Dr Jonathan Blackman is a graduate of Wye College, University of London and studied for his DPhil at the University of Sussex. After nearly 10 years working for ADAS as a Soil Scientist and as a research scientist at Rosemaund in Herefordshire, he has since 1999, worked in the West Midlands as a BASIS and FACTS qualified Fruit and Hops Agronomist, currently with Hutchinsons. He is Secretary of the Herefordshire Hop Discussion Group, Steward of the Commercial Apple and Pear classes at the Malvern Autumn Show and is a member of the Marden Fruit Show Society General Committee.