Analyzing the Economic Viability and Energy Requirements of Soilless Greenhouse Tomato Cultivation in the Context of Climate Change in the Mediterranean Basin

Abstract

Controlling environmental conditions in agricultural production has a direct influence on the yield. In vegetative production, the most common and effective implementation of environmentally controlled production is in greenhouses. In the event that the daily average temperature drops below 12oC, greenhouses should be heated. Heating in greenhouses has a significant share in production costs. While overall production costs in high technology greenhouses depend on the size of the greenhouse and the length of the production period, the heating costs vary depending on the greenhouse equipment and external climatic conditions. In this study, the costs of inputs used in the production of truss tomatoes in the great majority of high technology greenhouses in the Mediterranean climate zone were determined, their share in the total cost was calculated and a comparison with the costs of truss tomato production in Southeastern European countries was made. The calculations show that among the production costs under Mediterranean climate conditions, cost of labor is the highest with a ratio of 37% while energy (heat + electricity) cost is the second highest. While the unit cost of truss tomatoes in Southeastern Europe is 0.51 €.kg-1, the production cost under Mediterranean climate conditions is 0.59€.kg-1.