- IMPACT ON HORTICULTURE THROUGH COLLABORATION. 9 January 2012 (pdf 7.53Mb)
As pressure increases on the government’s research spend, the need for greater co-ordination and collaboration is essential. This is the clear message that the HDC’s Impact on horticulture through collaboration report presents. It highlights some of the many projects delivered through Defra’s Horticulture LINK project, illustrating the tremendous value of collaborative approaches to research and development. While no new work is being commissioned through the Horticulture LINK programme, the HDC is still involved in many of the remaining projects due to run until early 2015. Impact on horticulture through collaboration reviews the wealth of collaborative work completed over the course of the last 15 years and the ways in which it is delivering real benefit to growers.
- CLIMATE CHANGE AND POTATOES - The risks, impacts and opportunities for UK potato production. September 2011 (pdf 3.25Mb)
Climate change will influence the way potato crops develop, grow and yield. It will also impact on the viability of rain fed potato production and demand for supplemental irrigation. In GB, there will be many implications of climate change for the potato industry, including the possibility that warmer springs will result in earlier plantings with consequent impacts on canopy management, as well as changes in crop husbandry and the potential for higher yields. The areas suitable for new potato plantings may also increase, due to changing local soil and agroclimate conditions. However, a reduction in the availability and reliability of water supplies may lead to a shift in cropping to parts of the country where there is less reliance on supplemental irrigation. But equally, there may be areas (and cultivars) where irrigation is not currently required, which may require irrigation.
- FEEDING BRITAIN - What Consumers Want. 13July 2010 (pdf 942Kb)
AHDB has supported The Smith Institute in writing some chapters for this follow-up publication examining the demand side of the food industry and on some of the more social and consumer aspects of food. In this publication, we have helped to explore some of the issues around consumer behaviour and the role of food. We examine what we mean when we talk of a healthy sustainable diet and the implications that this has for both consumers and producers. In particular, the contributors explore the relationship between health, affordability and sustainability.
- AGRISKILLS STRATEGY - 10 February 2010 (pdf 500Kb)
AHDB has joined with other industry leaders in supporting a major new skills strategy aimed at equipping farmers and growers with the right skills for the 21st century. The AgriSkills Strategy seeks to ensure that industries that lie at the heart of the UK’s agriculture and horticulture production deliver a skilled workforce capable of delivering increased food production and tackling environmental challenges.
- BEEF, SHEEP and PIGS Outlook Conference 2009 - 8 April 2009
Outlook 2009 took place on Wednesday 8 April at One Great George Street, London. This year’s Outlook conference was jointly hosted by our BPEX and EBLEX divisions. Please use the link here to find the presentations on the BPEX website.
http://www.bpex.org.uk/articles/298160/Outlook_2009__8_April_2009.aspx.
- FEEDING BRITAIN - 25 March 2009 (pdf 377Kb)
AHDB has supported The Smith Institute in pulling together this timely publication examining the often overlooked issue of food production and security in Britain. At the global level, population growth, economic growth in key emerging countries, changing dietary patterns, finite land availability, climate change, challenges to the availability of key resources, the energy challenge, and a slowdown in the rate of growth of food productivity all point towards the need for new thinking. We tend to think of these issues in an international context, but in a globalised world they will inevitably affect the UK.
- The HDC’s National Horticultural Forum - a Review of UK Horticultural R&D provision - 15 Aug 08 (pdf 1 MB)