Marks & Spencer wants to see more government help for R&D into the pests and diseases that UK growers might have to tackle as a consequence of climate change.
Submitting evidence to the House of Lords committee set up earlier in the year to consider the development of the horticulture sector, the retailer said such support would help scale up the sector’s resilience. It also wants to see a ‘more favourable regulatory regime to enable better protection of crops’ and ‘tools to help UK growers to embed climate risk modelling to futureproof their livelihoods’.
Additional financial support was also needed for small-scale growers to enable them to transition to low carbon methods, it said.
At the same time it voiced its support for the continuation of the seasonal agricultural workers scheme. It wants all areas of horticulture – growers and packers – to be able to access seasonal labour via the scheme while the industry works to develop more automation and for advice on careers in horticulture to be made available in schools.
Read more news and features from the protected crop industry in our monthly publication The Commercial Greenhouse Grower.
