Selby area researchers pick up 'Grower of the Year' gong
The team behind a Selby area research facility are delighted to have picked up a prestigious horticulture award.
Selby
Selby based Stockbridge Technology Centre, near Cawood, have been awarded the David Piccaver Science Award at the UK Grower of the Year awards at a gala event in London.
The award, handed over on 25th February, recgonises the innovations and research that the organisation has brought to the growing community.
Dr Martin McPherson and Dr Phillip Davies received the award from David Piccaver's daughter, Lizzie Lilley. Dr McPherson said: "David Piccaver was a giant in the horticultural industry and his contribution and passion is sadly missed. David was a Director of Stockbridge and gave us the encouragement and confidence to go ahead with this groundbreaking technology.
"The award is a tribute to David and to his contribution to horticulture and it is a real honour for the team at Stockbridge to win it."
Organised by Horticulture Week magazine, the UK Grower Awards celebrate the very best in the UK production horticulture industry.
The award comes at an exciting time for the Cawood centre where its pioneering trial in growing crops the the aid of LED lighting has created a buzz throughout the industry.
Stockbridge Technology Centre is an independent, not for profit organisation that is wholly owned by the UK horticultural industry and is a centre of excellence in technology transfer to agriculture and horticulture. It leads the way in research into LED lighting and the new facility for tall crops such as tomatoes complements an existing facility looking at benches or layers of crops that could be a model for urban farms of the future.