HTA have announced new speakers for the Contact 2015 Conference  ‘Growing Opportunities’ which takes place on Wednesday 14 and Thursday 15 January 2015 at JCB Global Headquarters in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.

Lewis Normand, Coblands Nurseries and Amanda Sizer, Director General of Gardenex will join an already impressive line up of speakers at the biennial conference for growers and nurserymen.

Amanda will be joined by Charlie Parker, Commercial Director, Gardenex and will lead a session on developing an export strategy.  Sarah Mayne, ADAS UK Ltd has also joined the programme and will speak on crop protection.

This year’s event will also feature a supplier and buyer discussion hosted by Wayne Eady, Delamore Young Plants, Tim Clapp, Adam Dunnett, Wyevale Plants, Charles Carr, Lowaters and Marcus Cousins of Aylett Nurseries where delegates will be able to pose their questions to industry experts.

Other confirmed speakers include Guy Moreton, MorePeople and David Frost, Group Human Resources Director at Produce World who will give advice on recruitment in the session entitled ‘People’.

Graham Spencer, Plants for Europe will talk on how growers exploit the opportunities that new plant varieties represent, whilst David Denny, Horticultural Trades Association will lead a session on how to develop trade based on the findings of the HDC project to export plants to 25 countries.

The conference dinner takes place on the evening of 14 January at the Radisson Blu Hotel, East Midlands Airport and will feature some charity fundraising for Perennial.

Delegates will be able to pick and choose the workshop sessions to attend on Thursday 15 January. Topics include “Making Horticulture Attractive” and “Understanding the value of Research”.

A highlight of the event will be a tour of the JCB factory and JCB Story where delegates will see the process of how a machine is built from the delivery of the sheet steel to the finished product.  JCB will also be highlighting the JCB Teletruk, a forklift truck designed to fulfil a mission; reduce overheads, save time and space, and improve site safety.

Contact 2015 is an invaluable and unmissable event for anyone in the hardy stock sector. Book your places today to benefit from the early bird rates, which end on 19 December. 

For further information and to book your place, please visit www.contactconference.co.uk