FUNDACIÓN CAJAMAR

FUNDACIÓN CAJAMAR

Organisation type: 
Research institutions
Country: 
Spain
Short name: 
FUNDACIÓN CAJAMAR
Description: 

The Cajamar Foundation was born on 2006, with the aim of continuing creating knowledge and disseminating it to the whole society. It has inherited the legacy of the Cajamar credit cooperative social action, which has become its main pillar: the Research Station. The Research Station of Cajamar Foundation is located in Almería-Spain one of the largest greenhouse areas in the world. It has been doing research and experimentation on greenhouse horticulture for the past 40 years. It is in constant communication with the different stakeholders of the greenhouse industry, from growers (cooperatives), technical advisers to greenhouse and greenhouse related technology manufacturers, as well as with other research centers throughout the world.
The main research activity is focused on: a) Greenhouse Technology, b) Subtropical and Mediterranean fruit production, c) Biotechnology, d) Environment, and training and dissemination. In relation with greenhouse production, the main fields of activity have been water use and irrigation scheduling, new greenhouse designs/concepts, climate control in cold and warm periods, new developments in plastic covering materials and an intense collaboration with cooperatives to perform variety and production techniques tests. In this new period, as a part of the Cajamar Foundation, the Research Station aim is to increase its efforts in the development of new technologies and the search of alternative productions for Mediterranean greenhouses, keeping always in mind sustainability of the greenhouse system both in terms of resources (water, nutrients, energy, etc.) and waste management. In this regard, the Research Station has recently been and has been involved in different projects financed by both the National Government and the European Union in collaboration with some of the most prestigious horticultural research groups within the European context.