The horticultural sector and the wider environment are set to benefit from a new government initiative aimed at investigating sustainable growing alternatives. The Peat Task Force, ushered in following last year’s Environment White Paper, has broadened its remit to become the Sustainable Growing Task Force; the task force has unveiled its programme of work for the next six months.

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However, the caveats offered by stakeholders in the taskforce suggest there may be a large amount of compromise in the final recommendations. Whereas ‘sustainability’ originally stood for a holistic outlook, where wellbeing and environmental growth were held as equal to or more important than monetary returns, stakeholders in the project have remained focused on economic aspects of the roadmap, and pledged to ensure the industry sources its growing media “as sustainably as possible” to maximise its marketability.

NFU horticultural adviser Dr Chris Hartfield, who also sits on the task force’s steering group said, “The task force must ensure its solutions stack-up economically for the horticulture industry while moving it to a place where it can promote itself positively on its responsibly-sourced growing media.”

He continued, “These changes have moved the focus away from solely on peat, towards a future based on a whole suite of responsibly-sourced growing media materials. For the task force to be successful over coming months and deliver recommendations that are meaningful for growers, it is essential that it continues with thisnew direction. This means looking at the environmental footprint of all growing media constituents, not just peat, to help the industry move towards a position where all raw materials are sourced as responsibly as possible, and where the changes in industry practice also make economic sense for growers’ businesses.”

Over the coming months, the task force will work to a nine point programme. It will first examine issues which will affect the sector’s environmental sustainability towards 2030, then examine and compare alternative growing media. Measures will also be taken to protect and restore peatlands and promote the sustainable alternatives to consumers .

The programme is described in more detail on the Sustainable Growing Task Force’s Defra site.

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