Growing the team - Growing media Europe reinforces technical expertise

Mr Gerald Schmilewski recently joined the Growing Media Europe (GME) team as a highly experienced technical expert with deep knowledge of the European growing media sector and a track record in developing European standards (ENs) for growing media and soil improvers.

Amongst other tasks, Mr Schmilewski supports GME in dealing with the technical aspects of implementing the new Fertilising Products Regulation (FPR). As GME was recently acknowledged as an official liaison organization to the European Committee for Standardization (CEN), he will be representing the interests of the European growing media producers in the CEN Technical Committee 223 ‘Soil improvers and growing media’, in charge of the standards linked to the FPR.

Mr Schmilewski has worked for one of the GME company members for 20 years in Research & Development before he retired in 2018. Prior to that he was a long-time research associate with the German Peat Research Institute. He was strongly engaged in activities of GME´s predecessor association EPAGMA over several years and was involved in the early stages of the legislative procedure leading to the new Fertilising Products Regulation. His educational background is horticulture which he first studied at the University of Osnabrück and then at the University of Minnesota as a scholar of the Carl Duisberg Society. In 2018 Gerald’s on-line book on growing media (in German) was published by the GME associate member IVG.

As a welcomed side effect, this new cooperation also strengthens the link between GME and the International Peatland Society (IPS), whose presidency is held by Gerald Schmilewski since 2016.

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