THE CRISPA CHARITABLE TRUST

Richard Cahn passed away in January 2022 following a long and very successful career in Horticulture. Richard had a passion for British horticulture and innovation, and through his working life combined these two passions with consistent success. A quiet and unassuming man, his family and friends felt it fitting to recognise his immense achievements for the industry by supporting research in the field of Horticulture.

Always looking for ways to bring innovation to horticulture, growing cress hydroponically for sale in punnets, Crispa Cress became one of the three largest growers of the crop in the country. They were one of the early adopters of full automation, with robotics for seed planting, moving of crops, ventilation, watering and lighting - things that are taken for granted today.  Working together with the Vitacress Group, Richard brought much innovation to the salad product market from the crops grown, to how they were packaged and marketed. They were the first to introduce pre-packed mixed salads to the UK retail market. Other firsts were beansprouts sold pre-packed and edible flowers, along with using coconut husks (coir) as a growing media and seeing the potential of biological control in crop production.

Selling the Crispa Cress business in the 1990’s brought about the further development of Roundstone Garden Centre and Roundstone Nurseries, which with his family, was built up to be one of the leading independent garden centres in the UK. The nurseries, growing bedding plants, cyclamen and poinsettia, became one of the largest propagators and producers of protected ornamental crops and suppliers of bedding plants in the UK.