The International Year of Plant Health will inform a key topic on the agenda at the HTA’s Contact Conference 2020, which takes place on Wednesday 15 and Thursday 16 January 2020.

The event, aimed at all those working in the nursery industry, will focus on the ‘State of the Horticulture Nation’, with the programme including updates on plant health, sustainability, best practices and technologies and the grower-retailer relationship.

A biennial event, HTA Contact Conference combines a day and a half conference programme with a networking dinner and overnight stay. The conference will be hosted at HTA’s Horticulture House in Oxfordshire, with accommodation and dinner at the nearby Milton Hill Hotel.

The UK’s chief plant health officer, Professor Nicola Spence, will speak on day one, providing the latest update on plant health along with news from DEFRA on the International Year of Plant Health. This will be followed by insight from Dr Gerald Clover into the BRIGIT Project, which takes a multi-disciplinary approach to building UK capability to reduce the chance of xylella entering and becoming established here.

Other topics over the two days include horticultural quality standards, pesticides, Nursery Working Group case studies, and adding value to the grower-retailer relationship. Further speakers will be announced soon.

“Now, more than ever before, is the time for the UK nursery industry to be sharing its immense knowledge base and discussing best practice,” said HTA President Boyd Douglas-Davies. “Contact provides an invaluable opportunity to bring together the nursery stock sector to do exactly this and to look at the key topics impacting horticultural businesses. With high profile speakers, an agenda tackling the key topics and plenty of time for networking, there really is no better way to kick off the 2020 season.”

This event is open to all businesses and costs £299 for HTA members (£499 for non-members).

For more information click here  or email the events team.