Please Note: Member orders placed between the 20 Dec and 1 Jan will be dispatched from the 2 January 2025.
Wednesday 25 September 2024
09:00 - Registration and welcome refreshments
10:00 - Conference opens
16:30 - Conference closes
16:45 - HTA AGM Meeting
19:00 - Drinks reception
19:45 - Conference dinner
23:00 - Dinner closes
Please note: Timings are approximate and may be subject to change.
Dr Daniel Hulme, CEO of award-winning AI solutions company Satalia, Chief AI Officer for WPP, and Director of University College London’s Business Analytics Masters degree, will bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the conference and highlight how AI can benefit the industry.
Daniel will share his vision of how AI will transform business and the workplace, focusing on how AI and emerging technologies can solve the most challenging problems. He will also delve into the business, ethical, and social implications of these technologies, as well as broader technological and economic developments. Passionate about creating a positive technological future, Daniel is dedicated to making AI accessible and understandable while providing a framework for avoiding potential pitfalls.
This panel sessions will discuss with HTA members their learnings of the last 125 years as their businesses have been passed down across generations, with the key discussion around how they are working together to face the challenges of the future.
Having studied horticulture at Pershore College in 1991-94, I spent 18 months working at a Garden centre in Columbus Ohio before returning to my parents’ business, a market garden and nursery, in 1996. During the last 28 years our business has develop and diversified from a team 5 to over 100 people. Moving from market garden to become a leading garden centre in North Wales; winning GCA Best Garden Centre in the UK in 2019.
George Hillier is Chairman of Hillier Nurseries Ltd, a family-run horticultural business since 1864. He has worked in the company for over 20 years, beginning as a garden centre assistant, and working his way up the chain. He has managed the company’s recent property acquisitions and developments, expanding Hillier’s portfolio from 12 to 22 garden centres, as well as acquiring additional land for growth in the Hillier tree nurseries.
With skilled people at the heart of the industry, a session on workforce planning will explore the evolving workforce, succession planning and strategies for attracting and retaining a diverse pool of talent for the future. This includes HTA workforce data and updates on key initiatives, including the sector-wide Access All Areas DEI initiative.
New Hopetoun Gardens, a single-site garden centre with a turnover of £2.5 million, 36 members of staff, majority owned by the staff under an Employee Ownership Trust (EOT). They are a real living wage employer, specialising in plants with a tearoom, gift shop and demonstration gardens.
Wendy Baines is an experienced senior leader with over 25 years’ experience in Human Resources with some of the most widely recognised brands and top employers in the world. Wendy joined Evergreen Garden Care in 2021, initially as UK&I HR Director before moving into the role of Group and UK People & Culture Director, leading the HR teams within these countries to achieve best in class HR practices.
Martin Emmett is a former Chair of the HTA’s Ornamentals Management Committee and now chairs the NFU Board for Horticulture and Potatoes. He is a Director of the Farplants Group, based in West Sussex. In combination with his commercial activities he is a Lecturer on the Diploma courses at RBG Kew and RHS Wisley and chairs the Education and Employment Working Group of the Environmental Horticulture Group.
Natalie is Sales Director at Happy Plants - an annual plants nursery based in the North West. She is also a founder member and president of the Young People in Horticulture Association, which brings together over 1000 young people working across all areas of our industry.
Dave Denny will show how global consumer, environmental, technology and regulatory trends are set to affect existing markets for UK horticulture, and create new ones as part of the UK’s potential for green growth.
The session will provide insights into emerging and converging standards affecting how information will be shared through the supply chain, ultimately providing the consumer with more information on environmental impacts, traceability, and biosecurity through the supply chain. The session will also look at how these sorts of trends are set to affect not only retail markets and consumer purchasing, but also create new markets set to emerge as environmental horticulture plays a more prominent role in mitigating the impacts of the climate emergency.
We depend on plants and we need them to be healthy, whether for growing, buying, selling or trading. This session takes a closer look at what is being done to keep our plants healthy and mitigate the risk of new pests and diseases taking hold. Think of biosecurity like a jigsaw, the picture is incomplete without all the necessary ‘pieces’. The research, regulation, horizon scanning and communication work being done is complex, skilled and vital to a future with a healthy supply chain. We need all this and for every one of us to be actively involved. Pippa Greenwood introduces Lisa Smith, and a panel who are working to achieve the best possible plant health outcome both now and or our future.
Rebecca Lawson is senior nematologist at Fera Science, with over 20 years’ experience providing a comprehensive diagnostic service for government and industry. Rebecca is responsible for providing consultancy to Defra plant health division regarding the biology and pathogenicity of plant and soil nematodes, as plant pests to UK agriculture and horticulture. In addition, she promotes important research into using nematodes as bioindicators of soil health. Rebecca Holds a PGC in plant health and biosecurity, is a RSB registered Plant Health Professional and has published over 20 peer-reviewed papers and reports.
Lisa is currently Head of Tree Health Policy and Plant Health Science in Defra, and leads an interdisciplinary team of policy makers, natural scientists, statisticians, economists and social researchers. As a senior figure in the UK Plant Health Service, Lisa sits on the UK National Plant Protection Organisation (NPPO) board, chairs Defra’s Tree Health Policy Group, the government’s Ash dieback task group and the UK’s Plant Health Evidence Group, and is a member of Fera’s Independent Science Committee. She was a co-author of the GB Plant Biosecurity Strategies published in 2014 and 2023, lead author of Defra’s Tree Health Resilience Strategy 2018 and is currently overseeing a refresh of this strategy.
Throughout her career, Kersten has held pivotal roles, including General Manager at Newey Young Plants, Sales and Marketing Director at Boningale Nurseries and now with Wyevale Nurseries as well as Chairperson of the BPOA and a board member of the NFU Horticulture Board. Her expertise spans from managing large-scale production sites to leading sales and marketing teams, where she has been instrumental in driving growth, innovation, and market expansion. Her leadership and strategic vision have significantly influenced the horticultural landscape, making her a highly respected figure in the industry.
Senior Plant Bacteriologist at Fera Science since 2019. Visiting Academic at the University of Warwick since 2018. Previously worked as a Research Fellow at the University of Warwick and a Crop Production Systems Scientist at the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. Joana works on various projects on bacterial plant diseases including important plant pathogens from the genera Xanthomonas, Pseudomonas, Ralstonia and Xylella of a range of different crop plants and ornamentals. Extensive expertise on Xanthomonas species including work on black rot of crucifers caused by X. campestris pv. campestris and leaf spot diseases of brassica crops and ornamental plants caused by X. campestris pv. raphani
The Annual General Meeting of the Horticultural Trades Association will be held after Horticulture, The Conference on Wednesday 25 September 2024, at The ICC Birmingham, commencing at 16:45.
The Dinner Ceremony will be a special celebration of the HTA's 125th anniversary, and will honour the outstanding achievements of UK nurseries with the announcement of the HTA Grower of the Year Awards. The Pearson Memorial Award will also be presented.
Peter counts himself as lucky to have grown up in the beautiful surroundings of the Lake District, where he first developed a love for the outdoors and an interest in weather – there’s a lot of weather in The Lakes! Following a degree in physics and geography at Newcastle University he joined the British Antarctic Survey as a meteorologist, living and working in Antarctica for two years at the isolated Halley research station.
Peter went on to a more than 30 year career as a front line forecaster with the UK’s Met Office, 20 years of that with the national weather broadcasting team at the BBC
Peter is passionate about tackling the biodiversity and climate crises, spending much of his spare time doing outreach work to improve public understanding of climate change, while also working with local nature conservation groups around his Berkshire home. As an enthusiastic gardener he’s making sure his own patch is as wildlife-friendly as possible!
