Greenhouse Gates
El Ejido is in the heart of an an inhospitable stretch of southern Spain where the sun beats down relentlessly, there's little rain, the soil is poor, and strong ocean winds blow near constantly. Despite all of this the area is home to the largest concentration of greenhouses in Europe, 40,000 hectares of industrial operations producing the melons, peppers, cucumbers and, most importantly, cheap tomatoes for the rest of the continent. The greenhouses are a seemingly endless mass of mismatched plastic sheeting, with new sheets haphazardly affixed over old when the elements begin to shred them – a strange architecture of environmental necessity and commercial interest all baking together under the Almerian sun.
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Photo: El Ejido//Video: Invernaderos
