Plasticulture
Encyclopedia
Plastic
A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
materials in agricultural
Agriculture
Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
applications.
The plastic materials themselves are often and broadly referred to as "ag plastics." Plasticulture ag plastics include soil fumigation
Fumigation
Fumigation is a method of pest control that completely fills an area with gaseous pesticides—or fumigants—to suffocate or poison the pests within. It is utilized for control of pests in buildings , soil, grain, and produce, and is also used during processing of goods to be imported or...
film, irrigation drip tape
Drip tape
Drip tape is a type of thin walled dripperline used in drip irrigation. The first drip tape, a product known as "Dew Hose", was developed in Watertown, New York, in the 1960s by Richard D. Chapin of Chapin Watermatics, USA....
/tubing, nursery pots and silage
Silage
Silage is fermented, high-moisture fodder that can be fed to ruminants or used as a biofuel feedstock for anaerobic digesters. It is fermented and stored in a process called ensiling or silaging, and is usually made from grass crops, including corn , sorghum or other cereals, using the entire...
bags, but the term is most often used to describe all kinds of plastic plant/soil coverings. Such coverings range from plastic mulch
Plastic mulch
Plastic mulch is a product used, in a similar fashion to mulch, to suppress weeds and conserve water in crop production and landscaping. Certain plastic mulches also act as a barrier to keep methyl bromide, both a powerful fumigant and ozone depleter, in the soil. Crops grow through slits or...
film, row coverings, high and low tunnels, to plastic greenhouse
Greenhouse
A greenhouse is a building in which plants are grown. These structures range in size from small sheds to very large buildings...
s.
Large-scale usage in southern Spain
The use of plasticulture in agriculture is growing rapidly, perhaps nowhere more visibly than around AlmeríaAlmería
Almería is a city in Andalusia, Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the province of the same name.-Toponym:Tradition says that the name Almería stems from the Arabic المرية Al-Mariyya: "The Mirror", comparing it to "The Mirror of the Sea"...
in southern Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. The eastern approaches to Almería, north of the airport, are densely covered, as is a large area further north-east, surrounding the towns of Campohermoso, Los Pipaces and Los Grillos (close to Níjar
Níjar
-External links: - Sistema de Información Multiterritorial de Andalucía - Diputación Provincial de Almería...
).
The densest concentration lies about 20 km south-west of Almería, where almost the entire Campo de Dalías
Poniente Almeriense
Poniente Almeriense or Campo de Dalías is a comarca in Almería, Spain. It is sometimes also known as the "sea of plastic" due to the numerous greenhouses that cover the area. The comarca contains nine municipalities and 218,426 inhabitants in an area of 971 km²...
, a low-lying cape
Cape (geography)
In geography, a cape or headland is a point or body of land extending into a body of water, usually the sea.A cape usually represents a marked change in trend of the coastline. Their proximity to the coastline makes them prone to natural forms of erosion, mainly tidal actions. This results in capes...
, is now under plastic (an estimated area of 20,000 hectares). Further west, a similar, but smaller, coastal plain around Carchuna, southeast of Motril
Motril
Motril is a town and municipality on the Mediterranean coast in the province of Granada, Spain.Motril is the second largest town in the province, with a population of 59,163 as of 2008...
, is similarly enveloped. The technique is not restricted to the plains; it is also applied to wide terraces on the sides of shallow valleys, as the valley north of Castell de Ferro shows.
Elsewhere along the Costa Tropical
Costa Tropical
Costa Tropical is a comarca in southern Spain, corresponding to the Mediterranean coastline of the province of Granada, Andalusia. It is also but less frequently called the “Costa de Granada” or "Costa Granadina"...
and the Costa del Sol
Costa del Sol
The Costa del Sol is a region in the south of Spain, in the autonomous community of Andalusia, comprising the coastal towns and communities along the Mediterranean coastline of the Málaga province. The Costa del Sol is situated between two lesser known costas: Costa de la Luz and Costa Tropical...
, particularly between Almería and Málaga
Málaga
Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe...
, fruit trees growing on terraces in steeper valleys may be covered with vast tents of plastic netting.
Aerial photographs and coordinates
- Centre of Campo de Dalías - Google maps Dense concentration of plastic greenhouses Eastern outskirts of Almería Níjar valley Carchuna Valley north of Castell de Ferro