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THECOMMERCIAL GREENHOUSEGROWER • MARCH 2017
• ABBEY VIEW
fromdifferent areas of the business,” he says. Abbey View
Producemight be known for its cucumbers but it is also the
only commercial grower of English figs and has in the past also
grown apples andwhite cucumbers aswell as English okra
and graffiti-striped aubergines.
He has always been keen to drive forward newbusiness
ideas. Some years ago he visited land inKent with a view to
workingwith someDutch growers on amassive glasshouse
project that would bring four or five growers together on
one site. Excitedby a new venture he started to draw up
plans and investigatemodern technology to help form the
internal infrastructure of the first glasshouse. “It was a great
piece of land, great light levels down there and enthusiastic
partners, but therewas a lot to consider and take-on and I just
couldn’t find away tomake it work,” he tells TheCommercial
GreenhouseGrower. That project was to remerge some years
later and is now better know as Thanet Earth.
Like every glasshouse business, energy has been a big focus
for Abbey View over the last few years. The company has
a 3MWCHP unit and also recently invested in 1,000 solar
panels, which provide enough power to heat the glasshouses
and surplus that is exported back to the grid.Workingwith
BeBa EnergyUK, a systemwas installed to facilitate the
production of approximately 240kWh of electricity a year during
the daywith about 90% of that consumed on site for use in
the glasshouses. “It is so important that you look at the bigger
picturewith energy. It has been so difficult to predict prices
over the last decade and sometimes it might be something
that happens outside of theUKwhich affects prices that
nobody could have predicted or have any control over. It is
stuff like this that has driven growers to bemore efficient and
strive to implement the right technology at the right time to help
them achieve that.We are lucky as an industry that there are
many excellent organisations driving research, innovation and
change in the sector, otherwisemany glasshouse growers
would have struggled to survive under high prices and other
external pressure.We have always been energy conscious
as a business andwe have had to consider carefully how
current and new emerging technologies can help us and the
other growers in the group and the region. The important thing
to remember is that every business is different andwhere
one solutionmight work for one grower it doesn’t necessarily
mean it will work for another.”Mr Hibberd says he has been
impressedwith some of the LED lighting trials taking place
over the last few years but the time isn’t right at themoment
for Abbey View to invest, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be
considered in the future.
The company has also recently invested £3.5million in
the expansion of its packhouse and storage areaswhich
has increased capacity by 200% as volumes coming into
the business increase. This additional space provides six
separated temperature regimes, approximately 2,000sqm for
additional production space and a designated space for inside
storage of all crates andpallet boards aswell as a separated
goods-in area allowing for improved product inspectionswith
isolated hold areas.
For the growers in the group, and other horticultural companies
in the Lea Valley, expansion has not always been possible.
The last five years has seen planning applications being
challenged and land for new glasshouses hard to come by. “It
is a challenge in the Lea Valley. Many growers are land-locked
and cannot expandwith some considering purchasing land
in different parts of the country as the onlyway forward.” The
Lea Valley Park Authority has voiced concerns over more
development in the area and the growers have had their battle
with the local council in recent times but relations aremuch
improvedwith the council recognising the Lea Valley as amajor
employer in the region and contributor to economic growth.
“The council has been very good over the last few years at
supporting growers in the region and as a result new projects
have emerged but there still needs to be some thinking done
on howwe progress as a regionmoving forward given the lack
of suitable land. If possible, it may be that we have to operate
more closely together and share resources and infrastructure
tomake it work.”
Mr Hibberd’s love andpassion for the Lea Valley and its
growers is clear to see. While the day-to-day running of the
business is now down to his son Luke and an efficient team at
Abbey View, he doesn’t intend to slow down soon. Sometimes
he still works seven days aweek. Before his interviewwith the
Commercial GreenhouseGrower, Mr Hibberd had been on
the phone to customers all over theUK and contacts in the
Canary Islandwhere he imports tomatoes through his other
business, Hibberd Imports. This has enabled him tomaintain
his strong linkswith theUK’swholesalemarkets aswell as do
something different. He briefly considered not doing it at all
thiswinter but it was another long-term relationship, now in its
third generation, that made him continue. “When I said I was
thinking of not doing it thiswinter they just simply said I couldn’t
because they relied onme. That was good enough for me.”
BrianHibberdandhis father Bill.
