An event to give horticultural levy payers the chance to discover where their money goes was 'a great success'.
The Horticultural Development Company (HDC) opened its doors on Monday to growers and associates to give insight into current scientific research.
The ‘HDC in Focus’ event, the first of its kind, featured a question and answer session with chairman Neil Bragg and AHDB chief executive Tom Taylor.
Sir Ben Gill gave the keynote speech on the wider context for food security in the industry.
Delegates were also able to access the full range of HDC publications, which were also available to take away.
Two grower levy payers, from both edibles and ornamental production, gave presentations on how the HDC has helped their business.
Gary Taylor, of Valley Grown Salads, said that the HDC-funded GrowSave programme, which delivered him a 52 per cent gas energy saving, justified the levy by itself.
He added: “The direction of the industry has to start and end with the growers.”
HDC director Bill Parker said the aim of the day was to demonstrate to payers that there is a dialogue to be had between the levy board and the grower.
“We want our activity to be directed by growers for the benefit of growers, but for this to happen we need engagement. HDC in Focus was intended as an invitation to begin this dialogue, and we hope many more growers from across our industry will attend future events like this one to help promote engagement and interaction.”
The HDC is a division of the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB), which administers the collection of an industry levy to fund market research and development.
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