With the theme of ‘Surviving and Thriving’, Jan de Vries from Anthos and Amy Gray from NFU are the latest names to be added to the inspiring two day programme. Anthos is the Royal trade association for arboriculture and bulb products in the Netherlands. Jan will give a talk on the word on everyone’s lips ‘Brexit’, and how it will affect European trade. Amy will talk on labour and the living wage and will set out the latest situation and government assurances for migrant labour in the production horticulture.
The programme will also tackle issues such as plant health, innovation, production and biosecurity, recruiting and retaining labour, as well as water and chemical regulations post Brexit.
The conference will feature presentations by Chief Plant Health Officer Professor Nicola Spence who will talk about the latest on threats such as Xylella fastidiosa and what could change with our plant health regulations following Brexit. Industry Policy Adviser David Brown will focus on Growing in Britain – what the opportunities are and how we overcome the barriers to import substitution for oak.
Industry innovation will also be a key theme of the conference with Bruce Harnett, from Kernock Park Plants giving a presentation on the advanced technologies that could transform horticulture, whilst Professor James Hitchmough, Head of Landscape at Sheffield University, will highlight potential new markets for plants through exploiting their functionality as well as enjoying their good looks.
John Adlam from Dove Associates will look at the proposed reforms to the water abstraction system and outline the proposed government strategy, details of how time limited licence renewals could be treated, the future of licences of right and how drip irrigation will be brought into the system.
Landscape and Garden Designer and RHS Ambassador, Adam Frost will provide the after dinner talk at the HTA Contact Conference dinner which takes place on the evening of Tuesday 17 January at Whittlebury Hall, Northamptonshire.
The conference dinner will also include a raffle for Thrive, a charity whose aim is to enable positive change in the lives of disabled and disadvantaged people through the use of gardening. Raffle tickets will be sold on the night at £5 a strip. There will be five great prizes on offer which include:
- 1 bottle of champagne
- 1 White Company gift set
- 1 John Lewis voucher
- 1 prize of 4 tickets to the X Factor Live tour on Friday February 24th at the Birmingham Genting Arena with meet and greet.
- 1 prize of 4 tickets to see The Vamps on Saturday February 18th at the Birmingham O2 Academy
The APL Stone Seminar ‘Paving the Way’ will take place on Tuesday 17 January and the BPOA Spring Conference will take place on Wednesday 18 January, both also at Whittlebury Hall.
To book your place visit www.hta.org.uk/events or email events@hta.org.uk