Following on from the unfortunate news that the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference would be postponed until the autumn, the organising committee is pleased to announce a new date for your diaries:

Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference

Tuesday 25 October 2022

East of England Arena & Events Centre, Peterborough

The conference will bring together the latest industry updates, emerging technologies and research as well as providing a platform for invaluable networking.  The programme will also include both marketing and technical presentations from within the UK as well as worldwide.

The event will host a large exhibition area – exhibitors booked in already can be viewed on our website: Exhibition | Brassica and Leafy Salad Conference

Sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities for the industry-leading event are still available, please contact admin@britishgrowers.org for more information or visit our website www.brassicaandleafysaladconference.co.uk

All delegate ticket sales will be automatically transferred to the new event date.  Delegate tickets are available via Eventbrite, follow this link to secure your tickets.

A huge thank you to all our speakers, sponsors, trade, and delegates for your continued support of the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference.

On behalf of the Brassica & Leafy Salad organising committee we look forward to welcoming you to the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference on Tuesday 25 October 2022.

In the light of the very high Covid infection rates which the country is currently experiencing, the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference organising committee have met and agreed that the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference be postponed until the autumn.

We have been monitoring announcements from the Government and developments across the UK in respect of pandemic and the Omicron variant.  Delegate and speaker safety is and always will be our primary concern.  Although the Government did not announce further restrictions yesterday, we are operating to the Government’s Plan B including the guidance of working from home and daily lateral flow tests for critical/essential workers including food processing concerns.  Covid figures are escalating, the NHS is working under critical incident measures, and mass absenteeism is being experienced by companies and services up and down the country.

With the mounting concern nationally and internationally, combined with the lack of clarity about the weeks ahead with medical experts reporting the next few weeks will be critical, made this decision inevitable.

Although postponing an event is never pleasant, we hope that as the country recovers from our battle with Covid we will be able to enjoy a superb conference in the autumn at the East of England Arena & Events Centre.

A huge thank you to all our speakers, sponsors, trade, and delegates that support the Brassica & Leafy Salad Conference, and a revised date will be issued shortly.

The Brassica and Leafy Salad is less than 2 months away! After 3 years the event will return to Peterborough to represent two of the largest sectors of horticulture.

We are pleased to announce our headline speakers for the conference. All the way from Australia (with the help of the internet) Graeme Sait. Graeme is the co-founder of a Queensland Company, Nutri-Tech Solutions (NTS), a recognised world leader in sustainable agriculture/horticulture. He is currently working on two new books covering soil, plant, environmental and human health issues. His communication skills are most evident during his passionate, charismatic presentations which are often described as “life-changing” and “inspirational”.

Also confirmed to speak at the conference is Professor Simon Pearson, Director, Lincoln Institute for Agri-Food Technology. Simon will be joining the conference line up to update the audience on the DEFRA automation review and the work that is underway at the University.

Ben Taylor, Regenerative Consultant, who may be better known as Regenben from his vast following on Twitter, will be speaking to the delegates on “The healthy food dichotomy.” Follow Ben now.

Dan Parker presented at the conference in 2019, launching the Veg Power campaign and the massive plans. He is returning to the 2022 conference to update the audience on the work done so far and the plans in the pipeline.

Further speakers will be announced soon. Follow us on twitter for the latest announcements @BLSAconference

The event will host a large exhibition area – exhibitors booked in already can be viewed on our website: Exhibition | Brassica and Leafy Salad Conference

To date we are pleased to confirm our Sponsors:

• The Brassica Technical session is being kindly sponsored by Syngenta UK Ltd.
• The Evening Dinner is being kindly sponsored by Sakata UK Ltd.
• The Conference Programme is being kindly sponsored by Elsoms Seeds.
• The Lunch is being kindly sponsored by Enza Zaden UK Ltd.
• The Evening Drinks Reception is being kindly sponsored by Hazera Seeds UK Ltd.
• The Evening Dinner Wine is being kindly sponsored by FMC.

We owe a massive thanks to the companies that support our event through sponsorship or by exhibiting. Without their generous contributions we would not be able to host our prestigious event.

Sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities for the industry-leading event are still available, please contact admin@britishgrowers.org for more information or visit our website www.brassicaandleafysaladconference.co.uk

On behalf of the organising committee, we look forward to welcoming you to the Brassica & Leafy Conference on Wednesday 19th January 2022.

AHDB sends grower levy payers final demand with £10.6m wind down costs identified

9 November 2021, by Matthew Appleby

AHDB has written to levy payers, who voted to end paying the levy in February 2021 with a 2021 levy invoice/estimated invoice.

AHDB said: “We expect this to be the final year of the statutory AHDB horticulture levy, subject to a decision by ministers.  It has been calculated on a reduced levy rate of 0.27% on your adjusted sales figure (down from 0.45% last year).

“Following the ballot of horticulture levy payers earlier this year the AHDB Board has been in communication with government ministers and has taken the decision to completely wind-down our statutory levy-funded horticulture operations. We understand that government will launch an industry consultation later this year [mid-November] on proposed changes to the legislation that governs AHDB and on future options.

“The levy funds collected in this year, together with sector reserves, will be used to cover the costs of winding- down all levy-payer activity in the horticulture sector: to see out existing contractual liabilities including research programmes, so the value of levy already invested is not lost (£7.4 million) to cover the costs of lease commitments and staff redundancies (£1.4 million) at Defra’s request to fund a transitional EAMU/emergency authorisation service in 2022/23, so benefits are not lost for the industry and to enable time for the service to potentially be transferred to a third party (£1.8 million).

“For AHDB Horticulture it will cost in total around £10.6 million to meet all the liabilities through the planned transition of activities and the wind-down process. AHDB Horticulture reserves at 31 March 2021 were £6.05 million (subject to audit). The reduced 2021/22 levy rate is expected to raise £4.55 million.

“AHDB will remain legally required to pursue all overdue levy payments and any debtor that refuses to pay will be pursued through the legal process.   Any excess funds at the end of the wind-down process will be held for a period of up to 6-years to fund any residual horticulture liabilities which may arise. After this period the utilisation of any funds remaining would be discussed with the industry and government.”

AHDB Horticulture Board chair Hayley Campbel-Gibbons also wrote to growers to say: “My term on the board of AHDB, and role as chairwoman of the AHDB horticulture board ended on 31st October. Much has changed since I joined the organisation three year’s ago, not least the landmark vote to end the AHDB horticulture and potatoes levies.

“It has not been an easy task to wind-down our activities, in part because of the time it is taking Defra to issue the consultation on the future, but also because the process is involving making the vast majority of our valued team of people redundant. All of whom have shown true professionalism and resilience during a very difficult time.

“I respect the ballot outcome of course, and recognise the wind-down as a necessary course of action. At the same time, I wish those growers who do want to see continued investment in research in their sector the very best in their efforts to find a way forward on collaborative funding.”

She said the final bill to settle the balance on AHDB Horticulture’s accounts and activities includes continuing the EAMU programme for a further year (2022/23), at Defra’s request, and also ensures that any research work we had already started is completed. It also covers the cost of staff redundancies, and horticulture’s central cost contribution.

“On governance, the horticulture board has a newly revised and slimmed down terms of reference, which is to provide oversight of the wind-down process. All meetings will be held virtually, and the board will be chaired on an interim basis by Peter Judge, who sits on the board currently, and will attend the main AHDB board as an observer. This arrangement will be reviewed in March 2022, when the current levy period ends.

“Recognising the need to provide oversight of the remaining research projects (51 in total currently which will reduce to 28 running in 2022/23, 11 in 2023/24 and 3 in 2024/25), the most efficient way for us to achieve this will be agreed with the panels and sector board over the coming weeks.

“As part of the wind-down plan and budget, AHDB will be creating a legacy website to ensure that all of the past and future work funded by growers will be available to view online.

“All that remains for me to say is thank you to all of the growers and staff who have supported me in my role at AHDB; in particular, my fellow board members past and present, those growers who got involved in our efforts to reform the levy, the panel members who have given so much of their time and effort to our research, our strategic centres and those who have attended our many trials and events. A special thank you to the whole horticulture team at AHDB.”

In early 2020 in the days before lockdown, I had the opportunity to look at the fresh produce industry in New Zealand and see what the UK might learn from them and the way they operate. I was accompanied on the trip by Ali Capper, Chair of the NFU Horticulture and Potatoes Board, Chris Moncrief from the RHS, Ruth Ashfield from AHDB and Lucy Jackson from Defra.

The report explains were we went, who we spoke to, what we saw and more importantly our recommendations for the UK fresh produce industry.

View the report here

If anyone wants to discuss the report or the recommendations in more detail please feel free to get in touch

Jack Ward

CEO