The British Leafy Salad Association exists to support and promote the UK’s leafy salad sector.
Image credit: G's Fresh
About Us
As a not-for-profit registered society, we serve as a collaborative platform where growers, processors, seed businesses, plant propagators, and packers come together to drive forward the development of the industry.
Our mission is to champion the interests of our members across the supply chain, within government, and throughout the broader industry. We are committed to upholding high standards in food safety, sustainability, and innovation at every stage of leafy salad production. Additionally, we actively promote the consumption of fresh, nutritious leafy salads as an essential part of a balanced and healthy diet.
Image credit: G's Fresh
We represent the backbone of the British leafy salad industry, advocating for sustainable, innovative, and resilient practices across the sector. Our commitment to sustainability involves supporting environmentally responsible and profitable growing methods, while our focus on innovation encourages the adoption of new technologies and techniques to improve quality, productivity, and efficiency.
In addition, we promote supply chain resilience by fostering collaboration across the industry to ensure a secure, locally-sourced, and reliable salad supply. Through ongoing research, training, demonstrations, and forums, the BLSA empowers members to exchange knowledge and best practices, driving forward growth and adaptability in an ever-changing food landscape.
Image credit: Agrial Fresh Produce
Our Objectives
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To run the society for the benefit of its members through the sharing of best practices in the areas relevant to leafy salad production.
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To provide forums for members to work together to improve productivity and resilience in food supply.
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To support growers to meet the challenges of producing crops sustainably and profitably for the UK market.
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To represent the shared member interests to government and regulatory authorities.
Image credit: Elsoms Seeds
Our History
The British Leafy Salad Association was originally established in 1988 as the British Iceberg Growers’ Association under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (1965). The organisation was created to provide mutual support among growers and to invest in collective research and development.
As consumer tastes evolved and the demand for a wider variety of leafy salads increased across retail, hospitality, and wholesale sectors, the Association rebranded in January 2002 to become the British Leafy Salad Association (BLSA). This name better reflected the expanding diversity of salad crops being produced across the UK.
Image credit: G's Fresh
In the decades since, the BLSA has grown beyond its original grower base to include stakeholders from every stage of the leafy salad supply chain—seed companies, propagators, processors, and packers—uniting the entire sector under a shared mission.
Today, the BLSA continues to provide vital support to its members, from agronomy research and food safety initiatives to government advocacy and industry collaboration. Our legacy is built on shared investment, knowledge exchange, and a collective commitment to producing sustainable, high-quality leafy salads for the UK market.
Image credit: Agrial Fresh Produce
R&D Group
The BLSA holds two R&D meetings per year, an opportunity for members to discuss the latest trends, areas of concern and how best to collaborate and overcome the latest challenges they face as an industry.
Latterly, the R&D meetings have become a space to discuss the sectors requirements for specific EAMUs and other potential work with Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd (HCP).
BLSA are proud supporters of HCP, which was formed following the demise of AHDB.
Council Members
Chair
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Rob Parker
G’s (Director)
Vice Chair
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Dermot Tobin
PDM Produce (Director)
Outdoor R&D Chair
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Andy Knaggs
Agrial (Director)
Protected R&D Chair
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Goeffrey Smith
Mapleton Growers
Technical Advisor
(Outdoor)
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David Norman (Director)
Technical Advisor
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Liz Johnson
Council Member
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Nick Walker
Agrial (Director)
Council Member
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George Gagg
L J Betts
Subgroups
Aphids are a persistent pest and a vector for damaging viruses. With chemical actives being continually reduced this group focuses on integrated pest management strategies, resistant varieties, alternative chemistry and data sharing to help mitigate crop losses.
A serious threat to seedlings, damping off is caused by soil-borne pathogens. The group investigates prevention methods, including seed treatments, biological controls, and environmental management.
Downy and powdery mildew can devastate lettuce crops. The mildew group coordinates on-farm trials of resistant varieties, fungicide programmes, and environmental controls to mitigate outbreaks.
Both pests can cause cosmetic and structural damage to leaves, affecting marketability. This group trials control measures, tracks seasonal trends, and shares effective management techniques.
Critical for consumer trust and market access, food safety remains a top priority. This group works to ensure compliance with evolving standards and mitigates risks from field to consumer, supporting best practices across the supply chain and promoting the great work our growers do every day.
With peat use being phased out, the industry must find effective and sustainable alternatives. This group tests new systems, substrates and evaluates their performance in lettuce production, aiming to maintain yield and quality.
Soil-dwelling pests like wireworms and slugs pose major threats to salads. With many farmers diversifying rotations, unpredictable adverse climate and reduced methods of chemical control, populations of these pests are on the rise. This group explores monitoring, biological controls, and cultural practices to protect crops through their growth cycles.
Weeds compete for resources and can harbor pests and diseases. This group works on practical, scalable solutions including mechanical, laser and electrical weeding, spot sprayers, cover crops, and herbicide alternatives.
Chair (Director)
Rob Parker
G’s Fresh
Growing up on a small family veg farm in Lincolnshire, Rob studied at Harper Adams University before joining the G’s Group, post-graduation, in 2003. During the past 20 years Rob has moved up through the lettuce and farming team and now holds the positions of Gs Growers Growing Director & MD of G’s Growers Nurseries. Rob has been the British Leafy Salads chairman for the past 6 years and sits on both the British Leafy Salads Association and Plant Propagators Limited R&D panels. Rob also sits on the board of Horticulture Crop Protection Ltd.
Vice Chair (Director)
Dermot Tobin
PDM Produce
Coming soon....
R&D Chair (Director)
Andy Knaggs
Agrial Fresh Farms
Andy is Head of Farming at Agrial Fresh Farms (AFF). AFF specialise in the growing of leafy salads and baby leaf crops both outdoor and protected between Colchester (Essex) and the Suffolk coast. The farm specialises as one of the only commercial growers of Lambs lettuce in the UK where they grow it in their 27ha of wide span poly tunnels. Lambs is just one of the baby leaf crops they grow as part of their indoor production. Andy is a farmer’s son originally from Yorkshire and he graduated Writtle College with a degree in Agriculture and Business Management. He joined SPL/AFF in April 2021 but prior to that spent 18 years with G’s Fresh, a leader in the fresh produce sector. During his time there, he held various roles across operations, commercial, procurement, supply chain, and growing. The roles all varied and covered many different crops including leafy salads, organic veg, onions, mushrooms, and arable crops. All these different roles and crops have equipped him with a comprehensive understanding of the farming and food production processes. With over 20 years of experience in the Fresh Produce industry and a lifetime in Agriculture, Andy brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his role on the BLSA board and as Chairman of the R&D Committee
Board Member (Director)
Nick Walker
Agrial Fresh Produce
Nick began his career in fresh produce in 1998 after earning a BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture and has remained in the industry ever since—aside from a two-year sabbatical managing a dairy farm in New Zealand. His career has spanned roles in growing, technical, and production, and in 2009 he achieved his BASIS qualification while growing bulb onions for Tesco. Since 2011, Nick has worked within the processing sector, acting as the crucial link between the supplier base and factory operations, with additional responsibilities involving customer engagement.
Board Member (Director)
George Gagg
L J Betts
Originating from a family mixed farm, George graduated from Newcastle University with a degree in Agriculture. Following graduation, he gained industry experience through the MDS programme, completing placements at Vitacress Salads, Wight Salads, Langmead Farms, and Langmead España. He has managed horticultural farms for over 20 years, working with Langmeads and The Lettuce Company. After spending several years specialising in salad onion cultivation, he returned to broader salad crop production. George is currently managing the farms for L J Betts, overseeing the growing and production of Wholehead and Babyleaf crops. The farms, located near West Malling in Kent, grow a wide range of salad crops, both conventional and organic.
Technical Advisor
Liz Johnson
L J Technical Consultancy Ltd
Liz is an independent agronomist and technical consultant with over 25 years of experience in the salad industry, including the past 12 years in independent consultancy following a career with a major salad producer. She provides agronomic support to the outdoor wholehead and baby leaf sectors, with a particular focus on crop protection. Liz has previously worked closely with AHDB and now collaborates with HCP to secure new crop protection approvals, especially for the baby leaf sector. Her key areas of expertise include outdoor wholehead and baby leaf crops, and she is actively involved in several agronomic subgroups. These include initiatives targeting damping off, flea beetle, leaf miner, downy mildew, powdery mildew, and leaf spot.
Technical Advisor
Andrew Poole
Independent Agronomist
Andrew provides agronomy and technical consultancy to some of the UK's leading leafy salad growers. Coming from a vegetable and salad growing family farm, he has over 30 years’ experience in the industry. Andrew is Basis and Facts qualified and is an active member of British Growers' British Leafy Salads Association. He specialises in providing agronomic advice for both outdoor and protected leafy salad crops such as lettuce, endives, radicchio and a range of baby leaf crops as well as hydroponic leafy salad production.
Council Member
D'Arcie Rice
G's Fresh
D’Arcie is a Senior Commercial & Technical Manager at G’s Group. Since graduating from the Royal Agricultural University in 2017, she has worked across several fresh produce businesses, spending the past seven years at G’s. Describing herself as “absolutely obsessed with all things lettuce,” D’Arcie is passionate about food safety and industry collaboration. She champions a culture of continuous improvement, encouraging businesses to empower their teams, share best practices, and build stronger food safety cultures. An active member of the Food Safety sub-group, she played a key role in the “Keep It Clean” Workshop in January 2025.
Council Member
Geoffrey Smith
Mapleton Growers
Coming soon...