The big picture: growing strains

Growers in West Sussex are crying out for utilities to help them minimise problems caused by fluctuating energy prices and access to water supplies. Kathy Oxtoby finds out more, in the latest in an occasional series on big customers

Horticulture is a growing sector, literally. In West Sussex, the industry grows £500 million of produce a year, employs over 6,000 people and, after tourism, is the biggest employer in the county.

The coastal plain of West Sussex has the best climate and highest winter light levels in the UK, which is the main reason why such a large horticultural industry has developed there. A mixture of international, regional and family horticultural businesses are located in West Sussex. And the further economic development potential of the industry in the area is “enormous”, says business consultant and ex-grower John Hall, who represents the West Sussex Growers’ Association. “Demand for high quality, home grown produce has never been greater,” he says.

The association has 70 members, many of whom are “high tech” growers who supply produce 365 days a year to the major supermarkets. That produce is grown in modern glass houses, some of which consume millions of pounds-worth of energy every year. Hall says that increasingly growers in the area are running combined gas-fuelled heat and power plants (CHP) which also produce electricity for the National Grid, as well as conventional gas-fired boilers, to make their organisations more energy efficient and to reduce their

utility bills.

Hall says there are several CHP plants running like “mini-power stations in the middle of nurseries” in West Sussex – some of which have been set up in partnership with utility companies. These units have prompted interest from politicians, planners and researchers, he says, “because they run extremely efficiently and are far better for the environment”.

While the horticultural industry is “driven by innovation” it is also a sector under pressure, facing rising costs from utilities while the supermarkets they supply “are determined to drive down the price of produce”, says Hall.

Energy costs are a major concern for growers “as they have doubled in the past three years”, he says. Chris Moncrieff, production director at VHB Herbs, part of the Vitacress group based in Chichester, West Sussex, says the organisation spends almost £1 million a year on energy and finds fluctuating costs a
“big issue”.

“In terms of gas alone, the price has gone up from about 65 pence a therm to £1. Given that this rise occurred during the cold snap in February and March this year, this meant a substantial increase in the cost of gas that quarter,” says Moncrieff.

The sector’s response to rising energy costs has been to invest heavily not only in alternative energy systems, but also energy-saving products such as thermal screens that close over the inside of glasshouses at night to prevent heat loss. But energy companies could also do more to make life easier for the sector.

Hall says the energy needs of the industry vary, from low tech growers who are producing plants for the garden market to high tech growers whose produce is grown all year round, where 20 per cent of their costs are from energy.

But what all growers are looking for “are stable contracts and long-term fixed prices for energy so they can plan for the future with some confidence”, says Hall.

Growers are also looking for security of supply from their energy companies. Paul Sopp, technical director at Fargro, a supplier of horticultural products based in Littlehampton, West Sussex, says growers expect energy “to be delivered efficiently to ensure they are able to supply the quantities of produce demanded by clients”.

Water consumption brings a different set of challenges for the sector. Hall says most growers have “huge reservoirs” of water which is naturally sourced from the rainwater that runs off their glass house roofs, and is then treated using ultra violet sensors to kill off any pathogens. This source of water may supply an average of 70 per cent of a grower’s annual needs. But they would like more opportunities to abstract from boreholes, says Hall.

“Growers argue that it would be more efficient, economical and logical all round if they could have greater access to borehole water, abstracted on their own sites where the crops are growing,” he says. He points out that the aquifers that they would abstract from are the same as those used by water companies, “so there would be no additional water abstracted and consumed”.

“Instead, the length of the delivery system would be substantially reduced, including water wasted to leaks and the cost of pumping over long distances, because the water would be abstracted right where the crops are being grown.”

Hall believes arguments for not allowing this to happen “seem to have nothing to do with common sense and efficiency or even price, but more to do with power – that is, who is in control. Growers feel that it’s about time the balance of control shifted back to the customer.”

With utility bills, particularly energy, accounting for such a high percentage of the cost of running a horticultural business, the sector will continue to strive to find smarter ways of operating. “The higher that energy prices rise the more it will drive innovation in our sector to look at other ways of saving energy or producing it in a different way, whether through, say, CHP plants or anaerobic digesters,” says Hall.

He says growers would like to work more closely with utilities on the kind of joint ventures that could come up with engineering and technical solutions to the challenges the sector faces for mutual benefit. “The horticultural industry fits naturally with utilities and we should be working together to develop innovative schemes, as we have a ‘natural fit’ with the energy and water sectors.

“We would like to see more co-operation, and more joint ventures with utilities, but it’s still not happening enough, or fast enough,” says Hall.

If growers and utilities could forge strong relationships, Hall believes “everybody will win”. “It means growers can reduce their costs, utilities have the opportunity to learn from the work we are doing to save energy and save water, and the customers can have a greater range of sensibly priced fresh produce, and the environment will be the biggest winner, because energy will be produced far more efficiently and water leakage will be reduced. It’s a hell of a challenge, but well worth it,” he says.

Kathy Oxtoby is a freelance journalist

This article first appeared in Utility Week’s print edition of 6th September July 2013.

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