A HORTICULTURAL research facility near Selby has won a national award for creating profitable practice out of research and innovation.

The team at Stockbridge Technology Centre was awarded the David Piccaver Science Award at the UK Grower of the Year awards.

A special award for 2015, the David Piccaver Science Award recognises the organisation that has brought innovation through research into profitable practice within the growing community.

Dr Martin McPherson and Dr Phillip Davies received the award from David Piccaver's daughter, Lizzie Lilley during a gala dinner at the Grand Connaught Rooms in London last week.

Dr McPherson said: "David Piccaver was a giant in the horticultural industry and his contribution and passion is sadly missed.

"David was a director of Stockbridge and gave us the encouragement and confidence to go ahead with this groundbreaking technology.

"The award is a tribute to David and to his contribution to horticulture and it is a real honour for the team at Stockbridge to win it."

Organised by Horticulture Week magazine, The UK Grower Awards 2015 celebrate the very best in the UK production horticulture industry. The dinner was attended by more than 400 people.

The award comes as Stockbridge Technology Centre begins its pioneering trial on LED lighting to grow crops, which has already created much industry and media interest.

Stockbridge Technology Centre is an independent, not for profit organisation that is wholly owned by the UK horticultural industry and is a centre of excellence in technology transfer to agriculture and horticulture.

It leads the way in research into LED lighting and the new facility for tall crops such as tomatoes complements an existing facility looking at benches or layers of crops that could be a model for urban farms of the future.