Defra is to support two new horticulture centres of excellence following the restructuring of the Horticulture Research International at Warwick.

The first centre will be at the existing HRI site in Wellesbourne, near Warwick where the vegetable gene back is housed, while the second centre will be at East Malling Research in Kent.

Over the next five to eight years, Defra will invest over £50million in the new organisations to support important research and development work.

NFU board for horticulture chairman Graham Ward said: “We welcome the consistency in the way that Defra has organised the split of the HRI to maintain centres of excellence that, over the years, have been invaluable to the development of UK horticulture.

“We regret the loss of Efford in the rationalisation process, but we are assured that between the Horticulture Development Council and Defra, the responsibility for the essential services offered by Efford will be distributed between the two centres.”