role working with a number of people both within Corteva and partners outside the organisation, from organising trials to demonstrating new products, meeting customers, presenting data, generating presentations for Area Managers, working with water companies and being that link between the research teams and sales teams.

Can you describe your journey to becoming a Field Technical Manager at Corteva?

I went to Nottingham Polytechnic (Now Nottingham Trent University) and studied Applied Biology specialising in Crop Protection. A course many people have been through in the industry. It was a fantastic course as each year you spent 6 months in industry on placement. During two placements I works for Oxford Agricultural Trials and then ICI (now Syngenta) and worked in Trials teams. A great lecturer Dr Bill Carlisle was brilliant in supporting students in the field of Crop Protection and this built my interest. 

After university, I initially worked for Laboratory of the Government chemist working on detecting GMOs in food stuffs. But a lab role wasn’t for me, and I moved to Agrisearch (now Eurofins) as a Trials Agronomist. I spent nearly 20 years with Eurofins in various roles including Trials Coordinator, Study Director and reaching Country Manager with responsibility for the field teams in the UK and Ireland. Some highlights whilst working there included regionalisation of the field teams and setting up the Irish base and team. It was a great time at Eurofins but time to move on and do something different. From there I moved to AHDB and worked on a number of projects in the Crop Health and Protection team including finding crop protection solution for Horticulture in a programme called SCEPTREplus. This gave me huge experience in a whole range of crops, meeting growers and presenting results to them as well as working with the team to apply for Minor Use Authorisations (EAMUs) including liaising with CRD.

Whilst at Eurofins and AHDB I had worked with Corteva and (historically Dow Agrosciences) including working with a number of Corteva people for conducting trials and then liaising re Minor uses when at AHDB. I got a great feel for the company. When the role for Field Technical Manager was advertised, I jumped at the chance.

Do you have a connection to agriculture outside of Corteva?

I have friends in the industry who I have met during my career in Crop protection which is great as the industry is quite small and lovely to bump into them at various industry events. My family background is not agriculture both Mum and Dad had careers in the airline industry. But Mum was a very keen gardener and I now also love getting out and growing things so maybe that’s where the initial interest started.

What has been the most interesting project you’ve worked on at Corteva?

Difficult to say as my role is varied and I enjoy all the projects I work on. But I have found bringing new products to market such as new OSR herbicides to be exciting and interesting and feel that being part of an R&D Manufacturer which is committed to new and innovative products to be really exciting.

How do you keep up to date with the latest advancements and trends in agriculture?

Corteva gives lots of opportunity to keeping up to date including attendance at various relevant industry events, subscriptions to publications, online learning etc. As well I was able to undertake the BASIS PPA course to increase knowledge further. Colleagues are great at sharing knowledge too.

What advice would you give to someone aspiring to become a Field Technical Manager in the agricultural industry?

I started as a Trials Agronomist after a degree in Applied Biology specialising in Crop Protection. I would say this was a really good start and then gaining a lot of experience at Eurofins and AHDB in various roles not only in a range of crops but also working with farmers, growers, agronomists etc. Gaining experience on presenting and demonstrating data and trials along the way. So, I would say try to experience lots of different crops, learn as much as possible along the way and build connections with people across the industry.

Why would you recommend Corteva as a great place to work?

Love working for Corteva. The people at Corteva are brilliant. Really easy to work with. Everyone is helpful and feels like a real team environment. You can learn loads. Lots of opportunities to be part of different activities from new products, demonstrating, meeting customers, experiencing a whole range of different crops and expanding knowledge. You are made to feel that what you do is important.

If you are looking for a role with a difference, Corteva is the right choice, providing valuable learning experiences. Find out more about our talented team here.