British Tomato Grower Association (TGA) – Great Britain

TGA was launched in July 1997. The Association represents approximately 90 % of the UK and Channel Islands commercial tomato production area. Membership consists of tomato production and marketing companies based in Britain.

The objectives of TGA are:

• Provide a voice for the British tomato industry.
• Highlight the exceptional quality, flavour, consistency, appearance and freshness of British tomatoes.
• Create a clear identity for the high quality fruit grown in Britain to meet consumer demands for this and focus on flavour and texture and the introduction of new varieties.
• Develop the British grower's reputation for reliability, care of production and care for the environment and emphasise and reassure consumers that growing methods are both natural and complimentary to the product and to the environment.
• Advise consumers and other interested parties on the health benefits of tomatoes.
• Conduct market research on consumer views and opinions.
• Improve industry technical liaison by co-ordinating views on Research and Development priorities, providing technical information to government and research agencies on industry and technical issues and sponsoring individual projects.
• Liaise with other crop associations and representatives in Britain and overseas on areas of mutual interest.

The Association is funded entirely by voluntary subscription from members, the rate of payment being based on the member’s tomato production area. No other financial support is received from any other source.

Role in the project

TGA as coordinator of the project supervises all the administration and management tasks with the help of some other partners (especially TTZ as scientific and BIOAZUL as administrative manager of project). TGA will compile the required information in the west of Europe, especially in England; Scotland and Wells. TGA also assists RTDs in EQS initiation, optimisation guidelines creating and also participate in training and dissemination of the project results by organising workshops, conferences and training courses for not only tomato growers but also open conference and training workshops for all Great Britain greenhouse growers.