8:00am – 9:00am:
Registration and Welcome Coffee
9:15am – 9:45am:
Keynote Address: The Battle for Biosecurity: What policy is in the pipeline to manage pest and disease risk?
+ Defra’s viewpoint: What are the key obstacles to biosecurity and how can they be overcome
+ How is the National Plant Health Strategy going to support UK growers?
+ In what ways can Defra help facilitate UK growers to expand domestic production?
9:45am – 10:15am:
Presentation: Why now?: What is the opportunity presented by Brexit and biosecurity concerns for the UK ornamental growers industry?
+ How much of an opportunity does the new trading and biosecurity environment actually present for the UK growing industry?
+ How has Defra quantified the opportunity that biosecurity poses, through the data it has collected and collated?
+ What have been the historic barriers to UK ornamental growers competing with other supplier markets?
Speaker to be confirmed
10:15am – 10:45am:
Networking Coffee Break
10:45am- 11:15am:
Presentation: Introducing integrated pest management in ornamentals: Your way to a pesticide-free product
+ Matching your products to consumer choice – how can you increase value through producing and promoting residue-free crops?
+ How can you ensure that your biocontrol agents are compatible with essential chemicals?
+ What physical and agronomic measurement can you take to practically avoid the need for pesticides?
11:15am – 12:00pm:
Panel Discussion: How can UK growers win over retailers and other plant buyers?
+ Why do retailers buy 50% of their plants from the Netherlands?
+ What is more important to retailers and landscapers: price or quality?
+ How can UK growers ‘go the extra mile’ to outperform other suppliers?
12:00pm – 1:00pm:
Networking Lunch Break
1:00pm – 1:45pm:
Strategic Stream
Presentations: Show Me the Money: What public funding will be available post-Brexit?
3 Ten Minute Presentations giving you the who, what, where and how to secure funding for your business.
+ Which Innovate UK funds are relevant to the production industry and how can you access them?
+ What are the Defra productivity grants and how can you win one?
+ What regional funds will be available post-Brexit? Who do you contact to secure the funding?
+ What will replace LEP funding once we exit the EU?
Speaker to be confirmed
Production Stream
Panel Discussion: How can you make automation a reality to improve productivity and address skills and labour shortages?
+ Is automation technology actually commercially available and viable?
+ Funding is normally attached to job creation therefore how do you win funding for automation when it arguably does not create jobs?
+ Can technology entice a new workforce?
+ To what extent can automation and technology solve labour and skills shortages?
1:45pm – 2:30pm:
Strategic Stream
Ask the Experts: What is the availability of private sector investment? And how can you secure it?
+ What does a good ‘business plan’ look like and how can you ensure that it meets the expectations of potential funders?
+ What implication does planning permission have on approval of business plans?
+ How can you demonstrate ROI as a UK grower, when there is such a competitive market?
+ How can Defra support with data when you are building a business plan and scoping out the opportunity for growth?
Speaker to be confirmed
Production Stream
Panel Discussion: The environment and you: reducing peat, plastic and water usage
+ What are the peat- and plastic-free alternatives that have minimal impact on cost?
+ How can you promote environment-friendly production techniques to buyers and consumers?
+ What substrates will be available in 2021?
+ How can you address your water efficiency and wider environmental impact?
2:30pm – 3:00pm:
Networking Coffee Break
3:00pm – 3:45pm:
Case Study Presentations: Success Stories from those who have Won Funding, Received Planning Approval and Ultimately Expanded Their Business
6 slides. 6 minutes. 6 case study presentations.
6 examples of how you can expand your production potential through winning funding, receiving planning applications, being an innovator and disruptor to the market or even overcoming public perception and public demand.
Each presenter will have 6 minutes to present 6 slides of information that give you an insight into how they have secured financing, planning approval to expand or done achieved a combination of both.
3:45pm: