TECHNICAL U P D AT E
By John Moverley Chair, Amenity Forum
KEEPING BRITAIN MOVING
Weed, pest and disease management impacts everyone, which is the focus of this year’s ‘Keeping Britain Moving’ Amenity Forum Conference PRODUCT SHOWCASE
T
here are many challenges facing everyone involved in weed, pest and disease control. Policy change resulting from implementation of European Directives, most notably Sustainable Use, has heralded new legislation such as the need for sprayer testing, new requirements on those purchasing pesticides, and more. There is a need to apply more integrated approaches and to demonstrate and support both best practice and the highest professional standards. The authorisation and review process of pesticides for use across Europe has also put much more emphasis on potential health risks and we have seen withdrawal, or threat of such, for a number of key products used by groundsmen. Then we have BREXIT – what will this bring?
CONFERENCE PROGRAMME
The opening session of the Amenity Forum’s 2017 conference will be a policy update from Grant Stark from the HSE Chemicals Regulation Department. This will be followed by presentations focusing on the challenges of keeping our cities and trains moving, presented by Transport for London’s John Parker and Tony Saunders from JSD Research & Development. There will be a session chaired by Ruth Mann from STRI entitled ‘Taking a more holistic approach to weed, pest & disease control’, which will include a presentation from Andrew Kerr, a former spray operator of the year winner. There will also be 30 THE GROUNDSMAN July 2017
Focus on compact tractors and fertilisers go to page 37
contributions from David Cary, executive director of the International Biocontrol Manufacturers Association, as well as Dr Colin Mumford from Bayer who will focus on scientific innovations and developments in weed, pest and disease control. In addition, there will be emphasis on what the future really looks like for weed, pest and disease management with thoughts from Mark De Ath from Headland Amenity and Peter Corbett from Rigby Taylor. Included will be contributions from Barry Hunt on glyphosate – past, present and future, and a presentation by Professor Alan Gange from Royal Holloway University of London, on recent research relating to biological control methods.
KEEPING BRITAIN MOVING CONFERENCE This year’s Amenity Forum conference will be held on Thursday 12 October at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent. Delegate rates are being kept as low as possible. The standard rate is £65 plus VAT but for those who book before 1 September, the rate is £55 plus VAT. For further information, visit www.amenityforum.co.uk and to book your place, contact admin@amenityforum.net