Greenhouse technological packages for high-quality crop production

Abstract

In the last decades, protected cultivation has spread widely around the world. The globalisation of the markets has increased the competitiveness, highlighting the need for high quality of the produce. Site selection is a key aspect for profitable greenhouse production, specifically for the climate conditions that influence the cost and quality of the horticultural commodities, but also for the distance to the markets. The local microclimate conditions influence the strategic election of the “greenhouse technological package” (structure and equipment) whose technical level will determine the future possibilities of climate control, influencing the yield and quality of the produce. A wide variety of greenhouse technological packages are nowadays available, from simple plastichouses to very sophisticated glasshouses. Information on the growing strategies that can be afforded to supply the markets with high-quality vegetables yearround and on the greenhouse packages commonly used for that purpose are included, with special reference to the Mediterranean basin.