Eric Coronel
 Dr. Eric Coronel

Dr. Eric Coronel has joined the American Peanut Council (APC) as its inaugural sustainability director.

One of the first projects for the former Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture research analyst will be to launch of a nationwide framework to gather grower data and document the U.S. peanut industry’s sustainability story.

“U.S. peanut growers produce a safe, nutritious, and resource-efficient crop. I want to help peanut growers share their sustainability stories through data,” said Coronel.

The goal is for growers to apply what they learn from the sustainability data to drive their own farm improvements and profitability. APC will also produce tools to help the peanut supply chain communicate about peanut sustainability with their customers and stakeholders.

Coronel holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in environmental science from Brigham Young University, and a Ph.D. in agronomy and crop science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He worked as a research agronomist for John Deere before moving to Field to Market to specialize in sustainability.