UK tomato season in early start

UK and Irish production of tomatoes are making inroads into the major multiples as supplies from Spain and Morocco slow.

Alan and Stephen Kelly are supplying cherry, baby-plum and cherry-on-the-vine tomatoes to Tesco in Ireland from their hectare of glass in Rush, north Dublin with first fruit harvested two weeks ago.

In Evesham, EVG started harvesting for its supermarket customers on 1 March, some three weeks early.

EVG’s David Shepherd said: “Crops have been helped on by good light levels and some excellent weather in March.

"We maintain a daytime temperature in the greenhouses in the low to mid-20 degrees celsius, so are relatively unaffected by the latest cold patch…this spring salad consumption generally has been high, and supply and demand has so far been fairly balanced.”