Plans to build a £30 million tomato-growing facility in Suffolk, which would create 180 jobs in the local community and produce up to 10 per cent of the UK’s tomatoes, have been welcomed by the British Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA).
The project, dubbed Sterling Suffolk and developed by recycling firm SITA UK, will use an incinerator on nearby land in Blakenham to heat two greenhouses, which will cover 50 acres of land and produce up to 7,500 tonnes of tomatoes a year.
“It is clear that more investment in our food production infrastructure is needed both to improve our self-sufficiency and maintain a critical scale within the industry; if this development occurs I am sure it will be very much welcomed,” said Philip Morley, technical officer at the TGA.
Despite 500,000 tonnes of tomatoes consumed in the UK every year, domestic output is only around 75,000 tonnes with suppliers dependent on imports, and Suffolk farmer Michael Blakenham, who will give up his land to house the project’s incinerator as part of a joint venture between SITA UK and Suffolk County Council, said it can help to fill a gap in the UK tomato industry. “There is a big demand for locally grown produce which tastes better than tomatoes that travel long distances, and while it is still early days, we hope to fill some of the gaps in the market,” he told FoodManufacture.co.uk.
SITA UK says the new development will be financed by a consortium of growers and that a planning application will be submitted to the local council next year, which if approved will enable the greenhouses to be put into full operation by December 2014.
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