Agricultural Plastics in California1

Plastics in agriculture and horticulture, which had its origins nearly 4 decades ago, have grown to over a 300 million lb. industry in the United States. The inexpensive plastics excited not only researchers but farmers seeking a cheaper method of producing and preserving food and fiber. E. M. Emmert (1), of the University of Kentucky, the father of plastics in the U. S., developed many principles of plastic technology with his research on greenhouses, mulches and row covers. Early row cover experiments on cantaloupe production by C. A. Shadbolt and O. D. McCoy (11, 12), and by B. J. Hall (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) on cucumbers, tomatoes, and peppers, established the practical and commercial uses of the row covers for these crops. More sophisticated row covers, where heat, was used to grow early crops in the more northern latitudes, were reported in 1964 and 1965 by Merle H. Jensen and Raymond Sheldrake (9, 10).