Technical Committee Chairman, Mike Smith, unveils the proposals for a Bedding and Seasonal Plant Study Tour to the US and Canada in 2017.
The focus will be on visiting well respected nurseries producing bedding plants, pot plants, herbaceous plants and a range of other seasonal plants. The study tour will be an intensive trip taking in a selection of different sized commercial production units (using different types of technology, energy sources, methods of crop protection etc), garden centres and retail outlets and provisionally a research centre.
So far we have managed to contact and obtain agreement to visit Terra Nova Nurseries, Smith Gardens, Northwest Horticulture, Rainbow Greenhouses Inc and Darvonda Nurseries.
Numbers
Until we have a more precise idea of the numbers interested (the target being around 30), it will be difficult to provide an exact cost for the trip, but return flights to the west coast of the USA/Canada are currently around £500-600 per person (the previous study tour to the East coast of the USA was around £1,500 per person before sponsorship/funding).
AHDB will fund internal transport within the USA/Canada and any organisational costs for the study tour and further sponsorship/funding may be forthcoming from other bodies. It is expected that each attendee will need to fund their own flights, accommodation and meals for a period of six to seven days. It is envisaged that the study tour logistical details will be once again dealt with by Farm Tours.
Young growers
As with the study tour to the East coast of the USA in 2015, we see this as a great opportunity to enable some of the younger growers to visit these nurseries for the first time and to spend quality time with their peers in the industry over the period of the trip. Chris Beytes, editor of the American publication ‘GrowerTalks’, has already lent his support to the project and we plan to turn this into a real flagship event for UK growers.
Send in your names by Email if you would like to learn more about the itinerary and have details of costs etc.