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| A fruitful relationship |
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One of the country’s leading fruit and vegetable research centres, the Kent-based East Malling Research (EMR) has been at the heart of the debate on how the UK can meet future demands for fresh produce when there will be a shortage of food in the international food basket.
Maxim, the south east public relations agency, has worked alongside the management team at the world-renowned research establishment on a number of projects to raise EMR’s profile within the food producing industry, policy-makers and with the public.
Maxim has arranged a number of high profile visitors to East Malling, including Minister for the South East, Jonathan Shaw, Sir John Stanley, MP for Tonbridge and Malling, and Hilary Benn, Secretary of State for Department of Environment, Farming & Rural Affairs (Defra). It was as a result of Hilary Benn’s visit that the BBC’s Science Correspondent Pallab Ghosh took up the story of the global debate on food production and food security.
EMR’s latest scientific breakthrough, which has made it possible to grow tastier strawberries while at the same time dramatically reducing the amount of water used to grow them, was featured on the prestigious BBC Radio 4 current affairs Today programme (Monday August 10) and on news bulletins throughout the day.
Andrew Metcalf, Maxim Director, said: “We have been working with EMR to persuade the powers-that-be that it is vital that public funds be invested into research as to how future farmers and growers are going to use dwindling natural resources to feed a growing worldwide population.
“People have strong views on this subject and it is fitting that any debate on food production should be held in the public arena, which is precisely what EMR is working to achieve.”
For the BBC story see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8192628.stm |
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