Achieving sustainable greenhouse production: present status, recent advances and future developments

Greenhouse production systems have been introduced to improve growth conditions for plants to increase yield and quality. While initially greenhouses were mainly found in cool climates, water saving has become an important driver for the expansion of the greenhouse industry, particularly in arid and semi-arid regions. Over the past few decades, the level of control in greenhouses has increased rapidly due to an increased use of technology. During the last 30 years, the yield per unit land area has doubled for several crops. We expect that the application of new technologies will continue to expand in the coming years while at the same time biological and ecological principles will be increasingly applied. This chapter provides key figures on production in greenhouses, discusses the sustainability of greenhouse production and describes current and future trends in greenhouse production.