David Robinson (horticulturist)

Education and early experience

Born in 1928, Robinson worked in horticulture all his life. He obtained his bachelor's degree in horticulture from Reading University, his master's degree from Cornell University (USA) and his doctorate from Queen's University Belfast. He gained practical early experience on a fruit farm near Pershore and a vegetable farm at Musselburgh, East Lothian, Scotland.

He worked as horticultural adviser in County Down for the Ministry of Agriculture (1950–53). However, the late 1940s and early 1950s was a time of great food shortages in Europe, and governments were pouring money into horticultural research. New Research Stations were being set up in a number of countries, so in 1953 he was appointed Deputy Director at the newly formed Horticulture Research Centre in Loughgall, County Armagh. His first major job was to help clean up the weed problem in fruit crops. His research into the many chemical tools that were becoming available at the time established him as an expert in this field. However, he had at the time no training in research methods or statistical analysis and felt that he was in a job for which he was inadequately trained. This was soon to change.

As Robinson later wrote, "I knew early in 1954 that the well endowed W.K. Kellogg Foundation was giving grants to people in Britain to provide further training in the USA for agricultural graduates. I happened to be in London in March 1954 and by pure chance I passed by the headquarters of the Foundation. I still don't know what gave me the courage but I walked in, asked to see the Director (without an appointment) and told him I wanted a Kellogg Foundation Grant to study at Cornell University in New York State for a year. At the time I worked for the Ministry of Agriculture in Northern Ireland, a most bureaucratic organisation, and when I returned all hell was let loose for the Ministry felt (understandably) that they and they alone should decide who would benefit from Kellogg grants. Anyway I was released for a year and spent 1954/55 in the States where I learned a great deal about research and plants. The US had not suffered from the War the way Europe had and it was an exhilarating time."

Move to the South of Ireland

Robinson remained a research worker at the Horticultural Centre, Loughgall, Northern Ireland until 1964. During that period he had been invited down south to the Republic of Ireland on a number of occasions to give advice. John Daly, the father of the RTÉ gardening expert Gerry Daly had invited him on several occasions in the 1950s to come and lecture to the fruit growers in County Wexford on his research into weed control. At that period there was virtually no contact between the horticulturists of the North and South. It was as a result of these trips down south that he eventually got the post as Director of Horticultural Research in the Kinsealy Research Centre, Agricultural Research Institute (now Teagasc) in Ireland. He remained in this post for almost 25 years (1964–88).

Other educational work and society memberships

Robinson was External Examiner for BSc, MS and PhD degrees at University Colleges Dublin and Cork, the Dublin and Tralee Institutes of Technology, University of Bath (England), Wye College, University of London (England), and the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow, Scotland).

He was a past President of the Horticultural Education Association of Great Britain and Ireland (1971–72) and represented Ireland on the Council of the International Society for Horticultural Science from 1964-90. He was chairman of BASIS (Republic of Ireland). BASIS was an independent organisation from interested sections of the agrochemical industry aimed at raising standards of handling, storing, utilising and disseminating information on agricultural pesticides. Robinson was on the Editorial Board of Scientia Horticulturae (1970–89), Associate Editor of Crops Research Journal (1982–89) and on the Editorial Board of Chronica Horticulturae (1992–95).

Publications

Robinson was the author of over 120 scientific publications, mainly on weed control, and joint editor of three books on horticultural science. More can be found at the website www.earlscliffe.com.

Earlscliffe Garden

His 7-acre (28,000 m²) garden, Earlscliffe see the website www.earlscliffe.com, Baily, Co. Dublin, Ireland is maintained with minimal outside help, has been designated one of Ireland's National Plant Heritage Gardens and was awarded the highest accolade (two stars) in the 1999 Good Gardens Guide (Ebury Press).

Journalism and media appearances

David Robinson was a regular panel member on the Irish RTÉ Radio One Ask About Gardening show with Gerry Daly, answering impromptu gardening questions phoned in by listeners. For a four-year period, he was also a presenter on the Green Fingers television programme, which was transmitted by BBC and RTÉ. He wrote on gardening topics for a number of Irish and UK newspapers, journals and magazines, including the Farmer's Journal and The Irish Garden. He also judged at national and international garden festivals. He published over 100 scientific papers and was joint editor of three books. He visited over 70 countries on horticultural missions, was an invited speaker at conferences in all five continents and was Guest Professor in Urban Horticulture at the Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany from 1992 to 1999.

Consultancy

Robinson was employed as an overseas consultant by a number of organisations including FAO (Food and Agricultural Organisation), Department of Foreign Affairs, APSO and the Irish Horticultural Development Board. Countries involved included Kenya, Lesotho, Libya, Malta, Namibia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland and Zimbabwe.

He carried out garden and plant reconnaissance tours in the Caribbean, Borneo and Sweden, and led gardening tours to these and many other countries including New Zealand, Australia and Majorca. He lectured on cruise ships and led shore excursions in the South Pacific, Mediterranean, the Canary Islands, round Britain and in the Madeira/Caribbean/Azores areas.

Awards

His work in horticulture was recognised by many awards including the coveted Gold Veitch Memorial Medal from the Royal Horticultural Society, Honorary Life Membership of the Royal Dublin Society and of the International Society for Horticultural Science. He was given Fellowship and the Distinguished Horticulturist Award from the Institute of Horticulture and in 1996 was elected to the Institute's Hall of Fame. He was also elected a Fellow by the American Society for Horticultural Science, the highest award offered by that Society.

Robinson died in March 2004 and was survived by his wife, Muriel, daughter Karen, son Ivan and their families.