Hydroponic glasshouses to be created

A group of hydroponic glasshouses covering a plot the size of 80 football fields is being built in north-east Kent.

The online pages of the Guardian explain that the glazed structures will be so bright inside that workers tending to the 1.3 million plants planned to be cultivated will have to wear sunglasses.

Crops in the glass structures – sited in Thanet – will be suspended from the 8-metre-high ceilings in hydroponic rows and their roots will never touch the soil below.

"Its a unique venture in the UK, Im extremely pleased to have it here in Thanet, and even more pleased to have it called Thanet Earth," Alistair Bruce, an environmental and geological consultant tells the resource.

A total of 220 acres of farm land will be glazed over when Thanet Earth is completed.

In related news, sector commentator Ben Naylor recently wrote in the online pages of the Independent that glasshouses can help gardeners to overcome Britains often-volatile weather.