Thanet Earth is a large industrial agriculture

Industrial agriculture

Industrial farming is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, fish, and crops. The methods of industrial agriculture are technoscientific, economic, and political...

 project consortium

Consortium

A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....

 under construction in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. As of early March 2009, food has been harvested.
Located on the Isle of Thanet

Thanet

Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...

, in Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

 it will be the largest greenhouse complex in the UK, covering 90 hectares, or 220 acre (0.8903092 km²) of land . It is estimated it will increase UK salad crop (cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes) production by 15%.

Food production

The complex has begun producing since October 2008. Cucumbers and peppers will be picked continuously from February to October, tomatoes harvested every day of the week, 52 weeks a year.
The UK's largest privately-owned fresh produce supplier, Fresca Group Ltd, has a 50% stake in the trading business that sells all the crops grown at the site, Thanet Earth Marketing Limited. The remaining 50% of Thanet Earth Marketing Limited is owned by three salad growing specialist companies who each own and operate a glasshouse at the site – Kaaij Greenhouses UK, Rainbow Growers and A&A.. Planning permission exists for a further 4 greenhouses on the site, making 7 in total.

Power

The complex is powered by combined heat and power

Combined Heat and Power

Combined Heat and Power may refer to:* Cogeneration* Combined Heat and Power Solar...

 systems that create heat, power and carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide

Carbon dioxide is a naturally occurring chemical compound composed of two oxygen atoms covalently bonded to a single carbon atom...

 (which is absorbed by the plants) for the greenhouses. Through a partnership with a Virtual power plant

Virtual power plant

A virtual power plant is a cluster of distributed generation installations which are collectively run by a central control entity....

 they also export their excess power to the grid and automatically add extra power to the grid at times of peak demand.

Controversies

Although the project has received mainly positive reviews from people living near the site, due to job creation and greater food security, there are minor concerns over the change in local scenery and the loss of traditional farming practices. There are also concerns about the use of hydroponics producing less flavoursome produce..

Media

As the first of its kind in the UK, the Thanet Earth project received minor, but national coverage. The Daily Mail noticeably failed to identify the heating plant as a local power plant foremost, with waste heat being used to warm the greenhouses (combined heat and power

Combined Heat and Power

Combined Heat and Power may refer to:* Cogeneration* Combined Heat and Power Solar...

)