National think-tank is just around corner

摘要

People have talked about it for a long time, people have wanted it for a long time and now at last the National Horticultural Forum is almost here (HW, May 23). It will hopefully be a voice that will be recognised by government, environmentalists and the public at large. Much hard work went into the setting up of the forum, and make no mistake about it, there is more hard work to come. It was back in January this year that the first inkling came about that such a forum might get off the ground. Oneof the recommendations made in the government-commissioned report A Vision for Horticulture - which examined the state of horticultural research and development - was that such a forum be started. Three men were behind the report and have been closely involved with the first tentative steps towards the forum. They are: Professor Sir Colin Spedding, former director of the Centre for Agricultural Strategy at Reading University; Dr Brian Jamieson, a research management consultant; and Robert Hillier, chairman and managing director of Hillier Nurseries and a former president of the Horticultural Trades Association.