The British fruit industry is to examine future challenges for science and research as it looks to secure its long-term future at Fruit Focus.

A high level debate is set to take place at the NFU and Syngenta Bioline Fruit Forums, held at the event at East Malling Research on the 21 July.

Professor Ian Crute, Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) first chief scientist, will examine future challenges for science and research with the aim of helping secure the future of the British fruit industry. He will be discussing the importance of science and research to the British fruit industry in context of a global market as well as how to ensure levy money is used to best effect, maintaining competitiveness and the challenges of food security and sustainability.

Event director Jon Day said: “The forums provide an opportunity to discuss and debate key issues, challenges and developments within the fruit industry. They aim to help businesses evolve and respond to opportunities within the market place.”

Crute said: "Fruit consumption in the UK is steadily increasing and there is plenty of scope to substitute imports with home-based production. It is regrettable that short-term and expedient government decisions over the past decade have severely eroded the capacity to deliver publicly-funded research of strategic long-term value to the fruit production industry.

"This has occurred at just the time when competitive advantage is likely to be derived from the UK's warming climate and reducing summer rainfall in southern Europe. With the advent of recently introduced EU regulations governing pesticide availability, the effective control of pests and diseases will be increasingly challenging.

"A priority for the UK industry is to find ways of exploiting the promise provided by international advances in fruit genomics, which seem set to deliver significant genetic improvement of tree and soft fruit crops in terms of yield, eating quality and resistance to disease."

Professor Crute joined AHDB in September 2009 and ensures collaboration and co-operation across its investment of levy funds in research and knowledge transfer programmes. Previously he had been a director at Rothamsted Research with overall responsibility for all scientific, operational, commercial and external liaison activities.

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