“From space, the greenhouses of Almería stand out more than the Chinese Wall.” These are the words of the former Minister of Science, Pedro Duque. From the top of the sky, Poniente Almería looks like a great white sea that almost touches the blue of the Mediterranean.
Between tomatoes, peppers, aubergines or courgettes, a team of scientists works with watermelons, lettuce, papayas and data, lots of data.
Specifically, “more than 200 data sources,” says Alejandro Blaas, director of Plataforma Tierra, a joint initiative of IBM and Cajamar to digitize the Spanish countryside. “We have more than 500 indicators that collect information from the greenhouses and from the farmers themselves,” he adds.
This ‘green’ laboratory in Las Palmerillas (El Ejido) is a testing ground to anticipate the agriculture of the future. “Tierra’s objective is to promote the transformation of the agri-food sector and make it more competitive, profitable, sustainable and attractive”, detail those responsible for the initiative.
By 2050, the world population is expected to exceed 9,700 million people and the question, still unresolved, is whether there will be enough food for the entire planet. In addition, climate change will modify the way of producing, influencing factors such as rainfall, temperatures and soil quality.
Global warming “makes the uncertainty about rainfall ever greater,” says Rafael Séiz, an expert with the WWF NGO’s Water program. With just two months to go in 2022, Spain is in a “significant meteorological drought situation”. “There is little water,” replies Emilia Navarro, a farmer from Almeria.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 16.7 million hectares are cultivated in Spain, of which 3.8% are irrigated (22.6%). Spanish reservoirs are at 44% of their capacity. “Without water, there is no cultivation and without cultivation there is no food,” recalls Navarro.
The work carried out in these experimental centers shows that up to 13% of water can be saved in tomato cultivation
The Benínar reservoir, northwest of El Ejido, is dying with only 8% of its total capacity, “the desalination plant has raised prices and it is expensive to get water from the wells,” adds Navarro. The land under the plastic tarpaulins dries up with the lack of water, but “what we call cooking” begins, explains Ieltxu Gómez, director of the Las Palmerillas Experimental Station, with a smile.
The work carried out in these centers shows that up to 13% of water can be saved in tomato cultivation. “This field of broad beans, in our experience, is irrigated for five minutes a week,” he explains as he picks a bean from the plant. “That’s a glass of water,” he adds before bringing it to his mouth. “The farms have to be sustainable and that is what we study,” she points out.
This is one of the 200 data sources that feed Platform Earth. “The information is in the cloud,” says Blaas. “The future is to share experience or knowledge,” says Mikel Díez, director of innovation at IBM.
A seeding of collaborative data in the cloud that comes from the research lines of the experts of the experimental center and also from satellite and intelligent technology. IBM’s The Weather Company and the technology’s geospatial analytics capabilities feed the tool. “We teach the farmers, we give them the information and they apply it to be more efficient,” says Gómez.
This instrument makes it easier for farmers to adapt to environmental requirements and recommendations. Calculating the optimal use of water is a fundamental issue in agriculture and not only because of the environmental cost, but also because of the economic one. “The profit margins are getting narrower,” warns Juan Antonio Ibáñez, a farmer from Almeria. “We have raised ten cents per cubic meter of water,” adds Navarro.
According to data from the Cajamar yearbook, water and fertilizers represent 3% and 6.5% of the total cost of tomatoes, one of the most common crops in Poniente Almería.
Tomatoes in a greenhouse in Almeria. /
reclaim the ground
Without water there is no cultivation, but without soil there is no land to irrigate and more than 75% of the agricultural area of Spain is in danger of erosion and degradation. “Higher temperatures and related extreme weather events, such as droughts, floods and storms, impact soil quantity and fertility in various ways,” reveals FAO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Salinization is a silent evil that advances through Spanish farmland. “The area affected by salinization is increasing due to changes in climate and land use,” warns the European Commission. “It often goes unnoticed and is made worse by unsustainable farming practices,” he adds.
More than 75% of the agricultural area of Spain is in danger due to erosion and degradation
The poor quality of water due to its scarcity and, above all, the intensive use of fertilizers cause the conductivity of the earth, which is how salinity is measured, to skyrocket. “Depending on your soil and the problems it has, we can give you a recipe to regenerate it,” Ieltxu Gómez answers again with a smile on his face.
The Earth Platform offers a service to calculate the optimal fertilization of farms based on the analysis of the type of crop, soil, production objectives and previous amendments made to the soil.
Plants in greenhouse. /
Without leaving the bean field, Gómez stirs up the earth with his right foot. “This is an example of land reclamation,” he explains. The normal conductivity of a ‘healthy’ earth is between 5 and 8 deciSiemens/cm. “The sea has it at 50 deciSiemens / cm and this ground triple it,” he reveals.
After a year of study and work, “we have managed to cultivate broad beans with a species that is sensitive to salinity,” he details. Twelve months of study and observation of the soil “where we are experimenting and correcting the data with IBM so that by the end of this year farmers will have their tool to know and work their soil to be more sustainable and efficient,” says Gómez.
This, along with water surveillance, is one of the lines of research for the experts at Las Palmerillas. “Through our ‘kitchen’ we have managed to reduce the conductivity of this soil,” he notes.
Without water, “this looks bad”
The weeks of 2022 pass and the rain does not come, “if it does not rain in spring this looks bad,” says Emilia Navarro, a farmer from Almería. The Andalusian Mediterranean basin is barely 30% and the reservoir that supplies water to its land barely reaches 8%. “There is little water,” she warns.
“We are pioneers in using drip irrigation in Spain”, Roberto García Torrente, Director of Sustainable Development at Cajamar. Among the crops with irrigation plans, 96% use high-frequency localized irrigation systems (drip) and the rest 5% use a sprinkler irrigation system.
Despite this, water is scarce in the ‘Huerta de Europa’ and the quality of irrigation is increasingly lower. “The wells are becoming salinized and the conductivity of the soil is greater and harms the crops,” adds Navarro.
In addition to this shortage, costs are added: “The desalination plant has raised ten cents per cubic meter of water,” warns the farmer from Almeria. “The financial issue is becoming more complicated,” adds Juan Antonio Ibáñez, a farmer from Poniente de Almería.
However, the situation in this region is not as worrying as in the west of Spain. In the Guadiana hydrographic basin, the situation is worrying. “We haven’t seen any good rain since the end of November,” says Juan Moreno, coordinator of the agricultural organization COAG in Extremadura. “If it doesn’t rain in 10 or 15 days, the situation is critical for irrigated crops and also for rainfed cereals.” “We need help,” he says.