Also known as the Sea of Plastic, the greenhouses that now cover more than 40,000 hectares of the Spanish province of Almería are said to be easily visible from space. More info here.
A couple more pictures:
That’s a lot of greenhouses, and surprisingly dense.
And they’ve made Spain a hub for fresh produce in Europe. I’m amazed more countries haven’t done something similar. I’m still waiting for vertical indoor farming to takeoff.
Vertical farming hasn’t taken off because it is cheaper to produce via conventional farming and not enough crops have been explored and understood for hydroponic farming. You can’t grow wheat hydroponically the same way you grow a watermelon or the same way you grow a carrot or a tomato.
Serious funding needs to be directed towards hydroponic research.