The Holistic Water for Horticulture Project is supported by growers, retailers, environmental NGOs and more. 

“Water is a shared and precious but highly threatened resource. The HWH project is about working collectively towards best practises in water management in horticulture in the South East.

HWH works with businesses to become more resilient by implementing measures to improve water self-sufficiency and using nature based measures to reduce impacts from runoff. Through this approach the natural environment benefits, giving growers and others access to cleaner more plentiful water, better soils and improved biodiversity. It makes us all more fit and resilient for the future.”

“The increasing demand for water from ever more water-scarce sources is an unavoidable time bomb for the produce industry across the world. This may seems overwhelming, particularly for individual growers that have a myriad of other concerns weighing on their livelihood.

It is essential for businesses like ours to be involved in projects like the HWH where we can share knowledge in order to break down the challenge into small attainable goals for individual growers. Rather than be daunted by the challenge, they will be motivated by innovative ways to change and improve.”

“Whilst the vitality of water is widely acknowledged, more awareness and action is still required when it comes to water stewardship. 

As a co-operation of growers for whom water consumption is key for our daily activities, we know we have a responsibility to ensure our water management is sustainable and not detrimental to the environment.

HWH is an essential initiative for the industry as we can have a greater positive impact together than we can alone. HWH brings together a multitude of expertise and innovation to tackle these pressing conservation issues, such as water scarcity, soil erosion and nutrient pollution, improving the current state of the Kent countryside for current and future generations.”

“The Medway is an important sourcing region for M&S – particularly for fruit like soft fruit. It’s vital we come together to protect this catchment and the ecosystem services we all benefit from. Through the sharing of best practice and expert advice within the HWH project, growers can be better equipped to become more resilient to the increasing threat of climate change and part of a more sustainable supply chain.”

“Global water security and resilience presents a perpetual challenge that we all, as businesses must face. The Medway is an incredibly important sourcing region for dps and as water scarcity in the area becomes an increasingly urgent issue, we have welcomed the opportunity to be involved in the HWH project.

HWH takes on the challenging task of identifying scalable, commercially viable and innovative solutions to support growers protect the region’s water, soil, and biodiversity systems.

Employing a multifaced approach, the HWH project provides expert advice and a framework for sharing best practice. As HWH steering group members, we value working collaboratively across the supply chain to help protect and restore precious ecosystem services for future generations to come. “