Research
and Development Strategy
Protected Crops
The Protected Crops sector Panel is one of the
largest sectors within the HDC contributing over 30%
of the annual HDC income. This sector Panel encompasses
protected salad crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, peppers, herbs,
celery, etc, and protected ornamental crops of cut flowers, pot plants and
bedding plants.
Up to 90% of production of these crops is in glasshouses,
rather than in plastic structures, and the preference
for glass over plastic has continued in recent rebuilding
and expansion programmes within the industry. Unlike
other sectors, labour is often not the dominant cost
for protected crops production, as energy can now account
for up to 40% of variable costs, particularly in intensive
salad and ornamentals production.
A number of generic priorities have been identified
which pertain in particular, to the efficient use of
all available energy sources. Initiatives addressing
the efficient use of energy will continue to dominate
the activities and expenditure of the Protected Crops
Panel over the next few years. Considerable progress
has been made in transferring existing technologies
and knowledge; the challenge for the future will be
to identify the next step change that can offer already
energy efficient growers, the chance to further reduce
energy inputs by 10% or more.
The target of reducing labour costs per unit of production
is a major challenge and involves business management,
capital investment, staff training and in some instances,
legislative issues. For container-grown crops such
as pot plants, bedding plants and herbs, substantial
commercial developments in plant spacing and handling
systems have already been developed and often the only
barrier to adopting such automation will be financial.
The high labour input required for tomato, cucumber
and pepper crops in current production systems requires
cost-effective ergonomic solutions for the most expensive
labour activities. In the longer term, novel growing
systems that can be predominantly automated should
be developed and evaluated for these crops.
Crop protection will remain a priority area for R&D
funding. Robust biological control solutions are sought
for the edibles and ornamentals sectors and the key
will be to provide overall control strategies that
work in practice. The Panel supports the development
of sustainable and robust disease control measures
through the optimisation of the growing environment.
This initiative has relevance to organic production
and will require a multi-disciplinary approach from
researchers. The integration of pest and disease control
with efficient energy use is a challenge that must
be pursued.
Legislative pressures are increasing. Hence, greater
emphasis will need to be placed on issues such as the
efficient use of water, minimizing run-off from nurseries
and compliance with the waste management regulations.
There is considerable scope to tackle these issues
through a range of knowledge transfer initiatives delivering
immediate assistance to growers.
The Panel is conscious that the needs of all growers,
in particular growers of minor crops, may not be covered
by this R&D Strategy and hence will encourage a
proactive approach by HDC staff to contact these growers
to establish how their needs might be best served from
levy funds.
Dr Ruth Finlay
Principal Technical Manager
Download R&D Strategy Tables (PDF - 121K)
Download R&D Strategy for Plant Propagators Ltd (DOC - 52K)
|
