125-acre U.K. greenhouse provides 500 jobs

I listened to a few of the BBC's Farming Today radio programs this afternoon. Here are a few highlights:

—A huge greenhouse project is going up in Kent in southeast England. Thanet Earth will have seven greenhouses, the biggest being 25 acres under one roof. Total greenhouse capacity for the project will be 125 acres. I went to the website for more details. Thanet Earth on its own will add 15 per cent to the "salad" vegetable production in the U.K., but as one commentator said, that still represents only three or four per cent of total consumption. The U.K. imports most of its produce.

Backers of the project are Fresca Group — the U.K.'s largest privately-owned fresh produce supplier — and three large "salad growing specialist" companies. The site will produce three crops: tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. One million plants in total.

Plants will grow in nutrient-rich water. They will be watered little and often, which is apparently better for the plant than one a day in larger quantities. The plants will not grow in soil because there are too many diseases and too many pests in soil.

The project will require 500 employees. And because it will boost local production, there has been a "huge amount of interest from retailers and consumers," said one spokesman on the YouTube video at the Thanet Earth website.

—The tight market is encouraging turkey producers in the U.K. to produce smaller birds — as small as four kg (or around nine pounds.) One company is actually splitting five kg birds in half, and retailing 2.5 kg halves. I think that's a great idea. For one thing, with a half, you get all the parts, including the dark meat, which I prefer. If I could buy half a fresh turkey in Safeway, I'd probably eat turkey more than twice a year.

—The British Health and Safety Executive is encouraging pig barn workers to wear ear protection. During feeding time, the noise can reach 100 deciBels, the report says, which is equivalent to a chainsaw.

—The May 12 episode has a report about the British Wool Board, which sounds a lot like the Canadian Wheat Board. British sheep farmers with more than four sheep have to sell their wool through the board UNLESS they are exporting it directly or processing it themselves. The Farming Today reporter asked, "This sounds like a fairly old system. Is it really still viable when you can have an individual farmer selling direct?"

The report also noted that world wool prices are extremely low. It often costs more to shear the wool than the wool is worth.