WCHR Home WCHR 1 WCHR 2 WCHR 3 WCHR 4 WCHR 5 Search
Dr Sue Popple
Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food
London, UK
1. What are the
London, UK
1. What are the needs and expectations from horticultural research
in the UK? This paper summarises views submitted by grower representatives,
levy funded research councils, research organisations, the agrochemical
industry and the market place as seen by the multiple retailers
and processors.
2. Consumers are becoming ever more sophisticated as is their
expectation of internal and external quality, availability and
value. Consumers expect their food to be safe; free of microbiological
hazards and pesticide residues. They are seeking choice, convenience,
and year round availability. Fruit and vegetables must not only
taste good, but have the right texture and an enticing, blemish
free appearance. Increasingly consumers are demanding ready-to-eat
produce requiring minimum preparation.
3. Purchasers of cut flowers, pot plants and hardy ornamental
nursery stock are no less discerning. They are also seeking quality.
The range of flower types and colours, fragrance and vase life
are important as are consistency and reliability. 'Instant gardens'
where plants are available in flower for transplanting directly
into the garden and value added products such as pre-planted patio
tubs and flower arrangements are the equivalents in the ornamental
sector of the ready-to-eat market.
4. Consumers are increasingly health conscious and aware of environmental
issues; they expect products to be prironmental
issues; they expect products to be produced in an environmentally
responsible manner. These concerns will continue to impact on
the market, as will the debate on the acceptability of biotechnology.
There is a very small, but growing market for organically grown
produce.
5. The dominance of a few multiple retailers in the UK is a key
feature of the market. They account for approximately 75% of the
fresh produce market and a growing share of the ornamentals market.
In addition to total sales, fresh produce is also influential
in determining the customer's preferred outlet. Hence, the fruit
and vegetable sector is an important element in retailers' competitive
strategies. The industry has become more vertically integrated
with retailers developing direct relationships with growers, producer
groups and distributors. In this way the multiple retailers can
and do strongly influence the varieties grown, inputs used and
final specification for the product and maximise product acceptability
to the consumer.
6. The fresh market is not alone in demanding high quality products.
The processing industry is also becoming more discriminating,
with more demanding specifications for raw materials in terms
of freedom from defects and characteristics desirable for processing
e.g. freezing, frying etc.
7. The grower has to meet demanding market specifications, comply
with legislative requirements, adopt sustainable
with legislative requirements, adopt sustainable growing practices
with minimum impact on the environment and must be competitive
in a global market. This demands improvements in quality, pre-
and post-harvest and grower efficiency in agronomic practices,
including crop protection and in use of resources e.g. inputs,
energy, water, labour. Growing more of what the market wants,
reducing wastage, e.g. from pests diseases and defects, and reducing
the unit cost of production.
8. The research community requires the capacity to carry out fundamental
plant science and to take this through to the development of technology
to benefit both the industry and ultimately the consumer. The
market is developing rapidly and research needs to be able to
meet both the immediate short-term needs and deliver new technology
to enable the market to continue to develop in the longer term,
e.g. 10-15 years.
9. The horticulture industry in the UK is very diverse, growing
a surprisingly broad range of crops and varieties. There is a
number of large growers and an increasing number of producer organisations,
but there is also a large number of very small growers. All have
research needs. Horticulture only accounts for 3% of the agricultural
land in the UK, although its output value is 15% of UK production
and this is significantly increased by subsequent value added
activities. The industry itself is labour intensive, relative
to arable croppin is labour intensive, relative
to arable cropping, and there are several employment sectors upstream
and downstream of horticulture, namely plastics, peat and growing
media, glasshouse construction and automation, irrigation, information
technology and computers, controlled environments, cold storage,
packing and transport.
10. The diversity and relative size of the industry in the UK
poses particular problems for commercial investment in individual
crops as typified by the crop protection market; potatoes being
a notable exception. Although the overall UK horticultural market
for chemical and biological control agents is commercially significant,
this total value is comprised of at least 100 crops, each with
their own problems in pest, disease and weed control, consequently
many individual sectors fall below the threshold of economic attractiveness
to justify development of control measures. The range of pesticides
and formulations available to the industry is likely to decrease.
The development of integrated systems of production, especially
in outdoor crops, will generate a demand for a wider range of
chemicals which are more specific or which can be used in a more
specific manner. This paradoxically will further diminish the
attractiveness of horticultural sectors both for existing products
and for novel introductions.
11. Fundamental and strategic science is fun>
11. Fundamental and strategic science is funded in the UK by a
number of government agencies. The Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council funds fundamental 'blue skies' plant
science; the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food supports
applied strategic research and the Scottish Office Agriculture,
Environment and Fisheries Department and the Department of Agriculture
for Northern Ireland fund both fundamental and strategic research.
Public funding of applied developmental or near-market work ceased
in the late 1980s and this activity is now funded by industry
through levy funding via a number of levy councils, such as the
Horticultural Development Council, the Apple and Pear Research
Council and the British Potato Council. Individual businesses
also fund their own research, either in-house, or through contracts
at research institutes and university departments. Increasing
vertical integration of the supply chain, as well as increasing
capitalisation of the larger horticultural enterprises, will lead
to greater confidentiality and exclusivity of technology and information
to retain competitive advantage.
12. Effective communication between funders, researchers and the
industry is essential both to ensure that priorities for scientific
research are correctly identified and also to enable rapid adoption
of new technology. A balance is needed between the stability required
for long-term underpinning science aequired
for long-term underpinning science and the flexibility and speed
of response required to meet immediate commercial pressures.
13. Partnership between public funding and industry is encouraged
to support pre-competitive research, principally through the LINK
scheme of which there is a specific Horticulture LINK programme.
Reform of the EU fruit and vegetable regime has also enabled producer
organisations to access EU funds on a 50:50 basis for relevant
research. The benefits of funding research in such schemes are
that they are largely driven by industry, ensuring targeting of
research on industry needs, and are particularly effective in
bringing together researchers, industry partners and research
funders.
14. The following research needs have been identified by the various
stakeholders for horticulture research in the UK. They are not
presented in any priority order, or related to individual crops.
Generic approaches with wide applicability to specific crops
I am grateful for contributions made by:-
Dr Sarah Ball (Horticultural Researc
I am grateful for contributions made by:-
Dr Sarah Ball (Horticultural Research Council), Mr D Brown (National
Farmers' Union), Dr J Fisher (British Crop Protection Council),
Mr N Garbutt (Safeway Stores PLC), Mr J R Harris (Potato Processors'
Association), Dr R Hilborn (Sainsbury PLC), Prof J R Hillman (Scottish
Crops Research Institute), Dr Rachel Holder (Hazlewood VHB), Prof
C C Payne (Horticulture Research International), Dr R M J Storey
(British Potato Council), Prof I Swingland (Apple and Pear Research
Council), Mr M P Tinsley (Elgro Ltd)
The author acknowledges the permission of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to publish this paper.