WELCOME ADDRESS

The Forum at the 23rd Congress (Firenze) highlighted the role of the individual national horticultural societies and emphasised their points of contact with the goals of the ISHS. The proceedings of that forum can be found in Acta Horticulturae 299.

The topic chosen for Kyoto is of particular importance in that it deals with the nature of our profession. It should come as no surprise that we ourselves have not got a very clear idea of what we are, what we would like to be, how we work and how we would like to work in the fruit industry. If you ask a colleague what a pomologist is, you will get the most disparate answers. One will say an expert in fruit trees and cultivars, another an expert in tree training and pruning systems, and others still a 'Jack-of-all-trades' on the farm. Yet very few people realise that today the pomologist, if he really wants to count in the industry's production pipeline, must possess a very complex combination of knowledge and skills that increasingly resemble, as Miklos Faust acutely observed at the 1993 ASHS meeting, a 'conglomerate of sciences' which goes well beyond the biological grouping.

The traditional horticultural sciences have been prominently featured for decades in the field's mayor journals by virtue of their methods in field and lab experimentation as statistical proof of reproducibility. However, the requirement today is a complex multi-disciplinary approach to research in all fields and this reflects inevitably upon the professional image of the pomologist. To go no further afield than biology, we can cite physiology and biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics, biophysics and ecophysiology. Yet the practising pomologist must be knowledgeable in other fields as well, including for example economics and engineering, management and orchard design, and, as was made apparent at Firenze in 1990, even in history and art. The tradition in this latter field has become consolidated mainly in England, where the horticulturist is linked to the adversities, the naturalism and the aesthetics of gardening (Dixon 1993).

All of this means that many questions must be asked for us to get a meaningful profile of the distinguishing traits of a pomologist. Today's Workshop will attempt to help young researchers in particular get a better grasp of the career route they have chosen.


OPENING ADDRESS

I am pleased to have been asked to lead off this 1994 Fruit Section Workshop. Predictably, our Chair, Professor Sansavini, has challenged us with an ambitious theme. He is asking us to suggest adjustments that may be necessary if we are to continue to meet the needs of our clients. He implies that individually and collectively we must continue to define what is pomology; that we must be able to articulate, not only to our students but to society at large, the essence of our claim to uniqueness in the ever enlarging family of science disciplines.

Each presenter to this Workshop has achieved prominence as a pomologist and has the breadth of experience to provide us with a vision of what is needed for the future. We will soon discover, however, that there are significant differences among these professionals. Some have focused their talents on research and development whereas others are well known educators. Furthermore they reflect the educational systems of a half-dozen countries. While none possesses the full range of knowledge and skills represented by the group, each is a prominent member of the profession.

We are unanimous in acknowledging the professionalism of these scientists and educators, but we also acknowledge the need for continuous change, and recognize that the world's most prominent pomologists in 2020 may possess quite al different array of talents and abilities. While there will be those who continue to emphasize the traditional areas of horticulture and whole plant physiology, there will be many others who specialize, for example, in business management, economics, molecular biology, or in one of the several environmental sciences.

This is likely to exacerbate present concerns about cohesiveness within our ranks, about the future of our favourite course at the university, even about the future of our university departments. Nonetheless, we must recognize that the only way to stay relevant is to allow these changes to happen; better still, to manage change in ways that will make us even stronger.

The contributors to this Workshop will provide some clues about the kinds of knowledge and skills that will be required by pomologists in the next decades.

Our Currency

The basic questions to be addressed in this kind of exercise have to do with who we are and why we exist. "Who cares?" is also worthy of serious contemplation from time to time.

I often argue that our greatest asset is the fact that fruit corps are highly valued by society at large and that this is unlikely to change. Our past efforts have resulted in plant materials and production practices that serve people's need for fruit in their diet. This is both recognized and appreciated.

Thus, while the most visible and immediate clients of our research and development activities are producers and those who service or supply producers, the consumers of fruit are our essential political base.

If we alienate ourselves from this political base we can expect serious and immediate consequences. Indeed, some of us have been prominently associated with the introduction of a new technology or a new product that was eventually rejected by society at large. The cost can be high and there can be no doubt that this continuous interaction with our political base is the fundamental driving force for our evolution as a science discipline. Any "Strategy for a Modern Pomology" must recognize this reality.

In recent years we have positioned ourselves as leaders or key collaborators in research emphasizing sustainable fruit production systems, reduced inputs of energy and other resources, and the safety and nutritional value of fruit and fruit products. This is a good example of our ability and willingness to adjust to signals coming from our political base.

Another important part of our currency is the fact that ours is an integrative, "holistic" kind of science. We are good at dealing with multi-component problems. We take pride in knowing that we have contributed importantly to improving fruit tree propagation and nursery stock production, developed superior fruit cultivars and sustainable and efficient plantation management systems, discovered important uses for natural and synthetic plant bioregulators, defined critically important details about how fruit quality is influenced by field environment, and introduced fruit storage technology that can only be described as remarkable.

Each of these achievements involved complex long-term studies, but when we integrate each of these technologies into commercial fruit production systems the level of complexity achieves another order of magnitude!

As researchers we continue to improve the lot of the producer by developing more valuable cultivars and sustainable production practices. Consumers relish the ever expanding array of fruit products and, by in large, trust us to find ways to ensure that these products are attractive, wholesome, affordable and available throughout the year.

As educators we endeavour to provide producers, consumers and everyone in between with knowledge and training that results in much more thank simply the continuation of our profession. Within academe we bridge the contributions of botanists, biochemists, physiologists, and biophysicists to the more "applied" sciences.

In summary, present day pomologists have as their currency the broad knowledge base needed to understand and explain the many components of modern economic fruit production. We are valuable, and valued, contributors to society.

Our Expanding Role

Increasingly, however, we must view all of our professional activities from a national and even international fruit industry perspective where present day biological constraints appear to be less important than an array of socio-economic constraints.

There can be no doubt that international trade agreements, new technologies allowing long- distance transport of perishable fruits, societal pressures to reduce the use of agricultural chemicals, and other food safety and environmental protection issues pose major challenges to producers everywhere. Successful growers know about these developments and continue to adapt and adjust. Their survival depends on it. It goes without saying that successful pomologists must do the same.

But just how broad a clientele can we effectively serve? For example, are we likely ever to be the primary consultant on issues of trade and commerce?

In many instances we already have the knowledge and experience to help industry make intelligent choices relating to these socio-economic issues. Nonetheless, there will be those who argue that a pomologist formally trained in something like socio-, political-, economic- and environmental horticulture could do a better job still!

My own inclination is to argue that we should not try to expand the "expected" knowledge base of pomologists to include subjects too distantly removed from fruit crops biology. I suspect that we, as a group, are already rather vulnerable to believing that we can effectively deal with a broader range of non-pomological questions/issues than is really the case. The cliché "a little knowledge can be dangerous" often comes to mind when I contemplate advising the fruit industry on socio-economic issues! Furthermore, the reality of the marketplace is that industry already recognizes the need for consultants to help them deal with international trade issues, introduce new products, and deal with environmental action groups. Professionals other than (or in addition to) pomologists will be consulted in most of these cases.

On the other hand, it is certainly possible that there are new specializations that can comfortably and logically be built upon the basic training presently received by students of pomology. Several Workshop contributors will focus on the education systems in place in various countries or regions to train production, extension and research pomologists. Our challenge will be to use this information to predict the future training needs of our students and to help us formulate a strategy for sustaining and improving pomology education in our own country.

Other contributors to this Workshop will discuss important trends in fruit production that will affect us all. We will discover the extent to which even small changes in competitiveness can affect size, nature, and research and extension needs of these industries. We will hear concrete suggestions for new avenues of research by pomologists, research that will be more relevant to the global fruit industry over the next decades.

In conclusion, if we assume that teaching and research will continue to be natural partners in strengthening the currency of our profession, one "Strategy for a Modern Pomology" would be to put in place a curriculum that recognizes that:

1. the next generation of pomologists must include individuals flexible enough to serve the needs of a constantly changing audience; and
2. quality and relevancy in research will continue to require individuals strongly grounded in the biological fundamentals of the profession.

The good news is that regardless of the political decisions taken to rationalize university departments of horticulture and others aimed at down-sizing, consolidating or privatizing research institutes, there will continue to be a demand for fruit in the human diet. There will always be a need for our brand of subject matter specialist.

We must not lose sight of the fact that our ultimate strength is our uniquely important knowledge base. This Workshop will help us to determine if we need to add new chapters to our basic book.