Cabo de Gata Greenhouses
Almería, Andalucía
About this farm
A greenhouse tomato operation in the Campo de Níjar, Almería, spread across 14 hectares of sand-mulched soil under multi-tunnel structures. It grows vine, cherry and ribbed tomatoes for the fresh market, with a focus on cutting water use and chemical inputs. The farm supplies both the Spanish market and export buyers through a local growers' cooperative.
Story
The farm began in 1994, when the Ferrández family raised their first parral-style greenhouses on old almond dryland. In 2003 they moved to multi-tunnel structures and joined a regional cooperative to market the harvest. From 2015 onward they brought in biological pest control and drip irrigation with soil-moisture probes, leaving most chemical treatments behind. It is now run by the second generation, who keep the crop in soil and sell through the cooperative.
Farming practices
Drip irrigation with soil-moisture probes to fine-tune water use, biological pest control with beneficial insects, and side netting to cut treatments. Crop grown in sand-mulched soil, with the plant fraction of crop residues recycled.
Crops
- Vine tomato
- Cherry tomato
- Ribbed tomato
- Plum tomato
- Cucumber