Business grant and relocation in Kent news

Thanet Earth has the earliest harvest of cucumbers in the UK, with its first crop ripe before the end of January.

The £80m greenhouse complex grows tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers hydroponically.

The plants are suspended in a gutter and receive water and fertiliser via a drip feed system controlled by computer.

Thanet Earth produces cucumbers almost all year round, with crops ready from January to November.

The water the plants receive is rainwater which has been collected off the greenhouses' roofs and stored in special reservoirs until it is needed.

An on site Combined Heat and Power unit generates electricity that is uploaded to the National Grid and the by-products of heat and carbon dioxide are used in the greenhouses to help grow the plants.

When Hillary Benn, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, visited Thanet Earth in August 2009 he said; "This is an example of how you can grow food in a sustainable way but deal with some of the challenges we're going face....They're also using integrated pest management - basically good bugs to deal with the bad bugs - so the use of pesticides and insecticides is much, much less than you would find elsewhere."

This could increase when building is complete, so far only three of the seven massive greenhouses which have been granted planning permission have been erected. Each greenhouse is dedicated to one crop.

Once Thanet Earth has achieved its maximum output from its current set up the remaining four greenhouses will be constructed.