Conferences have changed over the years for the better. Subject areas are more relevant, papers are shorter and to the point, and the method of presentation has improved beyond all recognition.

The only thing I would carp about as a journalist is that it is marginally more difficult taking down notes in a twilight world. And when will someone provide a table to make life easier?

That said, after three days spread between Kent and Cambridgeshire at the UK strawberry, onion and carrot conferences held last week, I felt all three passed on the right vibes to substantial audiences.

Perhaps the one element missing, either by design or default, was the lack of retail presence on any platform to add the dimension in which almost every grower's hopes and futures inevitably lie. Even supermarket presence in the respective audiences was limited and hard to identify.

It was even all the more surprising at a time when there are sweeping changes taking place throughout the corridors of mass volume distribution, industry-changing restructure that everyone seems to know is afoot but is reluctant to publicly confirm.

To be more constructive, it was interesting to find that the three crops had more in common than I first imagined when it comes to marketing, and in effect provide a much deeper insight into the route that UK horticulture is following to add value and reinvent the “wow” factor.

Firstly support of "supa fruit and vegetables" appears to be gaining ground. Bigger, juicy berry fruit, sweeter onions, and of course carrots of every colour of the rainbow.

Next in line is convenience. There have already been forays into chocolate covered strawberries ñ and at least five years ago when travelling I was presented with the same thing by a well-known Floridian blueberry grower. Many of these things appear to start State-side.

Onions are the most difficult to assess of the trio. But if the Supasweet trademarked range ñ now widened by allowing similar imported varieties under its strict pyruvate guidelines ñ really takes off we could soon see prepared onion rings and slices on salad counters.

Carrots have obvious potential and it is good news to hear that the Department of Health is now testing out carrot snack packs in its schools programme. I can see the term ëcarrot coins' ñ used in the US ñ passing into the trade's vocabulary quite soon.

Finally, there is the question of products being not only visually differentiated, but becoming vitamin enhanced through new breeding programmes.That is really heady stuff, and would certainly add a new dimension to multiple shelves.

It may be some way off, so most of us will still have to rely on the concept of 5-a-day for our natural nutrients.The question that will be asked at future conferences will then be what will happen to all the existing conventional products in danger of becoming even less than commodities?