Agriculture ministers this week launched a consultation on the future of the Horticultural Development Council in the UK. The consultation, part of the statutory five-yearly review of the HDC is open to all industry stakeholders and representative organisations. It closes on April 30.
Among 12 recommendations on the future of the HDC contained within the consultation document is a call for sector panels to be reviewed in terms of their efficiency, membership, operation and consistency of performance. Research used in compiling the document found that soft-fruit growers were the most satisfied with the their value for money from the organisation compared to hardy nursery stock and ornamentals growers who were the least satisfied.
The consultation document also recommends that the HDC should explore generic cost-sharing in the financing of its specific-off-label-approvals work: deemed to be highly valued by the sector in a survey carried out among levy-payers last year.
Individuals can comment through their representative organisations which include the Fresh Produce Consortium, the British Retail Consortium, the National Farmers Unions, Soil Association, English Apples & Pears, Mushroom Growers Association, Scottish Crop Research Institute, Adas, and the Welsh Development Agency.
Or individually through the agriculture office of regional executives in Scotland and Wales or Defra in England.
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