The team at Abbey View Produce started picking the first cucumbers of the English season this week.
The Gibilaro brothers, Mike and Phil, pictured with their manager Alan Chambers, have grown the cucumbers at Villa Nursery.
Full production should be running by Thursday and supplies will hit Sainsbury’s stores no later than the Friday.
The brothers have overcome rising energy prices and achieved the early production with the help of their combined heat and power system (CHP).
The CHP system produces electricity by burning gas with the unwanted heat from the process being used to heat the nursery.
This also produces CO2, which is pumped round the glasshouse to aid plant growth.
The nursery consists of 1.5 acres of cucumbers and 7.5 acres of sweet peppers, and a further 2.5-acre production area is planned.
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