Horticulture WoGr

Horticulture – lead Brian Thomas, Eckhard George

Next activities: Input on horticulture to research programmes; Developing a white paper on “Importance of Horticultural Research”; Discussing concepts for links in horticultural research beyond Europe; Preparing a workshop on the “Importance of Horticultural Research – Potential Interaction and Support”; Contacting horticultural industry for involvement in the Technology Platform ‘Plants for the Future’.

Members:

Eckhard George, Leibniz Institute for Vegetable and Ornamental Crops (IGZ), Grossbeeren, DE

Peter Lootens, Plant Sciences Unit - Growth and development, Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research (ILVO), Melle, BE       

Karin Metzlaff, EPSO

Carl-Otto Ottosen, Dept. of Food Sciences, Aarhus Univ, DK Brian Thomas, School of Life Sciences, Univ of Warwick, UK

More members and contributions are most welcome    

Background:    

Horticultural products (from fruits, vegetables and ornamental plants) play a major role in modern society and economy as important components of traditional food, and are central to healthy diets of modern urban population. In addition, ornamental plants have high cultural values for Europeans, and urban greening is considered an important part of city quality of life.

Horticultural products have a large share in agricultural production values in all European countries and horticulture is an important employment sector in rural areas, often with a major share of the staff with less formal education. 

Horticultural production is diverse and very innovative in land use, but most annual crops are not receiving EU-subsidies. Horticultural plants have been neglected both in biological and in applied research, and horticultural research across Europe is fragmented. The European horticultural industry, mainly small and medium enterprises, would highly benefit from coordinated research.

EPSO has established this working group to discuss options to boost research in this area, contributing to even more innovation in this sector.