The NFU said today that it has been unable to justify the idea of putting its members' money into another horticultural forum that would be likely to duplicate the work of others within the industry.

The NFU is on the steering group* set up to examine the principle of creating a National Horticultural Forum - suggested in the horticultural R&D review commissioned last year by DEFRA.

But it has written to the rest of the steering group saying it has not been convinced by the arguments for the new forum, in particular the value of investing thousands of pounds in a part-time executive.

NFU vice president Michael Paske said: 'We have looked long and hard both within the steering group and at the NFU at the suggestion of forming another horticulture forum.

'The NFU is adamant that better co-ordination of research and development funding is needed - that is why we set up the applied research forum.

'But we believe that far more could be achieved and in a far more cost-effective way through greater co-operation among the many industry groups that already serve the needs of our diverse and dynamic sector.' NFU Horticulture Chairman Michael Holmes said devoting money to a new forum would be premature when the outcomes of various initiatives, consultations, and reviews involving bodies like LANTRA, Horticulture Research International (HRI) and Bio Technology Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) were still awaited.

He said: 'I would like to see the steering group now devoting its efforts to the exploration of how we can achieve the aims of the forum using its existing wealth of expertise.' The NFU's horticulture summit in May identified the need to 'share resources' between competent industry bodies to prevent duplication of precious time and resources at a time of increasing external pressures and demands on the industry.

The summit has prompted changes in the NFU's own horticulture activities including the development of specific issue working groups.

*Steering group members are: National Farmers' Union, East Malling Trust for Horticultural Research, Horticultural Development Council, Horticultural Trades' Association, Horticulture Research International, Institute of Horticulture, Royal Horticultural Society and University of Reading.

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