Are plastic greenhouses in Spain caused by plant-based diets? Why the viral claim is misleading
Posted by FarmingUK on Facebook (7 June), an image shows two satellite images (from 1974 and 2000) illustrating rapid expansion of plastic-covered greenhouses in Almería, Spain. It suggests that this expansion is directly linked to the growing demand for plant-based diets and implies negative environmental impacts of such diets.
Claim:
“This satellite image shows 26,000 hectares of plastic greenhouses in Almería, Spain... Producing tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and courgettes year-round… A plant-based diet is not some rainbow and sunshine diet!”
Greenhouse agriculture in Almería serves a global market that includes both plant-based and omnivorous eaters. While the region raises valid concerns about plastic waste, labor conditions, and water usage, attributing it primarily to veganism distorts the broader agricultural reality.
With rising awareness around sustainability, these kinds of claims can misrepresent the impact of plant-based diets using out-of-context visuals. This can create confusion and backlash, undermining trust in evidence-based recommendations regarding increasing plants in the diet, both for health and sustainability concerns.
🥔 Dig Deeper: Images can be powerful, but they don’t always tell the full story—especially when used without context.
Fact-check part 1: Is the image accurate?
Yes, the satellite imagery is authentic. The NASA Earth Observatory has published similar comparative visuals documenting the transformation of the Campo de Dalías in Almería into one of Europe’s largest greenhouse hubs. By the early 2020s, estimates suggested more than 40,000 hectares of land in and around the Campo de Dalías were covered in plastic greenhouses (source).
Satellite images confirm the rapid expansion of intensive horticulture in southern Spain, especially since the 1960s. The vegetables grown here are exported across Europe, contributing to the year-round availability of fresh produce in supermarkets.
Fact-check part 2: Who is driving the demand?
The crops grown in Almería—tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, courgettes—are staples in omnivorous, vegetarian, and vegan diets alike. Agronomy work on Campo de Dalías describes the hub as “the greatest European exponent of greenhouse agriculture” and highlights export-oriented production for European supermarket chains. These systems expanded from the 1960s onward to supply year-round vegetables for European supermarkets, long before vegan diets rose in popularity (source). Indeed while demand for plant-based products has increased, these vegetables have always been widely consumed, regardless of dietary preference.
Research into the main drivers of land conversion and deforestation also paints a different picture to the implications of this post. Ritchie and Roser’s work on land use shows that livestock accounts for most agricultural land, whereas vegetables, fruits and other crops for direct human consumption use much less land overall. Their analyses do not identify any evidence that vegan diets uniquely drive greenhouse expansion; instead, they show that livestock (pasture plus feed crops) uses around 80% of global agricultural land (source, source).
Fact-check part 3: Are plant-based diets environmentally harmful?
The post’s framing suggests plant-based diets are environmentally harmful because of plastic pollution from greenhouses. However, a comprehensive review by Poore and Nemecek (2018) in Science found that plant-based diets still have a far smaller environmental footprint—including lower greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use—compared to diets high in meat and dairy.
A 2023 meta-analysis in Nature Food reinforced these findings, showing that vegan diets contribute 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than diets high in animal products. The net ecological benefit of plant-based diets remains positive, even when accounting for intensive crop systems.
Final take-away
While the image is real and plastic agriculture in Almería is a serious environmental concern, attributing this problem primarily to plant-based diets is oversimplified and misleading. The greenhouse agriculture sector supports global food demand across all diets, not just plant-based ones.
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📚 Sources
European Environment Agency (2017). Climate change, impacts and vulnerability in Europe. https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/climate-change-impacts-and-vulnerability-2016
NASA Earth Observatory (2022). Almería’s Sea of Greenhouses.
Mendoza-Fernández, A.J. et al. (2021). The Role of Technology in Greenhouse Agriculture: Towards a Sustainable Intensification in Campo de Dalías (Almería, Spain)
Poore, J., & Nemecek, T. (2018). Reducing food’s environmental impacts through producers and consumers.
Ritchie, H., & Roser, M. (2020). Environmental impacts of food production. Our World in Data.
Ritchie, H. & Roser, M. (2024). Half of the world’s habitable land is used for agriculture. Our World in Data
Ritchie, H (2021). Drivers of Deforestation. https://ourworldindata.org/drivers-of-deforestation
Springmann, M. et al. (2023). The health and environmental impacts of diets globally. Nature Food.
WWF. Deforestation and Forest Degradation. https://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/deforestation-and-forest-degradation
foodfacts.org is an independent non-profit fact-checking platform dedicated to exposing misinformation in the food industry. We provide transparent, science-based insights on nutrition, health, and environmental impacts, empowering consumers to make informed choices for a healthier society and planet.
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