•
NEWS
•
THE
VEGETABLE
FARMER •
JANUARY 2017
Extending the available range
of plant protection products,
adding depth and breadth to
the industry’s expertise and
knowledge, and tackling the
rising cost of human labour are
key priorities for the new three
year AHDB Horticulture strategy
published recently.
The vision of AHDB’s new
organisation-wide corporate
strategy is ‘creating a world-
class food and farming
industry’. It has also redefined
AHDB’s purpose as ‘inspiring
farmers, growers and the
industry to succeed in a rapidly
changingworld’.
The 2017-2020 AHDB
Horticulture strategy, which is
out for a six week consultation,
also tackles the challenges
posed by the rising cost of
human labour, which can
account for between 30% and
70% of total variable
production costs.
To improve the quality and
long term impact of its
research, AHDB Horticulture will
move from a largely tactical
problem solving approach to
one that is more balanced and
joined up, with some larger
thematic programmes on topics
of cross sector importance such
as pesticide resistance, soil and
water.
Better leverage of levy funding
will be sought through
collaborationwith other
research funders such as the UK
research councils and the new
Agri-Tech innovation centres.
AHDB Horticulture Sector
Director Steve Tones said the
sector was facing a number of
challenges: “We are an
incredibly diverse and innovative
sector industry, but all
horticultural businesses face an
increasingly competitive retail
market, rising labour costs and
a dwindling chemical protection
armoury.
“Our Sector Boardwants to
focus AHDB levy investment on
those activities that add the
most value, avoid duplicating
work already being done by
others, and build our work on
cross-cutting themes of broad
benefit to all horticulture
sectors.
“We will continue to generate
Extensions of Authorisations for
Minor Uses (EAMUs) tomeet
the short term crop protection
needs identified by grower
associations and AHDB
Horticulture’s sector panels.
Other, more forward-looking
work will focus on the long
term development of robust
integrated cropmanagement
systems tominimise future crop
losses from diseases, pests and
weeds. New approaches and
ways of sharing costs on this
work will be exploredwith
industry partners and the Agri-
Tech Crop Health and Protection
(CHaP) Innovation Centre.
“We will also continue to
invest in the next generation of
industry experts by funding
student bursaries, Felllowships,
PhD studentships and Nuffield
Scholarships, andwe will work
with the National Land-Based
College and others to promote
horticulture as a forward-
thinking career of choice for
school and college-age
students.”
Strategic benchmarking of
production andmanagement
systems will be used to help all
businesses get themost out of
their workforce. Automation
and robotics technologies of
potential value to horticulture
will be explored and showcased
in partnerhipwith the Agri-Tech
Agri-Epi Centres and others.
Mr Tones added: “Greater
competition in the grocery
market is leading tomore
supply chain consolidationwith
fewer, bigger businesses. We
have also looked at howwe can
refresh our approach to
knowledge exchange through
more digital delivery and
workingwith others to ensure
that our work is relevant and
practical andmade as widely
accessible to levy payers as
possible.”
The strategy can be found
online at;
ations/consultation.aspx
The closing date for the
consultation is 9 January 2017.
Horticulture levy rates for
2017/18 are to remain
unchanged.
4
New AHDB Horticulture Strategy published
Research shows damaged salad leaves can
stimulate salmonella growth
Investigations by
microbiologists at the University
of Leicester have revealed that
just a small amount of damage
to salad leaves can stimulate
the presence of Salmonella in
ready-prepared salad leaves. A
team led by Dr Primrose
Freestone of the
Department of
Infection,
Immunity and
Inflammation,
and PhD student
Giannis Koukkidis
has discovered
that juices
released from the
damaged leaves
also had the
effect of
enhancing the
virulence of the
pathogen,
potentially
increasing its
ability to cause
infection to the
consumer.
Their research
investigated
novel methods
of preventing
food poisoning pathogens from
attaching to the surface of
salad leaves to help producers
improve food safety for
consumers. This latest study,
published at the end of
November, found that juices
from damaged leaves in bagged
spinach andmixed salads
increased Salmonella pathogen
growth 2,400-fold over a
control group and also
enhanced their adherence to
surfaces and their overall
virulence or capacity to cause
disease.
Dr Freestone said: “Salad
leaves are cut during harvesting
andwe found that even
microlitres of the juices (less
than 1/200th of a teaspoon)
which leach from the cut-ends
of the leaves enabled
Salmonella to grow inwater,
evenwhen it was refrigerated.
These juices also helped the
Salmonella to attach itself to
the salad leaves so strongly that
vigorous washing could not
remove the bacteria and even
enabled the pathogen to attach
to the salad bag or container.”
Dr Freestone continued: “This
research emphasises the need
for salad leaf growers to
maintain high food safety
standards as even a few
Salmonella cells in a salad bag
at the time of purchase could
becomemany thousands by the
time the bag reaches its use by
date, even if kept refrigerated.
“Even small traces of juices
release from damaged leaves
canmake the pathogen grow
better and becomemore able
to cause disease. This research
did not look for evidence of
Salmonella in bagged salads.
Instead it examined how
Salmonella grows on salad
leaves when they are
damaged”.
Giannis Koukkidis’ research
has been funded by a
Biotechnology and Biological
Sciences Research Council i-case
studentship.
Giannis Koukkidis and Dr Primrose Freestone, (Courtesy
of Carl Vivian - University of Leicester).
