Debbie Wilson

Debbie leads the AHDB pesticide regulatory team and the ongoing work to magage projects and the archive webiste as these are wound down following the decision to stop the statutory levy for Horticulture.

Debbie has worked with AHDB since 2010 and has worked in technical roles linked to Horticulture for over 30 years. Her PhD studies were in association with a growing media manufacturer, before moving on to working on postharvest horticultural projects for third world countries within the Natural Resources Institute. She then joined Horticulture Research International working on Ornamental glasshouse crops and later also edible crops at their Efford and Wellesbourne sites (later to become Warwick Crop Centre). The majority of her applied research work with HRI involved working closely with commercial growers and the transition to AHDB was therefore a smooth one giving her involvement with wider industry-focussed issues.

Responsibilities of her role include liaising with growers over new plans, direction for current activity or sharing the outcomes of completed work via either 1:1 conversations, at AHDB and wider industry events, or at committee and steering group meetings. Debbie also works with aligned organisations such as Ornamental Horticulture Roundtable Group, NFU and HTA to work together on pressing industry issues, with the recent Covid-19 disruption being a good example. She also has the pleasure of overseeing the activity of a team of seven dedicated Knowledge Exchange Managers working hard to deliver value for levy payers through our events, published text and strategic centres work.

Debbie finds interacting with growers the most rewarding part of her role as it is something which she always finds stimulating, both in terms of keeping up-to-date with industry developments to keep content as relevant as possible and in terms of the inspiration she get from the talent and skill we have in UK Horticulture.