Horticulture notes February 2008

No matter what the industry, every business must absorb recent rises in the costs of fuel, utilities and raw materials. In addition, we are all aware of the need to reduce waste generation and our reliance on non-renewable resources. Although environmental considerations can seem too involved or costly for small producers and companies, some improvements are quite straightforward to implement, with immediate benefits. Businesses in horticulture are ideally placed to consider this adoption of ‘greener’ operations. Sometimes they can even find economic advantages from the move towards sustainable practice.

To help clarify the most relevant and pressing issues, Crops and Horticulture Development Branch, in partnership with the Horticultural Trade Association (HTA), has organised a conference addressing sustainability in commercial horticulture. This is ‘the Green Challenge’ conference at College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE), Greenmount Campus, Antrim, on Thursday 5 February 2009.

The keynote speaker, Dr Alan Knight, sits on the UK Sustainability Development Commission, which advises government and monitors performance across a series of policy areas including climate change, economics and energy. Dr Knight will address the major challenges of sustainability facing horticulture during the next decade.

The programme includes a presentation from Sharon Russell-Vermer of the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP). WRAP works closely with local authorities, the retail sector and others to tackle problems of unnecessary packaging, non-recyclable materials and landfill. Sharon will explain the latest findings from WRAP’s research into composting green waste and its use to improve soil fertility and crop performance. Some impressive yield increases have been reported for various field crops treated with this material.

Farm Energy Centre (FEC) Services is the UK’s leading energy consultancy with specialist expertise in farming and horticulture sectors. Mr Tim Pratt of FEC will outline the choices available to improve energy efficiency in horticulture.

The morning itinerary will conclude with observations from CAFRE’s own horticultural technologist, Miss Teresa Maguire, on sustainable practices in Australian and New Zealand horticulture, which she witnessed during an award tour through the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.

Over lunch, participants can bring their practical queries to commercial company representatives who will have trade exhibits at the event.

The afternoon provides an opportunity for guided tours of renewable technologies at Greenmount’s Horticulture Development Centre including their biomass boiler, solar panel and wind turbine installations. There will be demonstrations of recycling practice, rainwater collection and crop production using biodegradable pots.

The Conference runs from 10 am to 4.30 pm and the cost to attend is £10 per person.  This fee includes a complimentary lunch and entry to the trade stand exhibits. If your business has not received a letter of invitation or any promotional information for the conference, please send me an email request.

You will already know that the disposal of agricultural waste materials now comes under a set of licensing regulations.  These rules include the need for all farm businesses to register an exemption for activities such as:

Most farm businesses registered as part of their 2008 Single Farm Payment (SFP) application earlier this year (form SAF1, section 6). However, if you didn’t need to make a SFP return your business won’t be registered for such agricultural waste disposals.

Registration for these exemptions is very straightforward and there is no fee. The process is administered by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (formerly Environment and Heritage Service). If you need more information, please send me an email enquiry, or go online to the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.