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June 2022

Jun 14
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British Growers Association Announces New Client Partnership with the Responsible Sourcing Scheme

By Industry News

Press Release June 2022

 

British Growers Association Announces New Client Partnership

 

British Growers Association is delighted to announce the Responsible Sourcing Scheme Ltd has chosen British Growers to manage their administration and accounting services. They will be joining 28 other groups within the horticultural and fresh produce industries, which currently make up the British Growers Membership.

The Responsible Sourcing Scheme (RSS) is an industry led collaboration of growing media manufacturers, retailers, growers, DEFRA, the HTA and NGOs, like RHS and Plantlife. Created in advance of the Government’s plan to ban the use of peat within the amateur sector by 2024, and in the professional sector by the end of 2028, the scheme is designed to encourage the industry to commit to a sustainable and peat-free future, and to ensure that materials used as an alternative to peat are as responsibly sourced as possible.

Lisa Eagles Operations Director at British Growers commented “British Growers is delighted to have aligned itself with a worthy scheme and are pleased that the RSS objectives aligns so closely with British Growers own; namely to support the safeguarding of the UK horticultural sector. British Growers provision of shared administrative and accountancy services will allow the scheme to fulfil its own objectives of ensuring the future sustainability of the industry.”

The primary objective of the RSS is to promote sustainability within the growing media industry, by allowing manufacturers and users of growing media to understand and measure how their choice of growing media materials impacts on seven criteria. These criteria include, energy use, water use, social compliance, habitat and biodiversity, pollution, renewability, and resource use efficiency. The scheme went live at the beginning of 2022, and with many of the UK’s major manufacturers already signed up, the RSS logo will start to appear on bags of growing media throughout the year.

Steve Harper, CEO at Southern Trident Limited and Chairman of the Responsible Sourcing Scheme said “The Responsible Sourcing Scheme for Growing Media are delighted to be working with the BGA to administer the scheme on an ongoing basis. It’s great to see the scheme now welcoming both new member manufacturers and retailers, the new website and the logos on pack. Andy Smith who has joined the BGA to administer the RSS for us allows us to be more professional and proactive as the scheme continues to grow. We look forward to forging a long and positive relationship with both Andy and the BGA.”

If you would like more information about the scheme, please visit the RSS website, or alternatively e-mail info@responsiblesourcing.org.uk

Jun 10
Love0

British Summer Fruits to Become British Berry Growers

By Company News

This June, British Summer Fruits, the industry body that represents 95% of all the UK’s commercial soft fruit growers, is relaunching and rebranding to become British Berry Growers.

Since 1992, the UK’s crop association for the soft fruit industry has supported UK growers to build a billion-pound industry and the largest within UK horticulture.

British Berry Growers’ ambition is for British seasonal berries to continue to provide 100% of the UK’s needs and for industry exports to be 50% bigger than British sales volumes by 2035.

The new organisation will have four key effort priorities:

  • To ensure understanding of the British berry industry’s positive contribution to a sustainable rural economy and the nation’s health, and shape government policy to support British Berry Growers’ mission
  • To direct world-leading berry research and development that supports treatment of pest and disease, crop utilisation and drives future efficiencies, including the reduction of the carbon, waste and water footprint of the UK berry industry
  • To grow sales for berries by building UK consumer awareness and advocacy, focusing on British berries first and driving overall consumer demand by covering 52 weeks of the year
  • To identify and tackle the industry’s key risks to ensure its long-term viability and to provide issues support for UK berry growers

Commenting on the launch of British Berry Growers, chair Nick Marston said: “The launch of British Berry Growers marks an exciting moment for the British berry industry.

“The British berry industry is a true British business success story. Now worth over £1.6 billion year-round, the value of the industry has doubled in just a decade. Our growers sit at the heart of the rural economy and our industry is recognised as a key contributor to UK food self-sufficiency.

“British Berry Growers will champion the tireless work of our berry growers, both big and small, and support them as they adapt to the future challenges of seasonal berry production. We’re here to secure the long-term success of the British berry industry.”

The creation of British Berry Growers brings with it the launch of a new dedicated R&D advisory board. Its purpose will be to enable British Berry Growers to become recognised as one of the best crop associations in the world technically and environmentally.

The evolution of the trade body also sees the appointment of two new non-executive directors to the British Berry Growers organisation. Former MEP Anthea McIntyre CBE joins the organisation to advise and support the organisation on policy matters, while Dr Louise Sutherland brings her years of expertise in agri-tech to scope and set up the newly formed R&D advisory board.

British Berry Growers will continue to fund Love Fresh Berries, the organisation’s all year-round PR and social media campaign to promote strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries and  all berry industry activities.