Tag Archive for: conference

Integrated Weed Management Conference 2025

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Integrated Weed Management Conference 2025: The inaugural conference on Integrated Weed Management for the Amenity Sector is to be hosted by Kersten UK on Thursday 5th June in Birmingham’s Highbury Hall.

The conference couldn’t be more prescient with the publishing of the National Biodiversity Strategy & Action Plan in February and the new Pesticides National Action Plan being finally published just last month. The new Pesticides National Action Plan particularly highlights Integrated Management, a sustainable strategy using biological, cultural, and mechanical methods to manage pests including weeds to minimise the reliance on conventional chemical pesticides, and the conference aims to inform and discuss the diverse ranges of weed management practices within the UK Amenity sector.

Integrated Weed Management Conference 2025

Integrated Weed Management Conference 2025

Presentations will include speakers from the Department of Environment Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the implications of the new Pesticide National Action Plan for the Amenity sector and from Cambridge City Council on a case study in becoming pesticide free and developing their Herbicide Reduction Plan after declaring a Biodiversity Emergency in 2019.

Parks for London will also be unveiling its Updated Integrated Weed Management Guidance and LANTRA will be launching its new qualification in Integrated Weed Management at the conference.

As part of the conference, attendees will be able to learn about the latest technological advancements in weed control such as various thermal and electrical weed control methods. Manufacturers from across Europe will be present to showcase how “mechanical alternatives can effectively maintain urban green spaces while minimising environmental impact” (UK Pesticide National Action Plan).

Attendees will also be able to participate and answer important questions in an audience-led discussion panel hosted by Bradley Tennant of International Greenkeepers for Hire with panellists including Professor John Moverley OBE, FRAgs, previously the independent chairman of UK Amenity Forum now running JMMSolutions Consultancy, and Nick Mole of Pesticide Action Network UK.

The conference hopes to bring together stakeholders of our amenity spaces, from council parks, streetscene and highways teams to Grounds Maintenance Contractors to exchange expertise and discuss the management of green urban spaces.

Sean Faulkner, the integrated weed management specialist from Kersten UK, who kicks-off the conference with an introduction to Integrated Pest Management says “My hope for the conference is that this will be a fertile ground to share how an integrated pest management philosophy can deliver a cost effective and sustainable weed control solution for the amenity sector.”

Tickets can be found on eventbrite, with early bird registration ending on the 5th May at which time tickets become full price.

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/integrated-weed-management-conference-tickets-1111246049849?aff=oddtdtcreator 

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Students Cultivate Career Insights at Conference

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Students Cultivate Career Insights at Conference: The next generation of horticulturists explored the diverse career paths available to them as Hadlow College hosted its annual Horticulture Higher Education Conference.

Students heard from a range of industry experts, gaining valuable insights into the opportunities their qualifications could unlock. The event opened with a keynote address from Carol Ford of Ford Synthesis, followed by former Hadlow College student Josh Blakey, now a Fruit Advisor at FAST LLP, who shared his experiences at the College and his journey into the sector.

Students Cultivate Career Insights at Conference

Students Cultivate Career Insights at Conference

Holly Russell and Jill Kooijman from Enza Zaden took the stage next, discussing the development of new vegetable varieties. They were followed by Adam Walker from the National Institute of Agricultural Botany (NIAB), who provided an overview of his work in sustainable pest control strategies aimed at reducing environmental impact.

The morning’s programme concluded with a talk from Sarah Calcutt, Chief Executive of City Harvest, a food charity that rescues surplus nutritious food from farms, manufacturers, wholesalers, and retailers, redistributing it to over 130,000 people a week through food poverty organisations.

The afternoon session began with Andrew Armitage, Associate Professor in Bioinformatics & Plant Pathology at the University of Greenwich, who set the stage for Billy Stott, owner of Stotts Nursery in Buckinghamshire.

Alan Frampton then spoke about his work at Cambridge HOK, a specialist in vertical farming, glasshouses, and energy solutions. He was followed by Adam Harrison, who shared insights into his role at Thanet Earth, Britain’s leading glasshouse complex and the principal sponsor of the Thanet Earth Centre of Excellence @ Hadlow College.

Rounding off the event was Steve Thomas, founder of Ample Marketplace, a digital platform launched in 2024 that enables farmers to sell excess fresh produce directly to buyers.

Alan Harvey, Hadlow College’s Head of Curriculum for Horticulture and Floristry, says: “I have been involved in delivering the Horticulture courses at Hadlow College for many years and its hugely rewarding to welcome back so many of our graduates to speak at our HE conference. We are also very grateful to many of the sponsors of the Centre of Excellence for also supporting this important event.”

Hadlow College offers a number of Higher Education courses, taught by industry professionals, with a strong focus on practical, job-related skills.

Horticulture students benefit from the Thanet Earth Centre of Excellence @ Hadlow College a groundbreaking partnership between the College, leading industry grower Thanet Earth, and research and innovation organisation Growing Kent & Medway. The Centre is based at the College’s state-of-the-art glasshouse, which is the UK’s first centre of excellence in greenhouse growing.

The College also has its own on-site residential accommodation that was graded as Outstanding by Ofsted last year.

To find out more about studying a Higher Education course at the College visit the University Centre section of the Hadlow College website.

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Campey looks forward to the SFMA Conference

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Campey looks forward to the SFMA Conference: Campey Turf Care Systems is set to exhibit at the 33rd annual STMA conference and exhibition between the 22-25th January 2024.

This year’s event is taking place at Daytona Beach, Florida and will feature Campey’s latest synthetic, hybrid and natural turf grooming products and the Martin Lishman Micro-Spray.

Campey looks forward to the SFMA Conference

Campey looks forward to the SFMA Conference

The key aim of the Micro-Spray is bringing versatility to the groundsman’s armoury. A narrow footprint allows it to fit through most gateways and passageways to tackle hard to reach spraying areas.

A new 150-litre tank version Micro-Spray is available in 2024, with all the current options of a 2.5m six nozzle or 3.5m eight nozzle three-section folding boom and the perfect combination of power, control and responsive handling, with the added benefit of a larger tank. It is suited to all types of sports grounds, golf courses and landscaping work. The comprehensive yet easy to use control box gives the operator more control over the sprayer with changeable motor direction to either walk behind or in front of the sprayer, 12 motor speeds, bout marker selection, a battery level indicator and optional hand lance.

Spray application rates, operating speed, and the pump pressure can be accurately and quickly controlled by the operator, as well as the adjustable boom height and independent shut-off nozzle bodies. All of these features come together to make a versatile sprayer that provides the same exceptional results time and time again regardless of where you’re working.

Other leading products on the Campey stand will be the Campey® Uni-Scratch, UNIRAKE©and the Campey® LM3010 liquid transfer line marker.

The Uni-Scratch is ideal for the professional and effective maintenance of natural and synthetic grass surfaces. The machine has been developed to infill or refill when installing or looking after synthetic grass carpets. It can also be used to remove organic matter on natural grass hybrid carpet pitches when carrying out annual renovations. The Uni-Scratch moves on four supporting rollers, which are adjustable in height to allow the most appropriate working depth. The rotors can be equipped with springs or linear brushes in PPL, with rear linkage to tractors of at least 30hp.

The UNIRAKE© serves a similar purpose by removing organic matter. Still, users can adjust the severity of grooming to remove a varying amount of organic matter or simply stand the sward up to encourage growth. Altering the severity of grooming is quick and easy and can be done in no less than 30-seconds.

Line marking is made simple with the Campey® LM3010 liquid transfer marker. What sets this line marker apart from the rest is that it only marks the leaf/plant and not the soil. This means that when greening out the lines for re-marking, it is easy to remove existing colours and re-line with greater precision and less time.

It is a simple, durable and easy to operate liquid transfer line marker. Marking material is transferred from the 30ltr hopper to the 10cm wide marking wheel by a grooved rubber roller which allows marking up to post or flag. It has pneumatic tyres and an adjustable flow rate giving even and accurate lines. The tubular steel handles can also be adjusted for operator comfort.

Many professional sporting clubs in the UK and Europe have the line marker, such as the Salford Reds. In the United States, sports facilities, including the Philadelphia Union Soccer PPL Park stadium and the New York Mets, a professional baseball team at its Citi Field stadium in Queens, use it regularly.

Throughout the week-long event, Campey product specialists will be available to give advice on machinery and answer any turf related questions.

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Keith Pelley at the GolfBIC conference

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Keith Pelley at the GolfBIC conference: The European Tour has completed 20,000 Covid tests with just five positives since the outbreak of the pandemic. They have also spent £5 million on their health strategy.

That startling fact was revealed by European Tour CEO, Keith Pelley, speaking at the virtual GolfBic Conference.

Keith Pelley at the GolfBIC conference

Keith Pelley at the GolfBIC conference

“Our most valuable member of staff was Dr Andrew Murray, our Chief Medical Officer,” said Keith.

He also revealed how close the Tour came to having to refund money to the broadcasting companies as a result of not fulfilling its quota of events.

“At one point due to cancellations we only had eight events in 2020 with 30 events moved or cancelled and we needed to get to 32 to fulfil our broadcasting commitments.

“We did everything possible to be able to play. We introduced two UK swings in the summer and the autumn. We played at Celtic Manor twice and Cyprus twice and we played for 27 straight weeks including 23 regular Tour events. As we’d played 10 events before Covid we hit 33 and achieved our aim,” said Keith, who revealed that last year they furloughed 100 staff and laid off 60.

The 2021 season also carries its challenges with travel restrictions making moving around the world difficult, but the European Tour has recently partnered with the PGA Tour, who have taken a stake in European Tour Productions, and so the European Tour will soon be playing events in Florida.

“Last year I was petrified, but this year because we have shown how adaptable and innovative we can be I’m not remotely worried about making it work,” Keith told his on-line audience.

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Rob Maxfield at the GolfBIC conference

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Rob Maxfield at the GolfBIC conference: Speaking at the GolfBIC virtual conference PGA Chief Executive Rob Maxfield, said that golf had a wonderful opportunity to grow following the boost in playing numbers it had experienced over the last nine months.

However, he said that clubs would have to “welcome with open arms” and look after those new and returning golfers and ensure that they kept them as members.

Rob Maxfield at the GolfBIC conference

Rob Maxfield at the GolfBIC conference

“We need the golfing bodies to unite and work together and ensure that there was one junior golf initiative not 10 and that clubs would have to look at modernising their rules and remove arcane dress codes and phone bans in the clubhouse.

“We have got to rid the game of the label of being a white, middle aged, middle class male sport,” he told Geoff Russell, Editor of Golf Business News.

The news that the age profile of the game had also dropped during lockdown was also seen as positive for the game.

“Because youngsters couldn’t do anything else during lockdown they were playing golf, while others were coming back to the game, however, a cautionary note is that my son was put off because he wasn’t allowed to play with his shirt outside his trousers. Now is that the worst thing in the world?” said Rob.

When the pandemic struck 12 months ago Rob, who has been Chief Executive since 2017, met on a daily basis with his Senior Management Team planning on how best to support their 8,000 members, their staff and to discuss finances.

“We agreed not to furlough staff but to use them to contact all of our members. We endeavoured to call members and in the end spoke with over 90% of them. We also organised regular webinars, often with as many as 1,000 people participating, on a range of subjects,” said Rob, who added that the All Party – Parliamentary Golf Group, Chaired by Craig Tracey MP, had brought all golfing bodies together on a weekly basis.

“Cycling is the sport of choice for many at the moment with people talking about going out for rides at the weekend. Let’s get more people talking about going for a game of golf at the weekend.”

GolfBIC is running for three days with a range of influential speakers, including, Keith Pelley, CEO of the European Tour; Phil Anderton, the R&A’s Chief Development Officer; Craig Tracey, Chair, of the All-Party Parliamentary Golf Group, and Jay Karen, CEO of the National Golf Course Owners Association.

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