self-sufficient in producing eggs has passed the first hurdle with planners.

Mr. Gary Mello's massive hi-tech enterprise would also involve growing mushrooms and tomatoes.

The operation would be run from a 30,000-square-foot underground complex at Greenwich Farm, Prospect. If approved, it will create 12 jobs and be a $1 million a year foreign exchange saver for the Island.

Currently Bermuda has just one poultry farm and imports most of its eggs from the United States. The Island has no mushroom producing operation.

Mr. Mello's plan has involved around $150,000 in research over the last five and a half years.

He has consulted at length with US experts, and visited farming conventions.

For two weeks he also worked on a mushroom farm in Pennsylvania.

"It would be the only building of its type in Bermuda -- a real state-of-the-art operation,'' Mr. Mello told The Royal Gazette yesterday.

The Development Applications Board has approved in principle the new agricultural production building. Conditions include upgrading an existing pig unit and landscaping the site.

Mr. Mello intends erecting a small model of the development over the next months, before submitting detailed plans for final approval.

The steel and stone construction would replace three derelict wooden buildings.

It would comprise three compartments for the different operations, as well as a composting plant.

The poultry house would be large enough to accommodate 50,000 chickens, while it is hoped to produce up to 500,000 pounds of mushrooms a year from a separate compartment.

The building will be topped by a greenhouse for growing tomatoes.

Mr. Mello hopes to be producing mushrooms and tomatoes within one-and-a-half years, and eggs in two years.

Chicken meat will also be produced.

"We are not intending to rush into this -- we are going at a prudent pace to ensure everything is done properly,'' said Mr. Mello.

The 20-acre family farm -- about 60 years old -- is run by four people on land leased from Government. It is involved purely in growing vegetables at present.

Three Government departments have been working closely with Mr. Mello in drawing up plans -- Works and Engineering, Agriculture and Fisheries, and the Department of Health.

"We are very environmentally conscious, and want to do everything just right,'' said Mr. Mello. "The whole building will be under ground and invisible.'' Mr. Mello said computers would be installed in the chicken and mushroom compartments to control temperatures. Ideally mushrooms should be grown at 69 degrees, he explained.

Mr. Mello explained how his huge scheme was borne out of concern at the decline in poultry farming in the Island.

"Once in operation Bermuda will be completely self-sufficient in eggs,'' he said.

"We will also be working in cooperation with the current poultry farmer on the Island, who has around 7,000 birds.'' Mr. Mello said Bermuda would reap financial benefits from the enterprise.

"It will result in a tremendous foreign exchange saving for Bermuda -- about $1 million a year. Money will be going into local pockets, not those in the United States.''