Grown under lights, the UK tomatoes on sale all year

BRITISH tomatoes will be available all year round following a move by farmers to grow them under lights.

Plants will be kept in vast greenhouses through winter, where bright pink LED lights will supplement daylight.

The technology effectively puts an end to traditional growing seasons – making shoppers less reliant on imports from Spain, South Africa and Turkey.

There is also evidence from Holland that tomatoes grown in this way contain up to twice as much vitamin C as others.

LED lights are being used across 31 acres of greenhouses by Southport producers Flavour-fresh, which supplies Asda. Production manager Andy Roe said: ‘I can say with confidence that by using this technology, I could grow a tomato absolutely anywhere – underground, in a Tube carriage, on the moon.’

Asda said: ‘This new technology will lead to thousands more tons of tomatoes grown in Britain every year.’

Meanwhile Waitrose is already sourcing British salad leaves grown in this way, and other stores plan to do the same.