A Growers’ Gathering for Production Horticulture
29 Oct 2025
Greenmount Campus
Join us on Wednesday, 29 October, 2025, we need to talk about peat…
The Horticulture Team at Greenmount Campus invite you to attend a free event to focus on the use of peat free substrates. Hear from a range of industry speakers and enjoy a crop walk to see trials within the Horticulture Centre at Greenmount Campus. Book to attend our Growers’ Gathering.
Booking for this event has now closed.
| 09:30 Registration – Greenmount Resource Centre | |
| 10:00 Welcome – David Dowd, Head of Horticulture, CAFRE | |
| 10:05 Peat reduction – a commercial review of progress – Dr Paul Alexander, Product Development Manager, Bulrush Horticulture Ltd. | |
| 10:25 RHS, DEFRA and Industry collaborative ‘Transition to Peat-Free’ Project: Research Update – Dr Raghavendra Prasad, Peat-free Fellow, Royal Horticultural Society | |
| 10:45 Question and Answer session followed by tea/coffee | |
| 11:20 Northern Ireland Peatland Strategy – Mark Preston, Head of Peatland Policy Team, DAERA | |
| 11:30 Beyond Peat Update – Dr Eoghan Corbett, Research Officer, Teagasc | |
| 11:45 CAFRE Peat-free demonstration projects – Dr Konstantinos Xyntaris, Senior Horticulture Technologist, CAFRE | |
| 12:00 Question and Answer session | |
| 12:15 Crop Walks of CAFRE peat-free demonstration projects – Dr Konstantinos Xyntaris and Mark Huey (CAFRE Horticulture Technologist) | |
| 13:00 Lunch (Cyber Café, Greenmount Resource Centre) | |
| 13:45 DAERA Horticulture Pilot Scheme update – David Dowd | |
| 14:00 Pest & disease in ornamental crops David Talbot, Senior Horticulture Consultant, ADAS | |
| 15:45 Question and Answer session |