Director General, Carol Paris and the HTA team from Theale met with Defra Ministers last week to discuss a range of issues of concern to the industry.
Ministers Richard Benyon and Lord De Mauley were both present to listen to the industry’s perspective on subjects like sustainable growing media, hosepipe bans, research and development funding, Sunday trading and the immediate challenges from the outbreak of Chalara.
Carol Paris comments, “It was a good opportunity to remind Ministers of the importance of the ornamentals industry, and to highlight some of the current threats that we face.
"Ministers clearly understand the enormous contribution that our sector makes to the nation’s social, economic and environmental well-being.”
On Chalara, the government remains reluctant to provide direct compensation to nurseries but is looking at other ways to mitigate the financial impact, e.g. by stimulating re-plant grants.
Longer term, Defra officials will work with industry to review the forestry grants scheme, thereby providing greater market stability and increased resilience for UK growers.
HTA will continue this discussion with Defra to press for support for affected growers and for positive long term regulatory improvements.
On sustainable growing media, the HTA looked forward to Defra endorsement in early 2013 of Alan Knight’s report which had captured broad support for a roadmap towards a more sustainable industry.
On water, Minister Benyon thanked the HTA for its contribution to the National Drought Group and agreed that it was essential that the garden and water industries continued to engage constructively on water resilience even in times of non-drought.
On Sunday trading, whilst recognising the political sensitivities of relaxing existing laws, there was general acknowledgement that the current restrictions on garden centres seem outdated.
Tim Briercliffe, HTA Director of Business Development added “The meeting also provided a good opportunity to stress the need for government support for research and development for ornamentals.
"We know that trees and plants provide enormous benefits to society and the environment, but in recent years their contribution has been of secondary importance to food security in terms of government R&D provision. It is vital that this trend is reversed.”
