Tucked way under the hill and half hidden by 10,000 young trees it’s easy to forget how vast the area is covered by Stanley Growers Ltd. in the Falkland Islands, to the east of the capital Stanley.
Taking advantage on an Open Day visitors dropped by and were expertly guided around the two heated hydroponic greenhouses, a number of the 44 poly-tunnels and shown the 15 acres of field potatoes.
What once was a simple half acre heated green house with three staff producing 10 salad varieties now boasts 18 employees producing over 50 varieties of salads, herbs, vegetable and fruits at different times of the year.
Stanley Growers since 1998 has used natural predator pest control, and the same year they started using all waste oils for greenhouse heating. They have not bought conventional heating fuel since 2000. Waste oils and dirty diesel and kerosene is sourced from fishing, BAS and cruise vessels. They are also Premier Oil’s approved onshore disposer of waste oils and their whole storage and burning system meets UK North Sea Standards.
They are also the Islands' principal importer and supplier of vegetables herbs and fruits year round and imported salads in winter. They airfreight in an average of 1 ton per week of fresh produce from Santiago. A further 20-30 tons a month is imported by refrigerated containers from Montevideo and Covent Garden Market in London.