PLANTATION NATION?

ROWS of tea plants could become a more familiar sight on the hills of Wales in the future, researchers believe.

- By ANDREW FORGRAVE

Cutting-edge science - including AI - is being harnessed to select optimum growing sites and take advantage of the warming climate.

Not so long ago, Welsh hill farmers would have scoffed at the idea, and most scientists would have agreed with them.

But in late 2023, trials of began on a 150-acre beef and sheep farm in Powys and the results could open the doors to domestic tea revolution.

In the hope of boosting farm profits through diversification, Mandy Lloyd planted 140 Camellia sinensis tea bushes on different plots at Cleobury Farm at Heyope, Knighton.

The site were selected using “geospatial analysis” a process which matches the compatibility of crops with micro factors such as climate, light intensity and soil characteristics.

If Mandy succeeds, with support from Welsh Government body Farming Connect, she will become the first UK grower to produce the crop on a hill farm.

She sees it as a way of shortening supply chains by reducing leaf imports from Kenya, Sri Lanka and India.