Improving Irrigation Efficiency of Protected Agrosystems Using Benchmarking Tools

This work is a preliminary intent in the benchmarking of specific protected agrosystems, with the objective of assessing their performances by way of accessible indicators, calculated from input data that can be easily recollected at the field and farm level. We used a benchmarking tool developed in the frame of the FP7 EU-SIRRIMED to assess the performance of two types of protected agrosystems (i) soilless tomato greenhouses with closed, semi closed and open irrigation devices and (ii) soil-grown sweet pepper screenhouses with different shading factors. We found that a large margin of progress in water and fertilisers use efficiency is at hand of farmers, provided they can integrate to their farming practices innovative technologies (i.e., closed hydroponic systems) or structures that are well adapted to the local climatic and biotic conditions (e.g., screenhouses). We also demonstrated that the benchmarking methodology is likely to provide useful information to environmental issues related with water and fertilisers use in agriculture.