Plasticulture

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The term plasticulture refers to the practice of using plastic materials in agricultural applications.

The plastic materials themselves are often and broadly referred to as "ag plastics." Plasticulture ag plastics include soil fumigation film, irrigation drip tape/tubing, nursery pots and silage bags and are most often used to describe all kinds of plastic plant/soil coverings. These coverings range from plastic mulch film, row coverings, high and low tunnels to plastic greenhouses. The use of plasticulture in agriculture is growing rapidly, perhaps nowhere more visibly than in Almeria in southern Spain.

One significant component of plasticulture is the disposal of used ag plastics. Technologies exist which allow for many ag plastics to be recycled into viable plastic resins for reuse in the plastics manufacturing industry.

[edit] External links

• American Society for Plasticulture
• Satellite picture of Almerian Greenhouses