Alastair Hawken, founder of Hawkens Gingerbread in Grantham, has pioneered the UK’s first commercial grown ginger cultivation using hydroponic polytunnels. Inspired during Nottingham Trent University’s Help to Grow: Management Course, Alastair conceived a soil‑free flood‑and‑drain system to enable ginger production under controlled tropical conditions (25–30 °C and ~85% humidity), countering the UK's unsuitable climate for the crop
