English tomato sales have boomed due to the baking hot summer, according to confident growers at last week’s Tomato Growers’ Association (TGA) conference, in Coventry.
“High temperatures had little actual effect on modern glasshouses,” said Gerry Hayman, executive officer for the TGA. The feel-good factor was further massaged by the news that several nurseries are either being built or expanded to add strength to an industry that already accounts for annual sales of around £150 million in the £500m UK tomato market, Hayman added.
TGA chairman Philip Pearson said: “Whilst we are leading the world in the production of high- quality, safe tomatoes, we must also continue to lead the change in the consumers’ perception of British food. We continue to have many challenges ahead, but I believe we will remain a strong, dynamic industry with an appetite for success.”
The confidence bubble is still being pricked at times by rising energy prices, although Hayman estimates that the industry has already reduced usage by 15 per cent. Additional benefits should be gleaned from co-operation with other European countries through an EU-funded project costing £1.75m over three years. This work may also help reduce labour, which accounts for 40 per cent of production costs.
A further factor in long-term profitability will be the results of development of over-winter production using supplementary lighting.
