Libby Rowland, Crop Research and Developer at Vitacress Herbs, has been awarded a rare place on a new Fellowship scheme which promises to develop future leaders of the horticulture industry.
The scheme, launched by Land Settlement Association Charitable Trust (LSA CT), offers six promising individuals a year, a unique opportunity to gain strategic management training and experience with leading horticultural companies. The initiative will help to increase the Fellows’ knowledge of current research and their ability to evaluate the potential impact of this on the industry.
Through innovation and cooperation, the scheme will enable them to gain insight into the role played by trade bodies and associated committees in the development of industry strategies and communications with government.
Libby commented: “I’m delighted to be chosen to join the first cohort of this fantastic new scheme. The Fellowship will give me a number of opportunities to learn and to network, which I believe is crucial for the development of an early-career researcher and horticulturist. I hope that my experiences with the scheme over the next two years will help me to make meaningful contributions to the industry, during what promises to be an exciting career in horticulture.”
The aims of the Fellowship are closely aligned with the values of Chichester-based Vitacress Herbs, which has a proud heritage of market-leading innovation, including the introduction of living herbs.
The UK’s largest producer of fresh herbs to supermarkets, Vitacress has a pioneering, customer-focused innovation team, committed to finding the most exciting and delicious ways to deliver the best products.
Simon Conway, Managing Director of Vitacress Herbs, said: “We aim to employ the brightest and most innovative people in the business and Libby’s place on the new Fellowship is recognition of this. We’d like to congratulate Libby and have no doubt she will seize the opportunity and flourish on this scheme.”
Vitacress supplies UK supermarkets with 18 million pots of herbs and 60 million packs of fresh cut and bunched herbs every year. There is a wide variety of herbs available, ranging from popular herbs used in everyday cooking such as coriander, basil, mint and parsley, through to more specialist herbs such as lemongrass and lime leaves.