I say I say I say, what do you get when youput tomato pIants in a nightdub? Okay,while it sounds Uke a joke, as you wa’kinto award winning grower Roly Hoft’sstate of the art gasshouse, you can’t he’pthinking of ‘oud music, flashing dancefloors and disco baUs.

Perhaps suggesting the gJ.asshouseresembles a nightdub is taking things abit far, but as soon as you wallc into his8,500 m2 — or two and a half acre —

glasshouse you can’t help but notice thered and blue LED lights sitting alongsidethe tomato plants.

While many onlookers may wonder if Rolyis moonlighting as a nightclub owner, whenthe jokes about Saturday Night Fever anddancing are over, the 35 year old quicklypoints out the lights have a very seriouspurpose — and one that could change theface of tomato growing in the UK.

“Because of the lights, we have produced

in 2014 close to a year’s harvest in aroundsix months,” he explained.

“And when you consider the technologyalso allows us to grow tomatoes all yearround, it has the potential dramaticallyincrease our annual harvest.”

The LED lighting is a key component toraising yields by a whopping 25 per centa week.

The reason for this is that red and blueare either side of the electra-magnetic

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The technology is out there, and perhaps

the only question is ‘does it work?’

And from what we have seen, it does

,, Rory Holt

spectrum, providing the optimum Ughtfor photosynthesis.

As the Ughts sit alongside the top andbottom of the plants, it allows lower hangingtomatoes to finish their growth cycle evenwhen they are shielded from the light by theplant’s canopy.

Add to that the glasshouse’s tallerstructure to improve ventilation, its‘hanging gutters’ to maximise the growingenvironment, the hydroponic feeding systemand special ‘diffuse’ glass that allows lightto fall equally over the plant’s canopy,and you have a glasshouse capable ofdramatically increasing yields. On top ofthat, it also makes the management of thecrops easier and more efficient.

All this may sound good, but to whataim? When you ask Roly he repliesenthusiastically that increasing yields is amassive opportunity for British growers likehim, who currently supply a quarter of thetomatoes sold on retailers’ shelves.

“British tomato growers are simply notproducing enough, which is why only a

tomatoes in the Vale of Evesham. Insidethe sites, specialist varieties are grown,including large vine, cherry on the vine,cocktail, baby plumb tomatoes and medium-sized plumb tomatoes are grown.

While Roly says that growing under LEDlighting brings new challenges, such asmaximising taste, adjustments have beenmade to nutrient recipes to optimise theflavour. Customers have commented onhow consistent the fruit is during the wintermonths, which is the most challenging partof the season.

“On the whole, the difference betweennaturally grown and LED grown tomatoes issmall,” he said.

U Bioconsortia has developed a naturalselection that identifies a plant’s most

desirable characteristics, then fuses them withmicrobes from the soil to create better plantsand higher yields. How does this work?

A Plants need access to rich root food to

surviveand prosper. BioConsortia uses

science and the latest genetic tools to identifybeneficial bacteria and fungi within the soil —

known as microbes — that helps plants growstronger and increase crop yields. The simplestway to describe this is of being like goodbacteria in probiotic yoghurt, and how thatbenefits our digestive system.

Using this, and by growing plants undervarious stress conditions such as drought, coldand wet to identify key traits in plants thatperform well, we create a seed treatment toenhances those traits.

Fusing these two things then ensures highyields of future generations of plants. It issimilar to the way that plant breeders generatenew hybrids, but using the genetic potential ofthe microbes and their influence over the plant.

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LAMB 1GT LUP MJO O’Research by Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) has led tothe development of a number of genetic tools to improvelamb survival. Behavioural traits that are important forlamb survival, such as lamb ‘get up and go’, can now bymeasured quickly and simply by farmers, using scores basedon lamb behaviour. These scores are under genetic control,so farmers will now have the option to select rams for betterlamb survivability, based on improved lamb vigour.

Lamb mortality averages 15 per cent of lambs bornacross all sheep producing countries; in the UK thisequates to about 2.7m lambs and a loss of £160m. Ewemanagement can improve lamb survival but, despitemuch research in this area, lamb mortality has proveda difficult figure to reduce. This constrains profitable,sustainable and high welfare sheep production. Newapproaches to the problem, such as those developed bySRUC, are needed to achieve better survival and improve

.1 both farm livelihoods and sheep welfare.

The support from Scottish government for this area

4 of research over the past 17 years has secured anexcellent foundation of scientific research. It is hoped theintroduction of the new Scottish government researchProgramme 2011-16 will bring new dimensions of research.

U What does this mean for farming, andperhaps more importantly, for farmers

on the ground?

A Our advanced microbial selectionprocess described above means we

can discover the teams of bacteria andfungi that work together to increasecrop yields. Microbes are naturally foundin soil and plants and can be used asan additive or alternative to chemicaltreatments that may already be in useon the farm. As regulations of syntheticpesticides and fertilisers are becomingtougher, farmers need different optionsfor fighting pests, diseases, stresses andproduction demands.

U During tests, what sort of results didyou see?

A Trials have shown improvementsin root mass, leaf growth or sugar

content of up to 30 per cent. Otherplant characteristics that we have seen

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WILDLIFE LINKS WITH JOHNE’SGroundbreaking research has The dairy industry is joiningexpanded the known host range forces to launch the Actionfor paratuberculosis, the cause Johne’s Initiative, which will helpof Johne’s disease in cattle — a manage and reduce the incidencenotoriously difficult disease to of Johne’s disease in dairy cattle.control and a £27m problem The Initiative, developed byannually in the UK. the Action Group on Johne’s,

______________

Paratuberculosis is a significant aims at engaging 80 per centchallenge to livestock production of dairy farmers in Great Britainacross the globe and with links in credible and robust Johne’sbeing drawn between it and Crohn’s management activities bydisease in humans, interest in October 2016.control is increasing. The presence Rob Harrison, NFU Dairy Boardof wildlife hosts of livestock Chairman, said: “It is vitallydisease pose significant challenges important that as an industry, wewhen it comes to disease control. manage Johne’s disease if we areCritical to the extent of the risks to remain competitive and haveposed by wildlife to livestock is a sustainable future for the dairywhether the disease will persist sector. There are huge potentialin the wildlife and whether there cost benefits to be had by gettingis a route of transmission back in on top of this disease and weto the livestock — SRUC’s research welcome the introduction offinds both. this initiative.”

2_E p—

Q&A WITH MARCUS MEADOWS-SMITH FROM BIOCONSORTIAquarter of tomatoes are supplied by us,”continued Roly, who runs R&L Holtwith parents Rick and Laura, as well assister, Felicity.

“There is massive demand that is notbeing fulfilled, but this sort of technologycan really help address this. The technologyis out there, and perhaps the only question is‘does it work?’ And from what we have seen,it does.”

This is not only good for growers, Roly goeson to say, it’s great news for consumers.

“The majority of tomatoes on shelves inBritain are Dutch, Sicilian, Moroccan or fromother parts of the world,” he added.

“British tomatoes can be on the shelveswithin 24 hours so are fresher and betterquality, however produce transported fromthe continent Sicily, for example, takes threedays. During this time the quality of thetomato changes dramatically.

“This technology means consumers canhave fresher tomatoes all year round.”

The glasshouse is one of a number onthree sites used by the family to grow

improve include harvestable yield, uniformemergence, accelerated development,improved drought tolerance and fertiliseruse efficiency.

U How soon before it will be widelyavailable in Europe and the UK?

A We’re planning field trials in Europe in2015 on wheat and tomatoes and new

product(s) could be available by 2017.

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The nationa’ flower of Wares, thedaffodil, coul.d provide up’andfarmers in the ifiack Mountains- and other parts of the UK - withadditiona’ income streams.

That’s according to KevinStephens, founder of AgroceuticaProducts, a company set up toharvest galantamine from theflower. Galantamine has proven toslow the progression of Alzheimersdisease within sufferers, and in thepast has been mainly extractedfrom wild flowers grown in Bulgariaand China.

However trials into daffodilgrowing on the Black Mountainsreveal the flowers produce greaterconcentrations of galantaminewhen grown on the uplands,prompting a four-year researchprogramme to build on thesefindings.

The first wave of trials underthe programme will run betweenOctober and spring 2016.

If the research goes as expected,thousands of acres of land couldbe needed across Britain to meetglobal demand for galantamine.

But Kevi Stephens, a sheepfarmer, hopes that growingdaffodils will not be an alternativeto a farm’s main income, but anadditional source of revenue.

“We want to double crop thedaffodils,” he said. “That way wecan get something out of hill fields

over winter, when they are notbeing used for anything else. Thiswill provide additional income, notan alternative.”

However Kevin also urgesfarmers not to race out and plantdaffodils straight away as thelevels of galantamine are knownto vary depending on the growingconditions at a particular location.To evaluate this, 30 small trialplots of daffodils have beenplanted across the UK to measurethe different levels of galantamineproduced in different regions.

“We know galantamine levelsvary, depending on factors such asclimate and soil,” Kevin added.

“We don’t want farmers to dashout and plant acres of daffodils justyet. We need to assess how muchgalantamine will be produced attheir growing location first.

“Once we have established thelikely levels of galanthamine atthat location, then we can havea sensible conversation withgrowers about how much theycan expect to earn by growingdaffodils. However, I am very happyto hear from farmers who may beinterested in growing daffodils, sothat I can add them to our list ofpotential growers.

Anyone interested in speakingwith Kevin should emailenquiries@agroceutical.com, or call01497 847278.

SOLAR DRONES TOCONNECT COUNTRYSIDE?Solar-powered drones could one day fly broadbandinto rural areas with poor connectivity, after Facebooktested a new technology in Britain for the first time.

The drones, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg sayswill “have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 747but weigh less than a car,” have been developed bySomerset-based company Ascenta.

They will be able to fly at 60,000ft for monthsat a time, beaming-down laser-guided signals tousers below. On Friday Mr Zuckerberg used his ownFacebook page to announce the first test flights hadtaken place.

“Today, I’m excited to share that we’ve successfullycompleted our first test flight of these aircraft in theUK,” he wrote.

“Aircraft like these will help connect the wholeworld because they can affordably serve the 10 percent of the world’s population that live in remotecommunities without existing internet infrastructure.”

The NFU has long lobbied that rural areas musthave access to the same broadband speeds andmobile phone coverage as their urban counterparts.

However, despite an acceleration of thegovernment’s £790m roll-out of superfast broadband,large swathes of the British countryside fall far shortof 22.8 mega-bits per second UK average.

“Farming is a modern and progressive industrywhich requires truly superfast broadband so ourfarmers and growers can comply with regulatoryreform, run effective businesses and maintain afamily life, “ said our senior planning and rural affairsadviser, Suzanne Clear, in response to an Efra SelectCommittee report in February.

So will LED become commonplace for thetomato growers of tomorrow?

Very probably, says Roly, who won theYoung Grower of the Year award in 2009.

Being LED, the lights are far less moneyto run than high pressure sodium lighting,meaning the financial gain from increasedharvests are not simply eaten up by the costof running the lights.

But Roly stresses swapping to LED won’thappen overnight, primarily because of costand challenges of installation.

While the lights can be retro-fitted toglasshouses, Roly explains the amount ofcable needed would make it an extremelyfiddly job. For that reason, it makes moresense to fit the lights in new glasshouses asthey are being built.

The Holt family fitted its lighting system

to their latest glasshouse — which they callFreda — when they built it last year on a site

it previously occupied by the family’s threeglasshouses, called Tom, Dick and Harry.

The lights cost around Elm to install, justunder one third of the total cost of the site’s

.

expansions and improvements. Anotherthird went into the installation of aCombined Heat and Power (CHP) system,which is used to provide electricity and heatto the glasshouse, and to enrich the growingenvironment with Co2.

However there’s another very good reasonwhy Roly believes the lights will become farmore commonplace in the UK.

While Roly’s Worcestershire-basedglasshouse was the third commercial-sizedglasshouse to use the LED lighting in the

world, there are a number of projects lookingat this technology around Europe. It iscommonplace in Holland, where growershave used it to great effect for many years.Trials were running for five years in Hollandbefore growers took the plunge.

“It’s a tried and tested technology,”he explained.

“While there was an element of risk, wedidn’t see it as being particularly high, andthought it was something we had to do.”

But with planning and light pollutionbecoming an increasing obstacle for growerswanting to expand their business, couldpublic perception of glasshouses with LEDlighting stop them being installed?

Will it, for want of a better expression,turn the lights out for growers wanting touse the technology to expand?

Very unlikely, believes Roly, whouses double blinds to stop light pollution.The blinds are now a legal requirementin Holland, and as Roly points out,extremely effective.

Since switching his LED lighting on lastyear, he points out, there has not been asingle objection from villagers living nearto Freda.

“As long as every measure is taken toensure the lights do not impact on thoseliving nearby through light pollution, then Isee no reason why it is likely to be an issue.”

SCIENCE

TURNING THE BLACK MOUNTAINS YELLOW?

LED

I

BUMPER HARVEST FOR GM PURPLE TOMATOESGM purple tomatoes developed by John Innes Centre scientists inthe UK are being harvested in Ontario, Canada, for future researchand to attract interest from private investors.

The 5,000 square-foot glasshouse will yield enough tomatoesto produce 2,000 litres of purple tomato juice. It will be used togenerate new research and industry collaborations and to start theprocess of seeking the regulatory authorisation needed to bring acommercial juice to market.

“We want to explore a way for consumers to benefit from ourdiscoveries, as we are finding there is a demand for the added healthbenefits,” said JIC’s Professor Cathie Martin.

The colour of the tomatoes is derived from high levels ofanthocyanins, compounds normally found in blueberries,blackberries and other deeply coloured berries. The purple tomatoeshave been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects compared toregular ones and to slow the progression of soft-tissue carcinoma incancer-prone mice. They also have double the shelf life.

“The most amazing thing is the potential to supply an expensivecompound from nature more economically to large marketsfor food, livestock feed, cosmetics, food colourings and evenpharmaceuticals, “ says Paul Carver, CEO of New Energy Farms wherethe tomatoes are being grown under glass.

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