Britain’s tomatoes are a victim of the energy crisis

“It’s not wellies and wheelbarrows,” laughs Andy Roe, head of tomato production at Flavourfresh Salads, a grower outside Southport, in England’s north-west. The company is one of the few in Britain still supplying the fruit through the winter thanks to a state-of-the-art hydroponic greenhouse complex fitted with Barbie-pink light emitting diodes (leds) to replace the sun. The vines, tens of metres long, suspended above hot water pipes and fed with a steady diet of carbon dioxide, are a world away from their spindly cousins in compost bags that are a feature of Britain’s conservatories.