Friday, March 14, 2008

Plastic Sea in Spain

Almeria in spain was one of the most barren and poorest regions in Europe, as good as a desert. And within a couple of years people of Almeria have become millionares, surprisingly by farming. This is how almeria looks from a satellite...

The shiny land is called the Sea of Plastic. Actually, the entire region is full of greenhouses now. Farmers in Almeria have constructed millions of greenhouses, contained with over billions of soil bags suspended from rods in air and containing vegetables of different kinds. These green houses cover entire mountain ranges and plains, encroached in every available space and are still expanding. This has transformed the poorest region in Europe into the largest exporter of vegetables in the continent today. They export more than hundred thousand(in Million tonnes) vegetables in a single day to other European countries apart from their domestic trade. The green houses are designed to maintain varying temperature for different crops, with customised irrigation facilities for particular vegetables and extensive use of fertilizers. It doesn't come of much surprise that environmentalists have protested to the government over the expansion of these greenhouses, but they donot have considerable charges against them.

The farmers have gathered huge profits in millions of euros, and even Spanish filmstars envy them today. Owning about 30 acres of farmland, or rather any sort of land in Almeria (since plasticulture doesn't require that your land be cultivable as your vegetable plantation is never in contact with the ground surface) will be enough to make you earn a profit of 1M euros (and now this is worth more than dollars) in two years. And the best part of the deal is that their farming system doesnt required that lots of people be working on the farm. One individual is recommended for 2 acres of land, and has to work for an average of 4 to 5 hours a day, as the rest of things are mechanised.

So you might want to think of it as a career option.



9 comments:

Sananda said...

This is terrific bit of news.... :)

Anonymous said...

Great work.

Anonymous said...

Just goes to show how thinking outside the box can lead from frustration to success!!

Anonymous said...

This is an excellent project. I was thinking that they could also raise cattle in these greenhouses because they can now grow cattle feed more quickly in greenhouses ( which by the way they can do by using less water than conventional methods (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-147517667.html)). So in addition they could export vast quantities of meat and dairy in addition to vegetables and whatever else it is they grow there. They would therefore probably grow wealthier and we would all have a reliable source of cheaper food. i was wondering why they don't try to replicate these sort of projects elsewhere? There are plenty more barren lands in the world. think of the Sahara, the Gobi desert or the Australian deserts.

Reiki-spaceboy said...

Yeah, great news!

Cattle Greenhousing eh?
Hmm.. brilliant leap too there.
But it would be better if the projects they do in deserts is turn them into forests - this will help stop Global Warming.

Im more for Desert Reforestation and Population caps per country.

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