I recently attended the Amenity Forum’s Annual Conference at the Kettering Conference Centre - the theme for which this year was Change, Challenge & Opportunity.

The day was hosted by Peter Corbett their newly appointed executive officer, who took over the role from Professor John Moverley who retired after 13 years at the helm.

This year’s conference had a plethora of guest speakers who gave a wide range of presentations on the challenges facing our amenity industry.

First up was Anna Morgan of DEFRA who gave an update on where we are with the UK National Action Plan (NAP). She said that it had been delayed again due to the changing pressures of government but hopefully should be completed sometime next year.

The NAP aims to increase uptake of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) and sustainable crop protection. This is in line with Defra’s 25 Year Environment Plan, the Welsh Minister’s Natural Resources Policy, The Environment Strategy for Scotland, and the goals of the Environment Strategy for Northern Ireland to protect and enhance the environment for future generations. The NAP will be delivered in support of Government targets across the UK on biodiversity and carbon net zero.

Essentially the industry must embrace all the opportunities of implementing a thorough IPM set of strategies to control weeds pest and diseases with the aim to reduce the number of chemical products used to control these pests. 

The high-level aim of the NAP is to minimise the risks and impacts of pesticides to human health and the environment, while ensuring pests and pesticide resistance are managed effectively.

The next speaker was Adrian Dixon from HSE Chemicals Regulation Division (CRD). The CRD is responsible for the regulation of biocides, pesticides, detergents, chemicals covered by REACH, and for compliance with the Classification, Labelling and Packaging (CLP) Regulation. 

Adrian was able to update us on new regulations and protocols regarding the sustainable use of pesticides. He also mentioned the three-year extension on some approved chemicals such as Glyphosate enabling further use until 2025. We then had a question-and-answer session using the Amenity forums new interactive live question app that allowed delegates to post questions during the conference which proved to be well received. 

Conference speakers were then split into specific grouped categories to give presentations:

Relationship between customers supplier and provider  

The first session began with a presentation by John Draper, chairman of the Lawn Care Association (UKLCA) who gave an insight into work of the association and the issues they face in keeping their customers informed and satisfied. 

Then Alan Able from Complete Weed Control spoke again on the expectations of their customers and the significant innovations and developments the company had implemented over many years to improve the efficiency and choice of modes in controlling weeds in an ever-changing environment. He gave particular mention to the savings that can be made by good planning, timing and choosing effective equipment to deliver precise applications of chemical products. 

An informative talk followed on the work of JSD Rail in achieving the control of weeds and vegetation on our railways by Tony Saunders. The sheer scale of the operation is certainly very challenging with over 21,000 miles of track to manage as well as 30,000 hectares of adjacent land, 9000 level crossings and 40,000 bridges and tunnels and well over 5 million neighbours to be mindful of when carrying out maintenance operations.

Effectively they carry out two treatments a year that involve the use of non-selective, selective and residual herbicides in managing weeds on the railways.

Next up was Dr Andy Owen from ICL who gave a thought-provoking talk on the future use of fertilisers. He talked of the cost and sustainability and the impacts of producing these products.   

We also need to look at the way we apply these fertilisers and how often we apply them as they all have an impact on costs. He also said that coated slow-release granular fertilisers have shown to be more efficient in reducing leaching, giving longer lasting results and are generally easier and cheaper to apply.

Research

Up next, Christian Spring from the STRI, spoke about the components of an effective IPM strategy.

Barnaby Wilder from Forestry Commission then updated us on the current diseases and pests affecting our trees and finally Dr Dan Jones from Advanced Invasives spoke about three different invasive species blighting our countryside and the recent research and developments in how to treat these invasive weeds.

Innovation  

The final presentations of the day fell to Dr Colin Mumford from ENVU and Geoff Fenn from Origin Amenity Solutions who gave a talk on the future of biological control agents and relative new market developments and solutions for the amenity turf industry. 

Conclusion

All in all, it was an informative day with over 100 delegates attending the event. As always these events allow plenty of networking during breaks and there was a chance to catch up with some of the Amenity Forum’s key sponsors who were also on hand and exhibiting at the conference. These included ICL, Pro Green, Lantra, BASIS reg, Greentech, Nomix Enviro, Hozelock, JSD rail, Headland  Vale Engineering, Kersten Complete Weed Control , Origin formally Rigby Taylor. NSTS, City Guilds, Cooper Peglar and Weedfree.