Activities of the Department
The education, research and advisory activities of the Department have always played an essential role in the history of the national horticulture and that of the Carpathian Basin. Directly or indirectly, the Department has participated in making important political, economic and commercial decisions and developments in connection with the sector, in particular, vegetable and mushroom growing, and was a representative of the sector in the national and international forums and in the different media.
The primary task is the graduate level teaching of horticulture, in particular, vegetable and mushroom growing, but the Department also plays an important role in the postgraduate training of horticultural engineers and organizes extension training courses both at intermediate and basic levels and takes an active role in the teaching of hobby gardening.
Our experimental area provides the basis for the students in horticulture of the University to learn the practical skills of vegetable growing, to become familiar with modern technologies and they will be able to apply technological developments, together with the experiences gained during the complementary field trips, as graduate engineers.
Through our established advisory network we are in connection with several thousand growers. The favourable location and easy accessibility (close to the motorway M5-M0) of the experimental area, besides the practical training of the students, help in maintaining contact with the growers and assist the frequent meetings combined with field demonstration programmes.
Within the framework of the advisory programmes we regularly organize 1 to 3 day courses and one-day discussions primarily on vegetable and mushroom growing, engaging also the most competent and best known specialists of the country. During the courses and discussions we hold growing demonstrations, too, besides the lectures. The site of the courses and field demonstrations, depending on the type of the subject, is the Experimental Farm (Soroksár, Budapest) and the areas of greenhouse vegetable production in Hungary.
It is for almost four decades that our periodical Zöldségtermesztés (Vegetable Production, formerly: Greenhouse Cultivation, Early Production), intended for the public of vegetable growers, has been regularly published four times a year.
Due to our work done so far and to the aforementioned facilities, we have a good overview of the vegetable and mushroom production and are able to construct a reliable model of the Hungarian growing conditions, our facilities permit the highest level of horticultural education and research and good contact with the practice of production.