Are you helping destroy native forests by eating greenhouse tomatoes?
In the Strathbogie forests northeast of Melbourne, Murphy Fresh, a hydroponic tomato farm at Bridge Creek is buying up to 10,000 tons of native forest logs a year to chip and burn to heat their greenhouses.
Murphy Fresh will be one of the largest, tomato grower in Australia when their new greenhouse is completed. They sell through Flavorite. Until recently they have been grown in heated environments using briquettes. This has not caused economic hardship judging by their expansion plans. The driving force behind this is the carbon tax. Burning forest wood is regarded as ‘renewable’ and therefore considered carbon neutral – thus is not taxed. Coal/briquettes on the other hand is taxed.