two webinars about the security of UK fruit and vegetable supplies
Catch up on last month’s webinars looking at the state of UK fruit and veg. Mounting pressures mean many UK growers have left glasshouses, fields, or orchards unplanted or unsown for the last two years. Meanwhile, we rely heavily on imports from countries that are projected to suffer climate-related shocks and stresses. There is a big case for increasing our own domestic production, but how?
Part 1: Vegetable and Salad Crops with Lee Stiles, secretary of Lea Valley Growers Association, a group of growers who produce 75% of Britain’s cucumbers, sweet peppers & aubergines (around 500 million!), plus tomatoes, lettuces and herbs in 450 acres of glasshouses.
Part 2: Fruit crops with Ali Capper, who grows apples and hops on the Herefordshire/Worcestershire border and is the chair of British Apples and Pairs, a grower-funded apple and pear trade group. British apples are our national fruit, yet British-grown apples represent only 40% of all the apples sold in the UK.
From here, from now, to net zero through agri-food
Together, we’re creating plausible pathways, and practical, open science, to achieve net zero through the agrifood system by 2050.
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Find out about the Scotland Growers Training Network, which ran for the first time during the 2023 growing season. It was a peer-to-peer learning programme for new entrant growers and trainees on market gardens and vegetable farms in Scotland, supported by the Scottish Governments’ Knowledge Transfer and Innovation fund. It makes up part of the Agroecology: Strengthening Livelihoods project, delivered by partners Nourish Scotland, Nature-Friendly Farming Network, Pasture for Life, Propagate Scotland, the Soil Association and the Landworkers’ Alliance.