Duncan Allison assumed the post of president of the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture at the recent June meeting.  Here’s more about his journey to the presidency.

Duncan Allison was born long enough ago in England to remember what it is like to live during a war and having to sleep in the basement when bombing was expected. Early ideas of a career centered on being able to travel, so the Foreign Office was an obvious choice. Such ideas were quickly squelched and science courses had to be taken to allow acceptance by London University for a degree in horticulture as earlier French and History were not very relevant. An MS in Pomology and Extension Education followed thanks to a Fulbright Travel award and Research and Teaching Assistantship at Cornell University. A further graduate year at the University of the West Indies prepared him to serve in extension in Central Africa for three years. Since the country (Malawi) had become independent during his stay, prospects for expats were slight so back to the UK. Luckily a job came up in crop protection which led eventually to joining a small DuPont Ag team. Duncan married soon after to Fiona and they had two children before being transferred to Geneva, Switzerland for five years. As the job required travel throughout Europe, Middle East and Africa, his interest in travel was fulfilled, almost to excess. In 1980 the family moved to Wilmington where Duncan was fortunate to have a variety of interesting global product development, planning and marketing jobs at the DuPont main offices. Shortly after arrival in the US Fiona produced their third child, a true American, although all the family has become American citizens. Fiona worked for many years as a much loved School Psychologist in their local school district. Both Duncan and Fiona are retired but are heavily involved in local community activities. Duncan also wrote reports for a European based publisher for 5-6 years and has been working part time for New Jersey based Kline & Company since 2000. He has thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated getting involved in local farming and serves on the local Farm Bureau Board and Chester County Agricultural Council. Duncan is greatly honored to be asked to serve as PSPA President.