Cost-Benefit Analysis of Tomato Crops under Different Greenhouse Covers

The tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) is one of the most popular and widely consumed vegetables in the world, being also the most common vegetable within the Mediterranean diet. The last few years have seen the appearance on the market of several types of agricultural plastic developed to alter the spectrum of radiation that enters the greenhouse, sometimes filtering it and, in other cases, intensifying certain wavelength bands. The objective of this study was to evaluate the production of tomato cultivated under different covers and to analyze the profitability of the yield, under each of them. A study was carried out in six tunnel greenhouses, with an area of 100 m2 each, to evaluate the effect of different types of plastic roof, with different radiation properties. The yield of tomatoes was recorded and valued economically as a function of the mean prices of the Consejería de Agricultura de la Región de Murcia (CARM) (Department of Agriculture of the Region of Murcia) of the last years and one survey of the wholesale markets network (Mercas) and farmers, in order to know the weekly prices according to the caliber. The production costs of each of the alternatives were determined and the net present value of the yield and the annualized value were obtained. The highest annualized value was obtained with the UVA100%e cover (€24,856.04 per year), followed by UV90%e and PeTc (€18,931.49 and €16,205.53 per year, respectively). The LDe and Anti NIR covers provided the poorest results (€3,954.93 and €10,480.40 per year, respectively).