Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Photo 14.3.
Improved high roof slope low-cost parral-type greenhouse, of metallic structure (steel and wire).
nerships (sharecropping) and those who
rent the land (Martínez-Carrasco, 2001).
Production planning, by growers and the
marketing companies, is limited; the main cri-
teria for choosing the species to be cultivated
being the degree of knowledge and specializa-
tion of the grower with regards to a certain
crop and the availability of advice from tech-
nicians working for the commercialization
companies (Martínez-Carrasco, 2001).
Summarizing, the productive infra-
structure in Almeria (the centre of the
Spanish greenhouse industry) is based on
the low-cost greenhouse, both the sym-
metric multi-span type (52% of the total)
as well as the flat-roof type (40% of the
total). The majority of the cultivation
(80% of the total) is in soil although an
increasing area is in substrates (20% of
the total). Irrigation is almost completely
by drip systems (99.7%), with a limited
use of heating (air heating or low-temper-
ature water heating), but wide use of natu-
ral ventilation and little use of fog systems
(Pérez
et al
., 2002).
Table 14.3.
Average initial investment in a
greenhouse, in addition to the structure and
equipment, in the south of Spain (year 2004),
excluding taxes and value of the land (p.p.:
proportional part).
Concept
Cost (
€
m
−2
)
Preparation of the land
3.5
Water reservoir (p.p.)
1.2
Store (p.p.)
1.1
electricity (p.p.)
0.7
Preparation of the soil
1.5
Irrigation system
2.3
Substrates
1.1
Total
11.4
greenhouses, without any auxiliary climate
control equipment (Photo 14.4).
The range of species that are cultivated
is enormous. Focusing on vegetables,
although the relative importance changes
every growing season, pepper, tomato and
melon are the most important, followed by
watermelon and cucumber, and with lower
growing areas devoted to courgette, climb-
ing bean, aubergine, Chinese cabbage and
dwarf bean, among others.
Land is held predominately by growers
who own their property (more than 90%).
During recent years there has been a decrease
in the number of growers involved in part-
14.1.4
Production costs
The fixed production costs depend on the
