Masseira

Garden crops, such as cabbage, carrot, lettuce, spinach, onion, tomato, potato, and radish,[1] are grown in the central depression.

Large amounts of fresh water are required to irrigate the crops, together with sargassum seaweed (gathered from the nearby Atlantic Ocean during the summer) for fertilization.

This type of agriculture was invented in the 18th century by the monks from the Monastery of Tibães, and was once widely used along the coasts of Póvoa de Varzim and Esposende.

[1] Currently this type of agriculture is endangered due to the increase in popularity of conventional greenhouses, the chaotic urbanization of the coast, and beach sand being extracted for civil construction.

The City Hall of Póvoa de Varzim granted 4,948,377 m2 (1,222.771 acres) of its territory for the exclusive use of masseiras as a way to protect this type of traditional agriculture.