A soft fruit grower is investing £10m into a project to use the River Medway to heat its greenhouses.

The scheme, run by Coxheath-based Clock House Farm at its Yalding site, is understood to be the biggest river source heat pump programme in the UK.

Clock House has farms in Tonbridge, Teston and Linton and has been delving into the world of environmentally- responsible farming and renewable energy to reduce the farm’s carbon emission footprint and minimise wasted energy.

In addition to the environmental benefits, the renewable heated growing system is also destined to support British farming, by extending the growing season for raspberry and blackberry production and reducing the reliance on imported soft fruit, as well as the associated carbon emissions.

It will initially deliver energy to 6.5 hectares where around 150 tonnes of raspberries and 300 tonnes of blackberries will be grown.

The second half of the site is scheduled for completion by 2024, enabling a further 200 tonnes of strawberries to be grown out of season.

The heating process involves extraction of river water, heated by the sun, which is passed through a heat exchanger and then discharged straight back into the river having removed a couple of degrees of heat from the water.

A second loop then transfers this heat to the plant room’s six heat pumps to achieve a temperature of 45 degrees, after which it is then circulated out to the greenhouses.

The renewable river source energy production follows a number of Clock House Farm initiatives designed to protect the planet, including the use of robotics to deliver UV-C light treatment to prevent mildew, encouraging biodiversity by reducing the mowing of headlands and inter-row areas in the orchards, planting 1.5km of mixed native hedging in addition to new trees and using natural enemies to control pests.

Clock House Farm managing director Oli Pascall: “We take our responsibility as stewards of the natural landscape very seriously so sustainability and identifying innovative environmentally-responsible initiatives is always a priority.

“As growers, extending the season is imperative to our – and other British growers’ – success by enabling an extended selling window.

Ultimately this means less reliance on imported soft fruit and more access to the fantastic soft fruit grown here, especially in the Garden of England - and of course of equal importance is the fact that this also helps to reduce the carbon footprint.

“We will continue to seek out clean energy solutions and remain respectful of the fact that traditional energy supplies no longer represent an infinite resource, especially given the current conflict between Russia and the Ukraine and the resulting impact of sanctions that have now been imposed.”