Spain: EU project to make greenhouses more sustainable
To reduce the use of fossil energy, water and fertilizers, cultivation protection products and substratum residues keeping the economic productivity of protected cultivations, were the objectives of the Euphoros project, acronym for efficient use of inputs in protected horticulture, to manage a sustainable productive system, in which among other centers and European universities, the Experimental Station of Cajamar Foundation participated. Yesterday the Andalusian Institute of Agricultural and Fishing Investigation and Training (Ifapa), the association Coexphal and Cajamar closed the cycle of the project by transferring the acquired knowledge into investigation development through a technical seminar.
Among the conclusions it's the fertilizers that suppose an important load in every impact category in Spain; in that sense, closed irrigation systems could be implemented. On the other hand, the manufacture of substratum plays an important environmental role. According to the project notes, recycling of used substratum and the reduction of substratum amount applied per plant are well recommended. Moreover, the energy consumption for tomato greenhouse heating is a well considered question.
Regarding the greenhouse structure, the big amounts of steel are reflected in the results. It's environmental impact could be reduced if the useful life of the greenhouse is extended and the productivity raised. As for economic valuation it's determined from the total output, costs and net results. The cost-benefit analysis offered the following considerations:
Equipment and labour were the highest components of spending; when co-generation is not used, the cost of energy is higher in the Netherlands due to the consumption of natural gas, so efforts should be made to reduce energy consumption and for better efficiency of fertilizer doses could reduce costs. Through the analysis of alternatives in every scenario, the study concluded that higher reductions on the environmental impact could be achieved by reducing the energy consumption, raising productivity or combining different improvement alternatives.
Economic results show that in some cases the inputs reduction can also be interesting. More effort should also be applied on implementing improvements of technology and investigation handling.
Source: Elameria