Catalogue description Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food: Horticulture Division and Horticulture Division II: Registered Files, Horticultural Marketing (HME Series)

The Committee of Enquiry into Horticultural Marketing chaired by Lord Runciman of Doxford, sat from 1955 to 1956. The committee's report was published in 1956, and it recommended the setting up of a Horticultural Marketing Council (HMC) and a London Markets Authority. In order to implement these recommendations, it was necessary for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to consult so many interested parties that a Horticultural Marketing Advisory Council (HMAC) was established to coordinate the views and needs of different sections of the horticulture industry. The HMAC was superseded by the HMC in 1959.

The HMC's work was subsidised by MAFF for its first three years of operation, the intention being that it would become self-financing at the end of that period. When it became apparent that this was not going to be the case, the industry was approached to take over its financing. The considerable reluctance, particularly from wholesalers, to accept this proposal resulted in the HMC being wound-up in 1962, and the majority of the HMC's work being absorbed by the Horticulture Division, with the British Standards Institution taking on responsibility for research on packaging.