Everyone likes a good moan and it’s usually justified when it comes to UK horticulture. The underdog to massive food industries like beef, arable and dairy, fresh produce, both edible and ornamental, is characterised by its diverse products and producers. And as the country moves towards DEFRA’s Food Vision report recommendations of doubling food production in Britain by 2050, horticulture remains an important part of that future.
The amount of money going into the industry through funding is hard to gauge. Of course, the reality is that there’s a catalogue of organisations working behind the scenes, either funded by or applying for funding from the government, whose time and energy can’t be quantified. As ADAS’s James Clarke says: “It is often said: ‘We need ADAS.’ I can report ADAS is alive and well, but one thing changed; the funding - someone now has to pay. To ensure we remain in business, we will be led in what we do by market demand. Sometimes that means we work behind the scenes for clients helping them achieve aims.”
The Horticultural Development Company (HDC), funded by levy payers, currently has 40 contractors working on government-funded projects, with ADAS, East Malling Research (EMR), Warwick University and Harper Adams making an impact. And elsewhere the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), Stockbridge Technology Centre (STC) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), and in Scotland The James Hutton Institute (formerly the SCRI) and Scottish Agricultural College (SAC), are had at work.
DEFRA’s coalition shake up brought Caroline Spelman as secretary of state and Jim Paice as minister of state, and a move towards the aspirations set by the previous government. Paice has been particularly active within horticultural circles this year, showing his face at both the National Fruit Show in Kent and the UK Carrot and Onion Conference and Exhibition in Peterborough.
In November 2011, Paice launched a £20 million fund to help rural businesses increase profits and reduce their impact on the environment. Farmers, foresters and horticulturalists can now apply for grants of up to £25,000 to invest in green projects and new machinery so their businesses can grow in an environment friendly way. Project funds will be allocated between now and December 2013. Paice also urged growers to apply for support under the new EU scheme to compensate them following the market disruption caused by the E. coli outbreak in 2011. The scheme, worth €210m across the EU, provided aid for growers whose produce had been withdrawn from sale or has not been harvested.
“It’s very easy for the government to sit in an office in London and dream up policies,” said Paice at the Peterborough conference, “but it’s a partnership and that’s why every food industry is important. The challenge we are facing is one that we are all up to. We can create an environment and economy where growers and packers can succeed. There needs to be a big growth, but it can be done and I’m certainly ready to fight.”-
WARWICKSHIRE
Devised by HDC, the SCEPTRE project aims to address key gaps in crop production, especially those arising from loss of current pesticides due to changing EU legislation. SCEPTRE delivers applied research to help secure label and off-label approvals for new and safer pesticides and biopesticides, and develop sustainable IPM programmes for use on edible crops.
SCOTLAND
The five-year HortLINK blueberry project is looking at the establishment, seasonality and machine harvestability of 40 different blueberry varieties in five UK locations. The work is being co-ordinated by The James Hutton Institute, Scotland’s centre for crop research based in Invergowrie, Dundee. The project aims to find the varieties that are best suited to Britain.
SELBY
tockbridge Technology Centre is part of DEFRA’s Sustainable Growing Media Task Force, which aims to help the industry move towards reducing peat use to zero by 2030 and stays at the heart of the pesticide debate. STC is an applied R&D facility wholly owned by the UK horticultural industry and works closely with HDC.
NORTHERN IRELAND
Responsible for food, farming, and environmental policy and the development of the rural sector in Northern Ireland, the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) has successfully supported many Northern Ireland fresh produce companies to obtain grants as part of the Agricultural and Forestry Processing and Marketing Grant Scheme. This provides financial assistance is provided for businesses within the Northern Irish agri-food, forestry and horticultural sectors that seek to develop projects relating to processing and marketing, to enhance both economic performance, as well as global competitiveness.
Construction of new buildings or refurbishment costs are seen as eligible and marketing costs will also be met, as well as chill storage. Architect fees and engineer reports are also eligible, providing they don’t exceed 10 per cent of the cost of the project.
READING/KENT
The University of Reading further strengthened its research in horticultural crop science by announcing that EMR in Kent has become an associated institution, in July 2011. The new partnership is concentrating on diet, health and global food security. The two organisations already collaborate on aspects of the National Fruit Collections at Brogdale, which is managed by the University of Reading on behalf of DEFRA.
LINCOLNSHIRE
Seed breeder Elsoms is involved with two DEFRA projects - Optimising Field-Scale Control of Fusarium Basal Rot and Allium White Rot [HortLINK HL01108]; and Controlling Supply, Quality and Waste in Brassica vegetables: Understanding the genetics of maturity to breed varieties in response to a changing climate [HL0197]. Both projects are looking to reduce waste in field vegetable production. Fusarium is one of the major concerns of UK bulb onion growers, while white rot effects all alliums. “A better understanding of maturity genetics will eventually benefit all brassica growers,” says the company’s John Constable. Elsoms has also been involved in the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) scheme - organised by the Technology Strategy Board and part funded by the BBSRC and DEFRA. Elsoms contributed by employing a graduate student - this student is now employed by Elsoms as a plant breeder.
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