About this ebook
About the author
John Fletcher graduated in Horticultural Botany at the University of Reading followed by a PhD in plant pathology at the University of Birmingham. He joined the National Agricultural Advisory Service (subsequently the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service) and worked on many diseases during his 34 years but specialized in those of glasshouse and mushrooms crops. In 1969 he spent a year as a research fellow at the University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada where he researched tomato diseases but also made the initial discovery of the effectiveness of the benzimidazole fungicides for the control of mushroom pathogens. He is a Past President of the British Society of Plant Pathologists, received the British Crop Protection Councils Award for services to British crop protection and the Mushroom Growers Association Sinden Award for his contribution to research and advice on the control of mushroom diseases. In recent years he has been consulted by mushroom growers in the UK and other countries and spent 5 months at La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia working on various mushroom pathogens and moulds.
Richard Gaze graduated in Horticulture at Wye College of the University of London. Following initial jobs in the protected crops industry in Denmark, he joined the National Agricultural Advisory Service and developed a special interest in the mushroom crop. This lead to him becoming the Agricultural Development and Advisory Service National Mushroom Specialist, a position he held for 20 years and subsequently for a further 6 years when he transferred to Horticulture Research International at Wellesbourne. He produced a regular News Letter on the mushroom industry for ADAS and in 2000 he became the editor of the Mushroom Growers Associations Mushroom Journal, a position he held until its closure in 2006. He was awarded the MGA Sinden Award for his services to the Industry both as an adviser and researcher. He is still involved in mushroom consultation work and advises ADAS as well as being an Associate Fellow of Warwick HRI and member of the Horticultural Development Council Mushroom Panel.
