Here is an introduction to some of the speakers this year:
Arie Blom - Independent Plant Breeder
'What's new?'
Arie Blom studied plant breeding and tissue culture at the University of Wageningen. Part of his experience has been working on breeding Brassica Oleracea and ornamental breeding, working with Waller Genetics.
Aran Sena - PhD Student
'Robot Learning Systems for Horticulture'
Aran is a PhD student in the Robert Learning Lab at King's College, London - he is working on the AHDB sponsored project, "GROWBOT: A Grower-Reprogrammable Robot for Ornamental Plant Production Tasks". Aran explains that there are still many gaps in automation options available to growers - due to limitation of batch size, variety of product and the costs involved.
Bernard Oosterom - President of AIPH
'A global View of Threats and Opportunities in the Nursery Industry'
Bernard has been involved in International cooperation across the horticultural industry for many years. He is chairman of several companies and has been President of AIPH for 3 years.