Our grand tour of southern Spain January 15th Day 15 The plastic greenhouses of Almeria

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Sunday 29^th January Day fifteen

Why does the Almeria region have so many plastic greenhouses?

It is amazing how much gas we have used. Down to three lights on the gauge, it took 9 euros worth and was 1 euro a litre. So, my sort of working out that on three lights I still have half a tank left has proved accurate once again. I downloaded a specific gas in Spain app this morning. It seems far better than the EULpg one.

The drive down the A7 produced another day of exciting geography. Through the foothills of the coastal mountains we drove, with their vegetated talus slopes and varied colours. Slates of grey, purple, grey-green and almost aquamarine all in the space of one kilometre. Deeply furrowed, rilled and gullied clays and sandstones. Through karst scenery with deeply carved dry river bed gorges. God knows what torrents would flow down these at times of high rainfall and what volume and sizes of bedload material they'd carry, to be deposited on the coastal plains and out into the Mediterranean. Fascinating geomorphology, basically! If you are a geographer of course!

And just to do my head in completely, I'm pretty sure I've seen evidence of ancient volcanic's rush by. I'm not 100% sure on this as trying to find any lay-bys to stop so that I can see the geology close up, is impossible. But I'm ready to bet a small wager that there are volcanic's somewhere in this coastal range...call it an intuitive geographical gut feeling!

And then there are the poly tunnels. Oh my! A billowing sea of plastic.

From certain perspectives, a snowy glacial ice-sheet. Mile upon mile, in some areas forty or more square miles of nothing but long poly tunnels. Quick glimpses occasionally into another world.....tomatoes, cucumbers, cherries and more. It is difficult to describe the landscapes that unfold but if ever there were examples of great geographical location where climate, relief and geology combine to give favourable growing conditions, then here it is. This is high intensity, high yielding agriculture on steroids.

Demand from Germany, the UK and France means that almost 80% of what is grown under these poly tunnels in this area heads north for export. NASA Earth Observatory estimates that Almería’s greenhouses now produce between 2.5 - 3.5 million tons of fruits and vegetables per year, enough to make them a major source of off-season tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and melons for people all over Europe. As a result of this, the development brings over US$1.5 billion a year in income to the area.

This area is known as the orchard of Europe and this intensive agriculture started in Almería in the 1960s, when the government allocated plots of land to a young population that had migrated from other parts of the country. Creating jobs and growing the economy, today these farms take up 320 km2, collectively representing one of the most extensive greenhouse areas in the world and accounting for around 38% of Spain’s horticultural production and employing tens of thousands.

3000 hrs of sunshine per year. Average temperature annually of 20C, all year-round growing conditions including through winter; cheap immigrant labour and additional funding from the Spanish government and the EU; it's all pretty hard to get your head around, isn't it?

With productivity 30 times that of the average European farm – pressures on the environment and local ecosystems are inevitable. There will be conflicts between immigrants from different countries .... cheap immigrant labour from across Europe and North Africa will be a central feature of this system and conflicts will also exist with the local population regarding housing, wage suppression and access to local services. Some immigrants will be working illegally, thus having no control over their working conditions and they will more often than not be receiving low pay and living in poor conditions.

Ecosystem destruction will have been rampant as large areas have been covered in plastic. This area covered by greenhouses is often referred to as “el mar de plástico”, or the “plastic sea”. The greenhouse complex of Almería, generates around an estimated 33,500 tonnes of plastic waste annually, some of which is illegally dumped.

As we drive down the narrow lanes between these poly greenhouses, a quick close glimpse onto the riverbeds and areas of non-productive land show litter in the form of shredded and torn greenhouses covers, bags or cans of fertilizers and produce packaging. It's better than it was with a huge growth in local recycling companies but it's still an issue.

Perhaps one of the things that has puzzled me the most on this journey today has been the issue of water. The landscape is dry, dusty, barren with only low scrub vegetation covering the hillsides. Yet every field has irrigation hoses and occasionally you catch glimpses of large steel waterpipes and stopcock wheels at the corner of field plots. Almeria is one of the driest places in Europe which is why so many long termers head this way to overwinter. I suspect annual rainfall is no more than 200mm or so. I remember that a long time ago the main agriculture here would have been wheat, olives, grapes; not the heaviest of water intensive crops. However, changing transport such as refrigeration lorries and planes and changing consumer tastes mean now this area produces tomatoes, watermelons and more ..... all high in demand for water.

My hunch? This will be to do with aquifers. Great at the start back in the 1960s but as populations grow so too does urbanisation. It is quite easy for demand to outstrip supply where aquifers are concerned. All this agriculture must be taking most of the aquifer’s water.... probably around the 70% mark at least I suspect. And the problem is clear isn't it .... lowest rainfall area in Spain plus the impact of climate change. Surely, the aquifers in this part of Spain must be diminishing faster than they are being replenished. Throw in the problem of increasing salinity caused by seawater seeping into coastal aquifers along with nitrate pollution from over use of pesticides and fertilizers, there must be serious concerns about water quality and biodiversity.

This won't be all doom and gloom. Necessity is the mother of all invention and the young are far more sustainably aware. I suspect that already the growers and producers in this area have moved a long way towards a balanced sustainable practice. There will have been significant developments in hydroponic growing techniques and drip irrigation methods to overcome aquifer depletion issues. Warm temperatures throughout the year mean lower energy costs than their Northern European counterparts.

Then there is that regular supply of cheap, temporary migrants from North Africa, Eastern Europe and South America ...... BREXIT doesn't seem such a good idea for British agriculture now does it ..... shooting ourselves in our feet as many farmers across the UK leave our market gardening crops rotting in Cornish and East Anglian fields because we cut off our migrant labour!

All the jobs associated with manufacturing greenhouses, fruit and vegetables all year round, reductions in the use of pesticides and chemicals leasing to less nitrate pollution and leaching (ironically brought about by stricter UK regulations on quality control of our imported foodstuffs .... oh the irony of BREXIT!!).

And then there is the multiplier effect. All this agriculture attracts new scientific agribusiness to the area ...high skilled research and development jobs for local people.

Desalination instead of groundwater aquifers wouldn't come as a surprise to me although I'd challenge the sustainability of this since desalination requires huge amounts of energy. Water collection off greenhouse roofs. The list of advantages is probably endless.

As we turn off the A7 and begin threading our way through the greenhouses to Camper Cabodegata, our destination for the next three nights, I am left wondering.......

·        Do all these greenhouses reflect the sun? Is this area cooler than surrounding non greenhouse covered areas? What are the microclimatic implications of this on the locality?

·         Is this the model for future food production as seen around Almeria? Will it fill the gap between a growing European population and an increasing demand for food stuff at a time of climate change?

·        Has this really brought prosperity to the local population?

·        Can this area of Spain continue this level of industrialised intensive agriculture without further environment and ecosystem damage?

Isn't it great being a geographer? So much to see and question?

Camping Cabo de Gata turns out to be a well-spaced gravel flat area with clean facilities and a small bar area. It is well off the beaten track but gives you access to some extraordinary walking and cycling in a world-famous UNESCO Geopark. We are looking forward to the next few days ..... if the wind dies down!

Useful information

Route: A7 – N344 – AL3115

Distance: 130 miles

Costs: fuel 70 euros; campsite 51 euros

Campsite: https://www.searchforsites.co.uk/marker.php?id=42840

Useful websites:

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/150070/almerias-sea-of-greenhouses

https://en.unesco.org/global-geoparks/cabo-de-gata-nijar

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_de_Gata-N%C3%ADjar_Natural_Park