LSA Fellowship Scheme:
The LSA Charitable Trust Fellowship Scheme application will open on Monday 2nd September 2019 and will close on Thursday 31st October 2019.
Please see below for more details.
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LSA Fellowship Scheme :
12th August 2019
The LSA CT Fellowship are seeking news entrants or developing manager within horticulture to apply for the Fellowship Scheme.
John Cappalonga of Gee Vee Enterprise said: “The LSA Trust has set up a Fellowship scheme to develop six promising individuals per year that prepares students for Horticultural leadership in a wide variety of settings within the industry. This comes at a very crucial and exciting time for Horticulture as we seek to improve and modernise in tune with 21st Century techniques of growing and preparations for Brexit.”
Within the Fellowship the individual will have the opportunity to attend; ‘Technical Meetings’ covering topics such as crop protection, resources, and productivity, a Study Tour, Technical/strategic committees of the participating trade bodies and attend a series of the visits where Fellows host the members of their cohort at their place of employment
The Fellowship launched in January 2019 and the first 6 Fellows have been immersed in the scheme for 7 months attending a plethora of industry events and meetings.
“Being part of the LSA fellowship scheme has been a real privilege. I have attended multiple events that have been both interesting, thought provoking and useful in terms of taking ideas back to my place of work. Many of the events I would not have normally got the opportunity to attend and have benefited me hugely in terms of career development. I also feel the whole process has given me a much better understanding of the horticultural industry. All the Fellows are extremely knowledgeable and having the chance to discuss the similarities and differences between how our businesses operate has really opened my eyes to different ways of working and thinking. There is a huge range of diversity in terms of the different areas of the horticultural industry each fellow works and this has meant I have been able to learn a lot about areas of the industry I wouldn’t normally be exposed to. I would highly recommend the LSA fellowship scheme to any young person who is looking to expand their knowledge and understanding of the horticultural industry. ”
Charles Croft, Trainee Growing Manager, APS Produce.
Here are the top reasons why you should be applying for the LSA CT Fellowship Scheme:
- Increase your understanding of the commercial horticulture industry and the role that trade bodies play in the development of industry strategies.
- A two-year scheme increasing your knowledge of current research and wider industry issues.
- You will be awarded a bursary of up to £3,000 which you can draw down on to cover your activities within the scheme.
- Opportunity to attend meetings and study tours across the horticulture sectors, covering technical, strategic and marketing.
- Chance to experience the entire horticulture industry from propagation to field production.
Applications for year two of the Fellowship will be open from the 2nd of September, visit www.lsactfellowship.org for more details.
The Scheme is being supported by the National Farmers Union, British Growers Association, The Horticultural Trades Association, the Chartered Institute of Horticulture and Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board.
For further information on the LSA CT Fellowship Scheme please contact Coral Russell, 01507 602427
Cauliflowers and cabbages likely to run short as growers battle with increasingly volatile weather
Cauliflower, sprouts, white and red cabbages are likely to be in short supply due to extreme weather conditions. A spokesman for the Brassica Growers Association described the situation as very concerning. June saw record amounts of rainfall in Lincolnshire – as much as 6 inches in a week. This resulted in flooded and damaged crops which has led to a shortening of supply. Crops can withstand a reasonable amount of variation in weather but the conditions in June were too much and as a result crops have suffered, and this is leading to a shortage of supply.
Ironically the supply situation has been made even more difficult by extreme temperatures on the continent. In an ordinary year, parts of Europe would make up any shortfall in the UK supply chain, but Europe has been experiencing its own weather extremes. While the UK was contending with flood conditions, Europe was suffering from record temperatures.
Crops thrive best on a balance of warmth, light and water. Last year, we experienced the Beast from the East followed by a record dry spell and extreme temperatures. This year we started with a dry winter and an early spring but then moved into a period of record rainfall and low light levels followed by record breaking temperatures. These extreme variations don’t make for ideal growing conditions.
A spokesman said there is only so much technology that can be applied to producing food and the weather will always have the upper hand. No amount of planning or programming can account for the conditions we have seen over the past couple of seasons. Growers start the season with a clear plan to provide customers with quantity and quality of produce they are looking for. But when the weather turns against you and that plan goes off track, there is virtually nothing that can be done to rectify the situation.
The situation has been aggravated by the reduction of area being planted due to poor returns over the last few years. Growers only grow just enough for their customer programmes and when there are issues due to the weather this leaves a shortage which cannot be filled.
Jack Ward CEO British Growers commented that there is a danger that we take food production for granted and expect our supply chains to deliver irrespective of the conditions. Over the past two season we have seen extraordinary weather conditions and inevitably this influences supplies.
For more information please contact
Jack Ward on 07799 757778
Jack.ward@britishgrowers.org
PRESS RELEASE
UK Vining Pea and Bean Industry Conference 2019
Tuesday 5th November 2019
The third biennial Vining Pea and Bean Industry Conference is back. You can officially save the date in your dairies for Tuesday 5th November 2019! The event will be held at the KingsGate Conference Centre, Peterborough.
ICL have very kindly offered to sponsor the event, which promises to be another key industry event.
We are in the process of putting the programme together but can release that the conference will cover theses key areas:
- Growing peas: Profitably and more Sustainably
- Getting the Nation to eat more Peas
- An insight into the future of Policy
This event will be bigger and better than 2015, so please save the date.
The conference is aimed at growers, managers, agronomists, processors, seed companies, crop protection specialists and machinery manufacturers from the vining pea industry and will be free to attend.
If you are interested in exhibiting at the conference, please click here to register.
More details of the Conference will follow but you can register for your free delegate ticket here . If you do have any enquiries in the meantime about the event, please contact Coral Russell at British Peas and Beans.
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Key information:
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Ticket information British Growers
The UK should commit to growing the supply of UK Fruit and Veg and using them more in everyday foods. This was a key recommendation from the RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission report, Our Future Our Land, published earlier this week.
Welcoming the report British Growers Association Ltd Chief Executive, Jack Ward said ‘ this recommendation mirrors the message we have been putting out, that the UK needs to take on board the advice to increase the proportion of fruit and veg we consume and to think long and hard about what the UK needs to do to increase the volumes of fruit and veg grown here in the UK’.
Slowly but surely, we are seeing an alignment around growing and consuming more fruit and veg. As we move away from the constraints of the CAP and towards a more UK orientated agricultural policy, there is the option to take a long hard look at how more support and encouragement can be given to the production of fruit and veg.
Research and innovation, labour and skills and capital investment will be critical to maintaining a vibrant, sustainable and profitable fresh produce industry in the future. In season, the UK can compete with the best in the world, providing UK consumers with a great choice of high-quality fruit and veg with known provenance.
The RSA Commission report underlines everything we have been saying about the opportunities which should lie ahead for the UK fresh produce industry.
The RSA’s Food, Farming and Countryside Commission’s report, Our Future in the Land, sets out radical and practical ways for policymakers, businesses and communities to respond to the challenges for our food systems, countryside and rural communities.
For more details about the report see www.thersa.org
For further information please contact Jack Ward, CEO British Growers Association Ltd on 07799 757778 jack.ward@britishgrowers.org
Peas Please announced last week that the National Lottery Community Fund will be supporting the campaign to continue and expand its work to increase vegetable consumption in the UK over the next four years. T. A big thank you to the National Lottery Community Fund.
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BGA Pretty Mudder!
The British Growers team have made it through the Race for Life, Pretty Mudder raising £759.00. The team battled their way through mud pools, under cargo netting and over obstacles they looked filthy by the time they were through.
We would like to thank everyone who supported the team, donating money and cheering them on during the day.
The Food Foundation is Hiring!
British Growers is pleased to publicise that The Food Foundation is hiring. This small, influential organisation working on food policy is looking to fill an exciting new Project & Office Manager position. The role requires both leadership and project management drive for a major system-wide initiative on vegetable consumption, and will include overseeing the smooth running of the organisation’s administrative systems.
Salary £35,000 pa. Closing date: 09.00 23rd July.
Interviews on August 1st. Please apply here.
Jack Ward has been in meetings with officials from the Home Office looking for practical solutions to the challenge of securing adequate numbers of seasonal workers in the future. Jack explained that the meeting was part of a series of meetings held with Govt Depts and the Edible Horticulture Round Table of which he is the co-chair. The meeting was set up at the request of the Home Office and formed part of their consultation on the White Paper on Immigration published at the end of 2018.
The Government is keen to find a balance between the need for greater control over the numbers of non UK nationals seeking work the UK and the needs of industry. We used the meeting to highlight that the use of seasonal workers makes minimal difference to the numbers seeking to settle permanently in the UK. In the vast majority of cases, seasonal workers come to the UK and return home when the work runs out at the end of the season. The immigration Bill is likely to complete its passage through parliament later this year. The Bill will be largely enabling legislation and the detail will follow in 2020 once the consultation on the fine print is complete.
The Environment Secretary Michael Gove has commissioned a yearlong review of the UK’s National Food position. The review will be led by Henry Dimbleby, co-founder of Leon restaurants, the lead non-executive director at Defra and co-author of The School Food Plan. The review will be a part of developing a National Food Strategy.
“No part of our economy matters more than food. It is vital for life, and for pleasure. It shapes our sense of family, community and nation: cooking and eating together is perhaps the defining communal act. The food system also provides jobs for one in eight of us.”
Henry Dimbleby
“Leaving the EU is a great opportunity for British farmers and food producers. But with an expanding population, the urgent threat of climate change and rising levels of diet-related disease, we face many challenges too. That is why the time is right for us to look afresh at our food system to ensure everyone has access to high-quality British food and our environment is protected for future generations. I am delighted that Henry Dimbleby will be leading this once-in-a-generation opportunity to cultivate a stronger food system for the future.”
Rt Hon Michael Gove MP Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
To find out more information please visit www.nationalfoodstrategy.org
