The WET Centre was established at East Malling in 2017 with the aim of demonstrating water efficient technology (WET), water use efficiency and modern growing systems in strawberry and soft fruit production. Funded by technology companies including Berry Gardens Growers, Cocogreen, Delta-T, Netafim, Stoller, Yara, Hutchinsons and Weatherquest, the purpose and use of the centre has evolved to investigate rainwater harvesting and re-use, substrate mixes and bag colour, crop microclimate, venting systems, nitrogen demand models and predictive models to improve crop forecasting. Join us on this tour to learn more about our 2023 work programme and what we have learnt so far.

Previously supported by the AHDB, The Plum Demonstration Centre is now funded directly by the principal UK commercial plum growers and marketing groups who are leading and directing the work programme in collaboration with the Crop Science and Production Systems team at East Malling. Of particular interest to the new funders is water use efficiency, optimising nutrition, optimum timing of tree management and its impact on yields and quality. Join us on this tour to learn more about this ongoing work and plans for the future.

Grapevine and wine science research at East Malling is funded by UK wine producers to study topics and challenges that are relevant to the UK wine industry cool climate grapes grown and wines being produced here. Established in 2016, NIAB research scientists have been testing and demonstrating training systems, rootstocks and varieties, mechanical weed control, fertigation and frost mitigation systems. The past year has seen the building of a new and expanded winery and the appointment of a new oenologist, Belinda Kemp to work with the industry and direct our research science to meet their needs. Join us on this tour to learn more about our current research programme and future plans.

Come and visit the Produce Quality Centre and learn about some of the latest innovations in fruit handling and storage.  The technologies on-show have been developed with funding from Innovate, AHDB and our industry partners, including Storage Control Systems Ltd, JD Cooling Ltd,  Ozone Industries Ltd, as well as many grower partners.

The tour will include an explanation of how monitoring produce response to storage environments enables us to optimise packaging solutions and to tailor storage atmospheres for both short and long-term storage. A demonstration of the advantages of gaseous ozone treatment within retail packs and an introduction to an on-going project to optimise in-field cooling of soft-fruit.

With fewer authorised fungicides available for use than before, soft fruit growers are in need of alternative approaches both to predicting the risk of pathogen infection and to control pathogens once they have infected soft fruit plants. NIAB scientists at East Malling are being funded in various projects to improve our understanding of pathogens and how to optimise the efficacy of biofungides. Visitors on this tour will find out more about how we are predicting infection by Mucor and Rhizopus using climatic conditions and pathogen inoculum levels. They will also learn how we are working on three commonly used biological control agents in strawberry to obtain ecological knowledge and to develop models to predict their fate in the environment following their application, so that we can optimise the timing of their use.

From the Growing Kent & Medway Innovation Hub, join a guided walk from the Innovation Hub to hear about the UK funding landscape and how Growing Kent & Medway and wider UKRI agencies are supporting fruit research. As well as the latest ag-tech and robotics, you will see trials and research demonstrations in the glasshouse, vineyard and orchard, funded by Growing Kent & Medway, BBSRC and Innovate UK.