Time for an update on where this is all coming from; El Ejido. This is where I am, a town in the southern Spanish province of Almería, the center of intensive agriculture known as the ‘sea of plastic’ – named after the thousands of hectares of plastic covered greenhouses that produce very much of the vegetables found in Europe’s supermarkets. It is also a hub for cheap immigrant labour and, it would appear, racial segregation – whether intended or unintended. Figures vary from source to source, but we have been told that there are as many as 140.000 immigrant workers here, which as far as I can tell outnumbers the Spanish population.

Oh, and I’m here with Lucas, didn’t I tell? Lucas has based himself in Spain for the time being, working out of Galicia up in the leafy north, on issues of farming and food production, among other things. When he started talking about El Ejido months back, around the same time I decided to try and do some work about immigration along Europe’s southern border, our ways seemed destined to meet here. So for the past five days we’ve been bumming around the region, among greenhouse after greenhouse, meeting people involved in various steps in either production or immigration, or both. Though we’re realizing there is very much work to be done here, and that it would take much more time than we have right now, we surely haven’t been lazy. Lots and lots of good walking, and more ahead in the next few days. It’s a very strange landscape.

More soon…