Plasticulture is the use of plastics in agriculture, horticulture, water-management, food grains storage and related areas. A variety of plastics materials and end products are deployed in plasticulture applications
for water conservation, irrigation efficiency, crop and environment protection, as well as end product storage and transportation.
It has comproved crop benefits as:
- Earliness: Plasticulture-grown crops can be harvested 7 to 21 days earlier and get better prices.
- Greater yields: Marketable yield may be up to three times greater.
- Higher quality: Produce is cleaner and has increased size and fewer culls.
- Higher economic returns: Earliness, high yields and high produce quality improve the economic return to the farmer.
It also has pest management benefits
- Reduced weed infestation: Certain plastics prevent light penetration and weed seed germination/growth, and serve as a physical barrier to weed seedlings.
- Better insect management: Reflective mulches repel insects such as aphids and thrips.
- Potential decrease in disease incidence: As a consequence of better water drainage, incidence of soilborne diseases may be reduced. Many foliage and fruit diseases overwinter in soil and splash onto the plant during rain events. Plastic mulch acts as a barrier, limiting the number of spores reaching the plant. Virus diseases are reduced in plasticulture when reflective mulches are used to repel vectors (aphids/thrips).
Plastics have definite advantages over conventional materials. The plastic mulches that covers the beds accomplishes several things. Depending on the color and transparency of the mulch, it will raise or lower the soil temperature. It will also conserve soil moisture, reduce leaching of nutrients, inhibit weed growth and protect fruit and foliage from pathogens in the soil.
Biopolix is a startup dedicated to research and production of biopellets from renewable sources, through a clean process, for the manufacture of up to 100% biodegradable plastics, applicable to agribusiness.
Its differential is the innovation of this bioplastic; its composition is of biopolymers of renewable sources, biobased, without use of polluters in the process of obtaining, unlike the similar products. The result of this film forms thermoplastic characteristics similar to films of petrochemical origin, such as green polyethylene plastic based on ethanol, with the differential that when it degrades it does not leave microplastics in the environment, as oxy-biodegradable plastics do.
This material, biopellets, focuses on allowing the process of bioplastic production in existing machinery of the plastic transformersindustry so they can produce biodegradable mulch for a sustainable agriculture.
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