Cherry Tomato Anyone?

Those of you who know me will be well aware that I am NOT impressed with the existence of the tomato – a slight problem given that I work for Bayer, the world’s biggest tomato-research entity, something I deal with, for example, by avoiding being out of the office during tomato-tasting days.

Therefore, imagine my delight when invited to help take video footage for the LEAF Education Awards that #Bayer is partnering in, to find that this particular shortlisted grower near Dover grows tomatoes – on a VAST scale.

We arrive at the site and park the car without any view of what is to come, but when we are taken by our host at APS Produce, Chris Baldwin, we are faced with two 5.5 hectare greenhouses with a small gas power station in between. Providing enough energy to power 15000 houses, its waste stream of heat and carbon dioxide is tapped by the growers to keep the greenhouses at near optimal growing conditions. The latter makes this power station a much greener option of course!

In the greenhouses, Chris explains that one issue they had was the vents opening to control the temperature inside the facility, which resulted in the losses of carbon dioxide that they were pumping in. Moving the control of the vents to be dependent on the temperature of the plants' leaves (tomatoes regulate their immediate environment temperature through transpiration or "sweating"), reduced the opening of the vents significantly, reducing costs and improving productivity

These two greenhouses, each the size of 9 Wembley-sized football pitches, produce around 14000 tonnes of tomatoes a year – a sizable contribution to your salad, pizza and sauce requirements.

Delivery of an abundant supply of high quality affordable food requires food production on a vast scale. This supplier has found an efficient high-tech method of doing so that recognises the need to combine science, technology and appreciation of what plants can do themselves.

FYI, I ate two tomato varieties straight from the vine, and I can confirm that they tasted just as disgusting as if they had been in my fridge for weeks.