Harper Adams researchers publish reviews to celebrate a century of horticultural science

Posted 5 March 2019

Harper Adams researchers have been helping to celebrate a century of horticultural science by publishing a series of review articles in the Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology.

The Journal celebrates its 100th birthday this year and Drs Andrew Beacham, Louise Manning, Laura Vickers and Jim Monaghan were invited to write two special Centenary Review articles for the Journal to help mark the occasion.

The first article (Beacham, Vickers and Monaghan), entitled Vertical Farming: A Summary of Approaches to Growing Skywards discusses progress in this exciting and emerging sector of agriculture. The review outlines the different classes of Vertical Farming and their technological and horticultural systems. It describes the scientific research undertaken in this field and an evaluation of Vertical Farming feasibility as an effective food production method with regards to crop choice, economic viability and environmental impact.

The second article (Manning and Monaghan), entitled Integrity in the fresh produce supply chain: solutions and approaches to an emerging issue covers the rapidly developing area of food integrity in the fresh produce supply chain.  The review examines the causes of food fraud and the potential systems and technology that can help to ensure that the provenance and production systems associated with the produce are truthfully reported. An increasing area of focus as we move towards on-line purchasing from a global supply chain.

JHSB is an international, ranked, peer-reviewed journal, publishing research regarding the production, improvement and utilisation of horticultural crops.

The Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology (JHSB) is one of the oldest plant science journals, beginning life as the Journal of Pomology in 1919. It will mark its centenary milestone with a number of features including the Centenary Reviews, special issues and a 100th anniversary cover. A one day conference to mark the event is being held in May.

The articles are available to view online now at the Journal of Horticultural Science and Biotechnology website.