The 185-sq mile greenhouse, nicknamed El Mar de Plastico, grows nearly 2.7million tonnes of produce each year and supplies Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda
Stretching all the way to the horizon, this vast greenhouse is so big it can be seen from space.
Nicknamed El Mar de Plastico, or Sea of Plastic, the mass of polytunnels near Spain’s Costa del Sol is used for growing 2.7million tonnes of produce a year – about half of all of Europe’s fruit and veg.
At 185 square miles, it is 25% bigger than the Isle of Wight and provides major UK supermarkets including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Asda with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, melons and peaches. Since the first greenhouse went up in 1963 at Poniente Almeriense near Almeria in Andalucia, the area, also known as Europe’s market garden, has grown to be worth more than £1billion a year to the Spanish economy.
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Almeria’s 3,000 hours a year of sun allow produce to be grown from October to July. Tomatoes and sweet peppers are the main crop, with peak harvests in December and January. But there are concerns over pollution, with plastic rubbish blocking rivers and ending up in the sea near British holiday hotspots in the Costa del Sol.
Temperatures inside can top 50C, unbearable for thousands of migrant workers toiling inside. Meanwhile, it is claimed the plastic reflects so much sunlight back into the atmosphere that it is cooling the area at a rate of 0.3C every 10 years.