Centre of Excellence in glasshouse growing opened in June and has caught the attention of retailers
Marks & Spencer has visited the UK’s first Centre of Excellence in glasshouse growing in Hadlow to see the range of tomatoes being grown.
The Thanet Earth Centre of Excellence at Hadlow College officially opened in June, and aims to inspire and train the next generation of UK salad and vegetable growers.
Using Hadlow College’s state-of-the-art glasshouse, the college’s horticultural students get to work directly with leading glasshouse salad supplier Thanet Earth to develop their skills and grow tomatoes in a commercial crop environment.
Jane Phillips, senior agronomist for salads at M&S, visited the site to sample some of the many varieties of tomato, and discuss ways to supply the newest and best tomato varieties to the supermarket.
Alan Harvey, head of horticulture at Hadlow College, said: “We consider ourselves very lucky at Hadlow to be able to host such visits in our Centre of Excellence and would like to thank both Thanet Earth and Marks & Spencer for their time and contribution.
”We are just about to start the new academic year and will be training students in these fantastic facilities and hope our horticultural degree students will be designing and running projects in the Centre of Excellence.”
The Centre of Excellence is a partnership between Hadlow College, Thanet Earth, and research and innovation organisation Growing Kent & Medway.
The facility plays an integral part in horticulture courses at the college and features cutting-edge technology including suspended gutters running hydroponics for the tomatoes, LED and high-pressure sodium lighting, a vertical growing farm, and the latest environmental control computers from Priva.
There is also a propagation unit using mist and sensors, dedicated space for individual glasshouse research, outdoor standing down beds for shrub and herbaceous plant production, and new structures for seasonal bedding plant production.
