The East Malling Research Association Storage Day will follow the Marden Fruit Show Society’s Long Term Farm Stored Competition and Annual General Meeting. The event will take place at East Malling Conference Centre on Wednesday 28th March.
The Marden Fruit Show Society, organisers of the National Fruit Show start the day with their Annual General Meeting followed by Dr. Martin Luton, WWF Qualytech presenting a review of the 2011 growing season and detailed results of the Long Term Farm Stored Competition. President of the Marden Fruit Show Society, Michael Jack will present the prizes and trophies to winning growers.
Andrew McLay, Senior Consultant at Promar International will be updating delegates about the key market and industry developments in the UK, EU, Russia, Asia, Chile and the US. The company, part of Genus plc, is the UK’s largest farm, environment and agri-food consultancy. The multi-million pound business specialises in research in agricultural and agri-food sector both in the UK and worldwide.
The afternoon session will begin with a presentation from Dr. Krysztof Rutkowski from The Research Institute of Horticulture, Skierniewice, Poland. Dr. Rutkowski will share knowledge gathered and researched in Poland about advances in apple storage.
Dr. Chris Atkinson, Deputy Chief Executive and Senior Programme Leader, East Malling Research will present a brief overview of where EMR are with post-harvest and how it fits into their new Science Strategy. “We feel that there is a huge need for continuing research at East Malling’s nationally unique facility. UK and global research regarding post-harvest science and technology is critical. Post-harvest research at East Malling functions via its collaborative enterprise with NRI within the Produce Quality Centre, which is integral in developing R&D to promote and sustain UK fresh produce for a growing population.”
Dr. Richard Colgan, Research Fellow at the National Resource Institute, University of Greenwich will update growers on Bramley and Braeburn storage trials. Richard has 21 years research experience in Plant Physiology, including manipulation of photosynthetic mechanisms to improve crop productivity; cultivar selection to reduce post-harvest deterioration of root crops; use of chlorophyll fluorescence for early detection of physiological stress in stored fruit; and effects of organic production practices on post-harvest fruit quality.
