The Horticultural Development Council (HDC) is a statutory body that administers the collection of an 'industry levy' to fund essential near-market research and development for the benefit of British horticulture. It also works closely with Defra and HortLINK, building on the results of Defra's strategic work and contributing funds to HortLINK projects.

The levy collected is 0.5% of turnover for most crops though apples and pears are levied on area (£26.50 per hectare) while the mushroom industry pays at a rate of 8 pence per litre of spawn. The total levy collected each year currently amounts to £4.4M.

With a remit covering over 330 crops the HDC divides the various crop interests in to seven Sector Panels. These cover:

• Bulbs & Outdoor Flowers
• Field Vegetables
• Hardy Nursery Stock
• Mushrooms
• Protected Crops
• Soft Fruit
• Top Fruit

Industry lead research

To ensure that this near-market R&D is correctly tuned to meet the needs of industry, growers and farmers play a vital role in setting research strategies in each of the crop sectors and in the decision making process for individual research projects.

The HDC R&D programme can be broadly categorised into the following areas:

• To ensure that adequate and sustainable crop protection measures are available for the main risks for each crop/crop category
• To increase returns on investment through efficient use of resources
• To supply consistent quality produce, plants and flowers that will achieve customer satisfaction
• To undertake and develop technologies and practices that enable compliance with good environmental practice and changing legislation

A primary source of technical information

For industry to truly benefit from this research it is essential that the results are communicated in an effective and timely manner. The HDC puts a high priority on information based on the R&D programme and organises many industry events throughout the year, for all of its Members to see, listen and learn about key R&D results. In addition, HDC publishes a range of factsheets, videos, reports, wall charts, software programmes and HDC News, HDC's monthly journal. A comprehensive website carries all the above information to request or download and a weekly email alert service is sent to Members informing them of all activities current at the time.