Horticulture Week Podcast

The second part of this conversation with Fargro's managing director, explores drones, sustainability and fairness in the supply chain.Fargro's interest in drones is part of a number of projects on data-driven decision-making for protected horticulture "to try and give a holistic view for agronomists and growers so they actually get some actionable insights" to help them prioritise their activities.Hopkins talks about the shortage of agronomists and how they are trying to attract a new generation of 'digital natives'. But the new technology puts power and information directly into growers' hands.On robotics, he expresses a sense of "frustration" with the slow progress, especially in robotic harvesting. He talks about the funding struggles for the sector to help them bring new tech to market. He discusses how unlike in agriculture, horticulture still relies on "not cheap" manual labour. He calls for the Government to step up with Innovate UK funding but he anticipates "a long haul".On sustainability, he advocates first efficiency measures, but also discusses the need to improve plastic reduction and recyclability. "The problem is that [non plastics] nearly always cost more than the plastic alternatives" he says, though he believes often suppliers could absorb some of these extra costs.Increased use of organic and controlled-release fertilisers are yielding good results and also enjoy a cost advantage, he adds.With the ascension of King Charles III to the throne, Royal Warrant holders, including Fargro, are having to re-apply and "there's a huge emphasis on sustainability and the whole environmental social governance element of it - ethical trading as well." In the transition away from peat he percieves the change is being led by retailers and consumers, though "it's all about perception as well as the reality of sustainability".Fargro has put together a consortium of waste operatives and recyclers to work with growers to make collection and recycling of plastics easier. But above all he believes the key question is "Is there an economic benefit to it? and how can we use that to drive the sustainability agenda?"On fairness in the supply chain, he heard Rishi Sunak promise improvements for fresh produce in a very "uneven playing field", but coming behind dairy, poultry and eggs, he wonders how quickly horticultural growers can expect meaningful change. He expects ornamental growers to "be ignored entirely" and face a battle to protect or improve their margins.Hopkins talks through business changes, including consolidation in the customer base and signs that glass is being taken up by growers.Fargro itself is looking to diversify including to improve its amenity offering.

HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.Oli Hilbourne is the founder and CEO of Outfield, an agritech company using technology to shape the future of farming. In this podcast Oli talks about the potential for drone technology and explains how his business is helping owners of orchards and vineyards gather data on crop yields. 

HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.This week Neville Stein speaks to plant pathologist, Laura Bouvet, the Knowledge and Innovation Facilitator for Agr-TechE.She works with farmers to support the implementation of new technologies. In this podcast Laura considers innovative practices in agriculture and horticulture and explores how to develop a career in agritech.

Fargro managing director Richard Hopkins speaks to HortWeek about spring optimism, the upcoming general election and peat, water, border inspections and crop protection.He says growers should talk to policymakers using policy asks from the HTA, AIC and NFU. Key issues are peat, plant health, plant protection products and water.On crop protection he says there is still no National Action Plan and why that is significant. He says he would like CRD to be an "enabler" so the industry can use the full range of plant protection products, but that would require a change of culture from being a regulator.On peat-free transition, he speaks about how demand is now coming from consumers and retailers. He says he would be more comfortable that reduction is driven by demand rather than legislation, which is unlikely to happen anytime soon anyway. Peat-free should be framed as an opportunity for growers to get on the right side of consumer sentiment. A 'cliff edge risk' exists because there will be a lack of production in the UK and imports could rise.Target Border Operating Model issues remain because this looks like a bad idea for 'plants for planting' as they are fragile and come in groupage loads. Inspection points could become 'infection points' and actually spread and pests and diseases he argues. Places of Destination inspections are his preferred option.A further issue is water. Growers need larger reservoirs. We have feast or famine at the moment.

HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.This week Neville Stein speaks to Phil Tremayne is the general manager of The Association of Professional Landscapers with more than three decades in the horticultural industry. Trained as a grower, Phil has moved through many aspects of the industry, but has spent the last 10 years with HTA and eight of those managing The Association of Professional Landscapers. In this podcast Phil describes the landscaping industry and discusses what opportunities are available in this exciting sector.

ICL's Sam Rivers discusses the key issue of water quality with HortWeek editor Matt Appleby.We discover why water quality is so important and what characteristics you look at to determine water quality.Sam gives vital information on how you determine your water chemical properties and why is conductivity so important.He also relays important insight about pH, including the main differences between growing media pH and water pH.Sam gives us the lowdown on the main considerations when using hard water and any options for people who have it. He also discusses the main considerations when using soft water and options for people using that more preferable type of water.

HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.This week Neville Stein speaks to Anna Mcloughlin, a recent graduate from the College of Agriculture Food & Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) in Northern Ireland.Anna took home the Gold award at APL WorldSkills national finals which took place in November 2023 in Oldham, Greater Manchester. Very recently Anna has also been recognised by the Association of Professional Landscapers as a 'rising star' in the sector.  

Four Oaks Trade Show is the UK’s leading international exhibition for the whole of commercial horticulture. From production to point-of-sale, the breadth of exhibits on display is the show’s strength, attracting a broad visitor base. The event takes place on a 23-acre nursery site in Cheshire UK, close to the Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope, covering an area of 13,000m² under glass with additional outdoor areas. The 52nd show takes place this September 3rd & 4th and organisers urge potential exhibitors to contact them about space ASAP because they expect to sell out.HortWeek editor Matt Appleby talks to Zelari Piante's Stefano Sogni and Wyevale Nurseries' Kyle Ross about the benefits of participating at the Four Oaks Trade Show, what exhibiting entails as an overseas exhibitor and a UK nursery, and their top tips for getting the most out of the show.They give recommendations for logistics, marketing, restaurants (Stefano reveals he's a big fan of British food) and accommodation. Kyle tells a story about a top footballer he met at the show.The nurserymen talk about their plans for Four Oaks 2024, to be held at Lower Withington, Cheshire on 3-4 September 2024. https://www.fouroaks-tradeshow.com/

The Youth Environmental Service, which is backed by the National Heritage Lottery Fund, has won backing for a 'national service' for the environment.Dubbed a "green jobs guarantee" for a post-secondary school-age young people. Programme director Billy Knowles explains:"The Youth Environmental Service is an organisation that we set up with the idea that what would happen if every young person had the opportunity to do a year of paid environmental work."It's a great way to give something back, it's a great way to develop skills, and it's a great way to build connections to all of the other young people who are also worrying about the same problems [climate change, nature degradation and biodiversity collapse].After more than two and half years of campaigning, delegates at a Royal Parks Guild Annual Discovery Day voted 48-6 in favour of the idea of a green jobs guarantee. Knowles acknowledged some do not like the idea of national service because they think it would be mandatory, but he said it would be volunteer-based and would pay living wage for a year's work. The first pilot New To Nature pilot helped 97 young people into work and a new pilot will focus on the North West.One of horticulture's key challenges, Billy says, is improving access and diversity:"Sometimes we aren't sensitive enough to the variety of different needs and challenges there might be. A great example of this is physical access. If you're a young person who's grown up living in a city, and you might come from a sort of socioeconomically disadvantaged background, parents haven't got a huge amount of money to spend there, you might not have your access to your own form of transport, you might be used to taking public transport. How are you then going to go out and work in a sort of fairly rural role and an opportunity that would be fantastic otherwise, but you just can't physically get to?"The scheme aims to create "10,000 paid opportunities per year for young people working across nature, net zero and circular economy organisations and the Labour Party has already shown support for the plan. But Billy says "neither party has any real clear idea on how they're going to do that. What we offer is the answer to that question, how you create those green jobs and you start building that workforce."The policy isn't to fund every single one of the 10,000 jobs, it's to fund a small number and to create the framework around which other organisations are able to create their own."We're not building something that we want to last for two years, we want this to last for 50 years, and so what we need to do is have a really strong base and a strong foundation from which we can do that. And we need champions within parliament. We need champions within the civil service who can help us make that happen."Find out more at www.youthenvironmentalservice.co.uk.