Geothermal greenhouses offer alternative solution to food crisis, Turkey

Greenhouse view (source: Koyuncu Group)

Geothermal greenhouses can offer an alternative solution to the global food crisis. According to the news reported by a local newspaper, production and supply problems are experienced in agricultural and food products due to the effect of global warming and the Covid-19 pandemic. The best solution to the rising production costs with the increase in energy prices may be the hydroponic geothermal greenhouse production with high technology.

Greenhouse Investors and Manufacturers Association (SERA-BIR) President Muslum Yanmaz said: “Turkey ranks 7th in the world and 1st in Europe in terms of geothermal energy resources. We are the first in the world in geothermal greenhouse cultivation with an area of 5,400 decares. But our potential is much higher. Today, there is a climate crisis caused by global warming. With geothermal agriculture, you can produce regardless of climatic conditions. Naturally, this is a great blessing and we need to make good use of it.

We see an increase in geothermal greenhouse investments in Afyon, Denizli, Nevsehir, Izmir, Kutahya, Sanliurfa and Agri. The Ministry of Agriculture determined an area of 10 thousand decares. It supports soilless agriculture here. The Geothermal Law is about to come out. There are great incentives here. With all these supports, it is estimated that the existing geothermal agricultural areas will increase five times in the near future.”

Chairman Yanmaz also informed that a greenhouse investment pays for itself in 15-20 years, while geothermal greenhouse cultivation pays for itself between 4 and 7 years. In addition, he stated that while there are 5 thousand decares of greenhouses heated with geothermal energy in Turkey, 30 thousand decares of greenhouses have the potential to be heated with geothermal resources.

While the first production started this month in the Greenhouse Excellence Center established by Sakarya Metropolitan Municipality on an area of 46 thousand square meters, Konya Metropolitan Municipality implemented a joint project with Aksehir Municipality to grow alternative plant species.

We have previously reported that the application project for the Geothermal Heated Agriculture-Based Greenhouse Specialized Organized Industrial Zone on an area of 1 million 377 thousand square meters in the Kozakli district of Nevsehir was approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. On the other hand, tomatoes grown in greenhouses heated with geothermal energy in the district of Sandikli, using soilless agriculture, are exported to Germany, the Netherlands and England, as well as to major cities of the country.

Source: Turkiye Gazetesi via our Turkish language platform JeotermalHaberler