Who needs soil? New-age farmers grow strawberries in pots hanging from the ceilings of high-tech greenhouses
Over 75,000 tonnes of British-grown strawberries are sold over summer
New-age farmers growing strawberries in 'nurseries' where they mature in pots hanging from ceiling
Grow downwards from the pots which are full of water, artificial nutrients
One of the benefits for high-tech growers is an extended growing season
Instead, the ever resourceful industry is turning to new, high-tech methods of growing food and meeting our insatiable demand for summer fruit year round.
In gleaming greenhouses in the heart of Sussex, row upon row of strawberry plants grow not in soil, but in pots hanging from the ceiling full of water and artificial nutrients. The berries then grow downwards, making them simple to spot and easy to harvest for pickers standing upright.
The industry doesn’t like to describe the process as hydroponic, even though the plants are grown in a soil-free environment. They prefer to talk about growing in ‘substrates’.
The benefits for the growers are an extended growing season — meaning, of course, more money.
It's to ensure we have British produce available for as long as possible,’ says a spokesman. ‘People want to eat them out of season.’
Greenhouse grows produce in rock wool — an absorbent material made by melting rock and blowing air through it — which is then soaked with water and a cocktail of nutrients.
Everything is controlled by computers. Sensors measure sunlight and outdoor temperature and adjust the windows and blinds to ensure perfect growing conditions of 28c.
The floor is blanketed in white plastic sheets to reflect light onto the plants. In the winter, sodium lamps mimic sunlight for up to 17 hours a day. Pests, such as the dreaded red spider mite, are controlled by releasing predator wasps into the houses.
Once the vast cost of setting up these operations has been overcome, the advantages are huge. Tomatoes can be picked year round, peppers from March to November and cucumbers from January to November.
Furthermore, ripening can be held back or brought on early by increasing the light if demand is expected to soar for a bank holiday.
And without sudden drops in night-time temperature or unhelpful dry spells, plants typically grow up to four times faster. It’s the Stepford Wives model of farming.
The process works for a host of vegetables — mostly those high in water such as salad leaves, spinach, peas, herbs, and courgettes. Root vegetables, such as potatoes, fare less well without soil around them.
Growers insist that taste is not sacrificed. Most of products are sold as premium products, including Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference tomatoes. They also say that careful addition of nutrients gives the plants everything they need to be healthy and tasty.
But not every farmer who tries hydroponics is convinced it is the future. Recently, James Foskett Farms in Suffolk, part of the G’s Growers co-operative, produced 60,000 heads of lettuce a year hydroponically sold in Tesco under the brand Living Leaves. However, production is about to end.
Charles Kisby, of G’s Growers, says: ‘It was a niche product and it has run its course.’
The co-operative sells 150 million lettuces each year through major supermarkets. Some are grown in polytunnels — the large plastic tubes that dot up in the countryside — but the majority grow in fields.
‘Do I see hydroponics taking over from large-scale production? Probably not yet,’ Kisby says. ‘That may change if there are any major changes in the costs of things such as water or diesel. In 20 or 30 years, who knows?’
For those who want their food grown traditionally, that prediction will ring alarm bells. But as much as we may want ‘real’ food, Stepford Wives strawberries, lettuce and tomatoes will remain very much on the menu.
