Environment Minister Lord de Mauley attended a Roundtable on Ornamentals on 1 September at Hatfield House, hosted by the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), to discuss overcoming barriers to competitiveness and growth.

The Roundtable included representatives from a number of organisations in the ornamentals sector, including the RHS, the Horticultural Development Company, the Horticultural Trades Association, the Horticulture Innovation Partnership, the Chartered Institute of Horticulture, Lantra, the NFU and YoungHort.

The purpose of the meeting was to find ways to increase the competitiveness of the sector by joint working, and attendees discussed barriers facing competitiveness; opportunities for growth; and attracting young people to the sector.

Attendees discussed some of the barriers to competition, including the market structure, perception of ornamentals industry, skills and recruitment. The importance of raising the industry’s profile was emphasised. They also identified opportunities for more cooperative working, and increasing the export market. The group agreed the need to better promote the benefits of the ornamental sector in terms of the environment and long term sustainability.

Lord de Mauley offered to help by communicating with other government departments about the importance of ornamentals in achieving their policy outcomes, such as jobs, careers, import displacement/exports, health benefits and tourism.

Representatives from Lantra and YoungHort stressed skills shortage and the need for 19,000 new entrants to ornamentals and production horticulture by 2020. YoungHort referenced a recent survey which found that gardening was in the top five hobbies of 25-30 yr olds, but explained that yet there was a lack of awareness of careers in horticulture. To address this gap, they are working to educate career advisers, parents and teachers about career opportunities, and have fifteen ambassadors that go into schools to promote the industry.

The Roundtable agreed to develop a concrete action plan by 1 April 2015. To achieve this ambitious goal they agreed to establish four action-groups to focus on

•             Promotion and perception of the industry, which will be chaired by Carol Paris (HTA)

•             Quality of Employment Opportunities, which will be chaired Martin Emmett (HDC)

•             Supply Chain, chairman – to be agreed

•             Policy impacts and benefits, chaired by Chris Hartfield (NFU)

The Roundtable plan to reconvene in December to discuss progress with a final meeting by April 2015.