Horticulture Week Podcast HortWeek

Former Defra secretary of state George Eustice says there should be a new generation of UK fresh produce glasshouse production post-election, with a Defra strategy to support that.
The retiring Conservative MP believes more can also be done on labour shortages. He supports a needs-based policy so sectors with shortages have sector-specific visas, and a 10-year plus seasonal worker scheme maintained at current worker levels.
After standing down ahead of the July 4 general election, Eustice formed the Penbroath environmental and agricultural consultancy. He discusses his political legacy from his nine-year stint as a Defra minister, including almost three as secretary of state until 2022; they include the Environment, Agriculture and Fishery Acts and the transition from EU subsidies to new schemes. He also reflects on working through a "turbulent time" with Brexit, Covid and Ukraine happening during his tenure.
On plant imports, he argues the UK has been "incredibly generous" to the EU on plant imports and that has not been reciprocated with UK exports to the EU. Importers may find BCPs frustrating, but they should be buying from British nurseries where they know the health status of plants he says. Eustice does admit he would have timed the implementation better (delayed due to Covid, the Ukraine war and having to re-recruit border staff). Despite "teething problems" he maintains BCPs are the most proportionate and risk-based approach to stopping plant pests and diseases entering the UK.
On peat, he expresses frustration that his successor at Defra ,Therese Coffey, brough forward peat ban plans without a legislative vehicle. The consequent "uncertainty" was a "terrible mistake". Eustice wanted to ban garden centre bagged sales but to delay commercial peat bans on growers until 2030, with veg module bans not implemented until 2035-40. He wants to see a return to that approach.
He discusses how the new Government, be it Tory or Labour, could bring elements of the peat ban into force including using secondary regulation to restrict sales under the Environment Act's 'protecting resources' section, though the current the Government did not think that would work. A ban on all retail sales would get round how to make sure imports grown in peat do not undercut the UK market.


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Trees, arguably, have never been so popular and Sarah Lom, chief executive of the Tree Council is enjoying their moment in the sun.
Applications to the Tree Council's small grants fund [under £500] have doubled in the last 12 months. National Tree Week at the end of 2023 reached an estimated 30 million people and a schools programme is helping engage younger people, helping ease their 'eco-anxiety' along the way:
"We even got to deliver a lesson at Number 10 [Downing Street] ...which was a fabulous opportunity for the pupils to see the garden there, the beautiful London plane trees."
Tree Council relies upon a network of volunteer tree wardens around the UK, has a £2m program funding108 different projects with Network Rail.
The organisation encourages community groups to use local or their own nurseries for a supply of "bio-secure trees". And this community activity may have more benefits than one might imagine:
"There is evidence that trees planted with love and care do better. We're five years into a hedge planting trial with Network Rail at Hadley Wood in North London...and five years in, the hedges planted by the volunteers are four meters tall and have 96% survival rate, whereas those planted by the contractors are two meters tall - that's half - and a 64% survival rate," all of which is a boon to the well-documented benefits of trees - pollution mitigation, urban cooling, flood mitigation, well-being uplift and so on. A full report on the findings is to be produced in due course.
But climate change and changes to previously dependable seasonal patterns has led her to wonder whether National Tree Week (which encourages people to plant trees in their communities), shoudl be made later.
"The warmer autumns means the trees become dormant later, the early spring brings them back to life sooner."
As concern grows over the UK's ability to meet Government tree planting targets, Lom says: "They didn't meet their targets, but the good news is that the nation did plant 40% more trees last season than they did the season before. And the aim is that will escalate year on year on year, but it takes time and everyone has to play their part. I know when I've spoken to nursery, they've said, we need time to be able to generate the stock."
As local authorities wrestle with extreme pressure on council budgets Lom insists that having a tree strategy should be a priority:
On plans for 2024 Lom says the schools programme will continue, tree survival studies and work with DEFRA looking at establishing a methodology for tree survival and tree establishment will all figure.
Tree Council is also collaborating with Oxford University on a mistletoe mapping project, a keystone species with complex interactions with trees.


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HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.
At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.
Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.
Neal Ritson began his career in the music industry but having discovered horticulture he is now a grower of ornamental bedding plants, pots and baskets for a large scale nursery in West Lancashire.
In this podcast Neal talks about his journey in horticulture and provides some wise advice for anyone considering a career change


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HortWeek is delighted to present the Cultivate Your Future podcast, in partnership with the Colegrave Seabrook Foundation and sponsors MorePeople.
At a time when horticulture needs to encourage a new wave of young people to come into the industry, this podcast is designed to highlight the multiple and varied career opportunities available.
Hear from people who have found their way into their chosen career through different paths, what their job involves and what it means to them.
In this episode ex professional cyclist, Connie Hudson describes her journey from cycling to horticulture. 
Connie describes what her life was like in the cycling world and discusses the career change she has to train as a gardener at John Massey's garden at Ashwood Nurseries
Connie's story highlights that anyone, at any age can make a move into the horticultural industry.


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Renowned plantswoman Claire Austin, who has recently written a book called Peonies, a personal collection of 350 species, has revealed the secrets behind growing the increasingly popular herbaceous, intersectional and tree peonies.
Austin, who owns the only retail nursery that also has a pub on site, in Sarn, mid-Wales, talks about the appeal of peonies, peony growing tips for gardeners and professionals, her favourite peonies, her famous family and how her nursery business coped during lockdown. It saw x6 times mail order growth overnight in April 2020.
She explains why she has retired from shows and is critical of Government policy towards retail nurseries. Austin also tells us what plants she is breeding and what the future is for growers and plant breeders like herself.

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HortWeek editor Matt Appleby speaks with ICL's Andrew Wilson, Matthew Miller, Steven Chapman and Sam Rivers to preview Hort Science Live.
ICL Hort Science Live explore the latest technologies and management practices growers need to produce quality resilient plants in sustainable media.
Wilson will lead the ‘How to rethink plant nutrition’workstation, taking growers through ICL’s 2024 peat-free Osmocote 5 trials, exploring different rates and longevities. He will highlight the specific nutrition challenges of peat-free growing media and explain how the latest generation of water soluble and CRFs can address any issues. 

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