Agriculture
The coastal plains of Almeria house the largest concentration of greenhouses in the world, some 40,000 hectares, that grow about half of Europe’s produce. The plastic revolution of agriculture in Almeria has affected what we eat, the climate, water supplies and the local ecology. To minimize this impact, Montemero works together with farmers to develop more efficient and sustainable farming technology- like evaporation control devices, recycled plastic and mycelium seed trays and other biodegradable supplies. These technologies are tested on site in the Agriculture Lab alongside an agroecology agriculture approach, continue to find out more about our innovations..
Evaporation Mitigation Device
Agriculture, Plastic, Desert
2018
In southern Spain agriculture uses consume over 80% of available fresh water. Whats left is vulnerable to a15% loss due to evaporation in the semi-arid region. The effects of climate change bring reality to water scarcity and the authority it plays over the regions prosperity for the future. Evaporation Mitigation Devices were designed to preserve this valuable resource, water. The floating, hexagonal pieces form a barrier against the sun and take the shape of any water reservoir.
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In an effort to introduce circularity to the region while limiting environmental waste, we proposed an agriculture waste management scheme, enabling farmers to recycle their spent agiplastic into new products- like EMDs. The resource saving devices are made 100% of recycled agriplastic. Collection pic
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A series of EMDs were formed and tested at our lab. We can report that they have shown an evaporation savings of 90% during the peak months of July, August and September. More notably, reducing algae growths by an average of 95% and therefore eliminate the need of toxic ——- , often illegally dumped into reservoirs to prevent algae growth. These findings are the first of their kind and emphasise a REAL NEED for more research in this field for the region.
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We have developed relations with a local agriplastic recycling facility, Green World Compounding, who is responsible for transforming large quantities of waste to a leach free composite.
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The clean composite can be used to produce the floating devices, a successful first for our partners Hexacover. With a lifespan of 20+ years, this technology can be applied and easily forgotten while its benefits are collected by the farmer and the environment for years to come.
Seedtrays
Agriculture, Plastic, Fungi
2018
These are the polystyrene trays that propagate young sprouts before planting. The trays are ubiquitous in agriculture and unfortunately, the environment, as strong winds and rain often carry them away. Polystyrene plastic is very difficult to recycle and once heavily soiled will likely reach its grave. We have developed several seed tray concepts to help resolve this concern.
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In an effort to introduce circularity to the region, we proposed an agriculture waste management scheme, enabling farmers to recycle their spent agiplastic into new products- like seedtrays. The resource saving devices are made 100% of recycled agriplastic.
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In a region where much immigrant exploitation takes place, the opportunity arose to provide young migrant workers a chance to surpass their current outlook in safe conditions with a liveable wage. With their help , 2 seed tray prototypes were developed from differing agriwaste- irrigation tubes and greenhouse coverings [white PP] and crates, twine and bulk bags [black LDPE].
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To explore another area of circularity a 3rd seed tray prototype was developed using another common, but this time biodegradable, material- the tomato plant. The plant waste from tomato production was used as feedstock, mixed with mushroom mycelium and processed into an inactive form, establishing the first fully organic and compostable seed tray.
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The recycled plastic and biodegradable seed trays solve several issues facing the region- give value to recycled plastic, provide examples of circularity, a solution to waste, prevent creation of excess waste, less environmental harm and many more.
PV greenhouse
Agriculture, Plastic, Fungi
2018
Almeria enjoys over 300 days of sun a year making it the best place to harness the suns energy in photovoltaic solar panels. In fact the rays are so strong we’ve seen many hardy plants wither away beneath the endless days of sun, and this is where the opportunity arose. The solar panels are mounted to the roof of our greenhouse creating shade for distressed plants and purpose for the deadspace below the PVs.
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The shade creates a pleasant microclimate that can be used for growing more seasonly exotic plants and produce.
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Given that Almeria is known as the ‘plastic sea’ from outer space (the clusters of white greenhouses), it is clear that there is no short coming in having places to install the technology. Land can be made more efficient by the PV addition to roofs on existing greenhouses, preserving the wild land that they would otherwise rest on.
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PV produce drier
This technology aims to harness the waste heat generated by solar panels to dry produce in a fitted deposit space. The specific array construction allows for improved air circulation, raising PV efficiency and longevity. The system maintains low installation and running costs for ease of adoption.
The underside of a solar panel is about 30 C degrees hotter than ambient air. For each degree over 25C, PV cells loose their efficiency by 0.5%/ C so on a hot summer day at 40 C, panels loose 7.5% efficiency.
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The first prototype was installed on site. It consists of a 45 meter southern facing wall construction with a contained inner tunnel to allow for the passing of air.
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Photovoltaic panels are installed on the wall structure at 45 degrees and ventilator is placed at one end of the tunnel. Sun produces more than enough energy (107.5kW to be exact) to power the ventilator which cools the solar modules.
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The warm air is pushed to the opposite end of the tunnel, drying produce.
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This system answers many issues in food waste and food security: excess and imperfect produce can be dried to create a new product for market consumption, dried food has a longer shelf life than fresh and can reach distant consumers, lighter and can be shipped at lower costs, attractive for areas lacking infrastructure, farmers may choose to hold out on fresh sale due to low market prices and instead dry their produce for a greater profit allowing the farmer greater independency.
Irrigation net
Agriculture, Plastic, Fungi
2018
A decreasing water table and salinized groundwater are one of many irrigation issues that face this water dependant region. As fresh water stores are depleted, pressure from the sea replaces the storage space and permanently salinates the aquifer, that is until now. IrrigationNets desalinate salty ground water and ocean water using a low tech method to create fresh water. Farmers affected by droughts and other climate change events can maintain a production of cash crops and sylviculture at full capacity.
http://irrigationnets.com/en/front_eng/
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The technology converts seawater or salinated groundwater into foggy, freshwater drizzle that directly supplies plants with a constant flow of cool moisture. The installation can be turned on and off as needed to meet the water requirements of various crops. The cooling effect leads to less water loss due to evaporation and reduced plant stress.
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Over time the nets have the potential to restock groundwater levels and thereby prevent further seawater intrusion into coastal freshwater aquifers. They are a highly cost-efficient alternative to desalination plants and empower farmers to become independent from costly freshwater suppliers.
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Collaboration with IrrigationNets has brought the technology to southern Spain. In our Agriculture lab the existing model was adapted to fit regional needs and made mobile. Tests are currently underway with the goal of reporting valuable information for local and other drought effected areas. This opportunity was all made possible by Volker Korrmann of IrrigationNets.
Mapping
Agriculture, Plastic, Fungi
2018
From 2010-2015 an eightfold increase of agriculture plastics was recorded along the local shorelines of Murcia, Andalucia, Canaries and others. The inappropriate disposal of agriplastics is common in southern Spain leading to leakage into the environment and with much of the agricultural operations being so close to the coast, inevitably into the sea. As part of a promising “first pilot test” with a UK tech company, illegal dump site coordinates were collected to begin training AI technology so that environmental trash can be detected by satellites.
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In an effort to combat accumulations of environmental plastics, we identified multiple illegal agriplastic dump sites near coastal ecosystems. These sites were documented with picture and video evidence, recording plastic types present, coordinates and quantity.
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Each collection site coordinate was archived for algorithm training. It is expected that the AI technology will be able to detect accumulations of abandoned plastics using ESA satellite imagery. This intelligence could be a significant tool in the fight against marine pollution, aiding quick recovery of abandoned plastic before it's too late.
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Well we couldn’t just record the sites and leave! With a team and heavy equipment, 10.5 tons of abandoned agriwaste plastic was removed from the local ecosystem.
Clips & Mulch
Agriculture, Plastic, Fungi
2018
add make the biowaste accessible for farming
In Almeria, agricultural plastics are the largest identifiable source of pollution. Rather than pointing the blame, we worked to find a solution for the agricultural practices of this region. Several biodegradable farming tools were created and are currently being tested for their durability and biodegradability.
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Clips are often used for tomatoes and other vine plants to keep growth off of the ground. These clips are made from biodegradable resin.
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Twine is used in a similar manner to clips. It is often wrapped and tied around plants to support growth. This twine is also made from a biodegradable resin.
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These devices contribute to a collection of biodegradable agri products (checkout our seed trays!)- that facilitate farming towards a more sustainable future.
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To further understand the scope of plastics in agriculture please find the downloadable report by UNEP here
https://policycommons.net/artifacts/2390250/working-paper/3411470/
