ABSTRACT
The distinctive visual aspect of the new landscape of sand-bed farms derives from the wind screens woven of common cane or, alternatively, of cloth bunting dyed a bright green, which enclose individual plots and protect the crops against the strong westerly winds that characterize much of the coastal zone. Occasionally casuarina, eucalyptus and cypress trees are also used as windbreaks. The Almería-Granada sand-bed farming system bears a striking similarity to the technique used on the desert island of Lanzarote in the Canary archipelago. The inexpensive plastic, subject to shredding by the wind, must normally be replaced every two or three years, but the framing is permanent. The revolutionary impact of irrigation with sand-bedding, converting worthless steppe and desert into highly productive farm-land, has been compounded since about 1968 by the rapid expansion of low-cost unheated plastic greenhouses.
