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In recent years, cannabis has raised public awareness in many countries worldwide about its medical uses. The European cannabis market reached its peak during 2018 with investments of 500 million €. Greece introduced Law 4523/2018, which regulates the production and processing of medical cannabis. A start-up business plan was drawn up for a medical cannabis operation owned a 1 ha greenhouse to estimate the start-up costs and the costs of cultivating and processing medical cannabis under greenhouse conditions in Greece. The results of the present study revealed that the investment was estimated at 4,960,044 €. Net profit in the first year amounted to 3,584,621.70 €, while the annual net profits from the second to the tenth year amounted to approximately 7.07 billion. The Net Present Value with a value of 45,425,241.24 € is positive and the internal rate of return (IRR) is 94.14%, which means that the investment can be characterized as profitable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Turkey, greenhouse cultivation started tentatively at research institutes in 1940s. Commercial greenhouses were constructed in Antalya and Izmir in 1970. Growers were provided with initial information regarding greenhouse cultivation by the agricultural extension practitioners working at the provincial and sub-provincial directorates of the ministry of agriculture. The major reasons why Antalya has become a hub of greenhouse cultivation are its climate and the agricultural extension activities carried out for the producers in the region. The sources of information that producers consult in seeking an answer to their questions about their agricultural activities or a solution to their problems vary depending on their age, experience, educational attainment, land size and the types of crops they cultivate. The present study analyses the demographics of 128 greenhouse tomato growers in Aksu, Antalya and the sources of agricultural information available to them. According to the findings obtained, the growers have been cultivating tomato in greenhouses for 23.6 years in average. The average land size and greenhouse size in the enterprises examined under the study are 15.6 decares and 4.1 decares, respectively. While 68.0% of the growers stated that their initial source of information regarding greenhouse cultivation was their father, 51.6% noted that they consulted pesticide dealers as a source of information. The statistical relationship between the educational attainment of the growers and the answers given was tested by chi-square analysis. Accordingly, it was found that there was a significant relationship between the growers' educational attainment and the sources of information they consulted with respect to economic matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pot grown herbs are often cultivated as certified organic products, and there is an increasing demand for organically certified ornamental plants. Supplying the required nutrients using organic fertilizers is a challenge with respect to matching the mineralization and thus the availability of dissolved nutrients in the growing medium with plant demand. In experiments, sweet basil and Pelargonium × hortorum were cultivated using two different organic fertilizer strategies and controlled-release mineral nutrients as control treatment. The two organic strategies were, i) blood meal + Baralith® Enslow (a plant-based organic fertilizer), and ii) poultry manure. The availability of dissolved nitrogen was monitored during the crop cycle by under-pressure lysimeter sampling. Plant development parameters were measured along with chlorophyll fluorescence and chlorophyll concentration of leaves. For both organic treatments, nitrate-N availability was low at the beginning of the experiment, whereas ammonium-N was high. During the experiment, ammonium availability decreased at the same time as nitrate availability increased after a few weeks and then declined again by the end of the experiment. The blood meal + Enslow treatment caused poor germination and slow growth in basil. Plant height and fresh weight was also affected by this treatment for basil but not for Pelargonium. Chlorophyll concentration was affected by treatment, with also visually detectable paler leaves in the treatment with poultry manure. There were no differences in chlorophyll fluorescence (Fv/Fm) between treatments, indicating that plants were not stressed in any of the treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Progress in Plant Protection is the property of Institute of Plant Protection and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology / Yingyong Shengtai Xuebao is the property of Chinese Journal of Applied Ecology and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The most important factor affecting plant growth is solar radiation, and the most crucial solar radiation-requiring process governing plant growth is photosynthesis. Therefore, the characteristics of the greenhouse cladding materials, which can affect the level and quality of the transmitted radiation, are of primary concern for greenhouse cultivation. One primary source of loss of solar radiation transmission of greenhouses and net houses are accumulation of dust and dirt on the exterior surface of the materials. This can reduce the solar radiation transmissivity of films by up to 40% [1] . The specific objectives of this work are investigation on the influence of accumulation of dust and dirt on solar radiation transmissivity of polyethylene plastic film and different methods of cleaning them. Polyethylene type of plastic film which has a specific of 110 μm of film, one year life, Ultraviolet (UV) stabilized, infrared modified and anti-drop, will be tested for the influence of accumulation of dust and dirt on their solar radiation transmissivity. The above specimen is placed on an experimental model greenhouse which is erected in an open area at the Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Israel, for 6 months and removes for testing the transmisivity of the materials. Five treatments includes new material, six moths dirty material, air jet cleaning, water jet cleaning, and hand washing will be measured using a Licor spectroradiometer (Li 1800). The results found that the average light transmissivity of new film is about 86%. Before cleaning the film, the average loss in transmission for a period of the 6 months, is decreased about 50% to 36% of light transmissivity. However, after cleaning the film, the average of light transmissivity is about 85% and that meant transmission loss is only 1% in 6 month. Comparison of different methods of cleaning the screens reveled that using air jet only for cleaning the screens, hardly, improves their transmissivity while cleaning them with water jet improve their transmissivity drastically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the abstract of the paper LCA and Tomato Production in Mediterranean Greenhouses, which appeared in the 2005 issue of the International Journal of Agricultural Resources, Governance and Ecology. Life cycle analysis is used to analyse and evaluate the environmental impact associated with the process of greenhouse cultivation of tomato crop. Tomato production in kilogram is selected as a functional unit. Three different tomato production processes were compared: soil cultivation and open and closed hydroponic systems. Three different waste management scenarios were also analysed. The most significant negative environmental impacts were identified, enabling the application of the most suitable technology in order to mitigate their effects. The main negative impact of greenhouse tomato production derives from the waste of biomass and plastics, therefore suitable waste management is the best practicable environmental option to reduce this. The composting of biodegradable matter is the best way of managing this kind of waste. Improving the material composition of structures and auxiliary materials is also advised. Lastly, more rational management criteria for the supply of nutrients to the crop will have to be found.