Thanet Earth To Grow British Cucumbers Year-Round With New LED Lighting
Thanet Earth is set to extend cucumber production throughout the full UK winter for the first time by installing a new LED lighting system designed to maintain crop quality and consistency during the darkest months of the year.
The East Kent grower will implement Philips Horticultural LED lighting across around 26 hectares of glasshouse during the fourth quarter of 2026, according to a press release.
The investment follows the certainty of a 10-year supply agreement inked between Thanet Earth and Sainsbury’s earlier this year.
That long-term contract forms part of the retailer’s strategy to increase the availability of British-grown tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers, while strengthening resilience across its salad vegetable supply chain.
As a result Thanet Earth will produce cucumbers under lights throughout the winter, thereby extending the availability of British-grown salad crops at a time when domestic production is traditionally constrained by low light levels.
The UK’s largest glasshouse complex already uses Philips LED lighting to produce tomatoes year-round, reportedly achieving consistent quality across 12 months.
The new system will add cucumbers to its winter-lit production programme, with the company targeting consistent taste, size, appearance, and uniformity regardless of the time of year.
“Year-round production is ultimately about giving customers confidence that they can rely on the same British-grown quality whenever they need it,” said Thanet Earth managing director Chris Butler.
“It should feel as dependable as the best consumer brands: a cucumber or tomato picked in January should taste exactly like one picked in July.
“By extending cucumber production through the winter and improving our ability to plan, this technology helps us offer retailers greater predictability in both supply and quality.”
Precise Crop Steering
The installation will combine Philips GreenPower LED toplighting with the Philips GrowWise control system, which allows the lighting intensity and spectrum to be adjusted in response to daylight levels and crop requirements.
For cucumbers, Thanet Earth will use far-red light as part of a dedicated lighting approach that is designed to encourage the stretching response needed for balanced crop development.
The system will also allow growers to dim the lighting during the day, giving them greater control over the crop and enabling them to make better use of available natural light.
Thanet Earth’s Growing Director for tomatoes, Addy Breugem, said the system would provide greater precision in managing the crop.
“We can respond to the daylight available and steer the crop more precisely,” he explained.
“For cucumbers, the far-red channel helps create the stretching response we need, while dimming helps us maintain the right crop balance throughout the lighting period.”
Responding To Retailer Demand
Thanet Earth said the flexibility of the system would also allow its glasshouse capacity to be adapted between tomatoes, cucumbers, and potentially other crops.
Already, Thanet Earth supplies premium tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers to UK retailers.
That could give the grower greater scope to respond to changing retailer requirements while maintaining a consistent domestic supply.
The installation builds on Thanet Earth’s existing experience with LED-lit tomato production, as well as the results achieved by its Dutch partner Bryte.
Tebarex will provide technical expertise on greenhouse electrical and water systems during the installation, which is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026.
The project marks a significant expansion of the UK’s cucumber production window in which retailers can source domestically grown fruit, rather than being restricted by the traditional winter production gap.
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