Thursday, June 10, 2010
Fruit and vegetable
supplier Greenery UK
celebrated British Tomato Week by handing out sustainably grown
tomatoes produced by one of the company's own growers. Greenery UK,
along with Norfolk-Based tomato growers Cornerways Nursery, visited
Sainsbury's stores in Cambridge and Norwich and Tesco's head office
in Cheshunt to promote the British eco friendly
tomatoes.
A variety of tomatoes were made available for people to taste and
then take away with them.
Cooking and storage tips were suggested by the growers from
Cornerways Nursery with recipe leaflets also available for tomato
lovers.
The tomatoes from Cornerways Nursery are grown in a
unique 10.6 hectare (26.5 acre) greenhouse that is believed to be
the UK's largest project for reusing heat and CO2. The nursery
produces over 70 million tomatoes annually between April and
November.
Cornerways Nursery greenhouses, located alongside the British
Sugar processing plant at Wissington, Norfolk use no fuel for
heating. All the heat needed to maintain a year-round growing
temperature of around 20oC is provided by the combined heat and
power (CHP) system in the adjacent sugar processing plant.
Over 5,000 bumblebees, living in 100 bee hives, pollinate the
crops and are part of the nursery's integrated approach to crop
management using natural agents and predators in preference to
agro-chemicals.
Tomatoes from Cornerways Nursery are sold via Greenery UK - a
major supplier of salads and fresh vegetables to UK supermarkets
and the biggest supplier of homegrown UK tomatoes.
Will Ison, business unit manager for Greenery UK, said: "British
Tomato Week is a fantastic opportunity to increase public awareness
about sustainably grown, British produce. The tomato tasting was
great fun and a chance for the public to learn more about British
tomatoes. Greenery UK is pleased to help promote the delicious
tomatoes Cornerways Nursery produces and the British tomato
industry as a whole."
Nigel Bartle, manager of Cornerways Nursery, said: "Our tomatoes
are grown with minimum environmental impact and delivered to local
stores with minimum 'food miles' used in transport. British Tomato
Week aims to highlight the quality of produce that is grown in
Britain."
The Greenery is one of Europe's major producers and importers of
fresh fruit and vegetables with an average annual turnover of
approximately 1.6 billion Euros. It supplies produce to almost all
of the major UK supermarkets and to similar outlets in Europe,
North America and the Far East. Around 2,500 people are employed by
the company across the globe.
British Tomato Week is organised by the British Tomato Growers
Association to promote the British industry. For details see www.britishtomatoes.co.uk.