Agricultural plastic nets are widely used in various applications: protection from hail, wind, snow, or strong rainfall in fruit-farming and ornamentals, shading nets for greenhouses and nets moderately modifying the microenvironment around a crop are the most common cases. Moreover, nets for the protection against virus-vector insects and birds, as well as for harvesting and post-harvesting practices are often used. In the market, both woven and non-woven products are defined as nets. In order to avoid misunderstanding, the following definition of Plastic nets in agricultural is proposed: a plastic net is a product made of plastic threads connected together with each other, in a woven or knitted way forming a regular porous geometric structure and allowing fluids (gases and liquids) to go through . The most widely used raw material for agricultural nets is high density polyethylene (HDPE). Polypropylene (PP) is also used as raw material for nets, mostly for the production of non-woven layers. It is not possible to determine the European consumption of agricultural nets because no data are available from agricultural and manufacturers associations at a European level. Moreover, the net producers are not able to define the consumption of agricultural nets, because an amount of their production is actually sold for non-agricultural purposes, such as shading nets for car parking, permeable coverings of scaffoldings, construction of provisional fences, anti-insect nets for windows, fishing nets, etc. However, in Italy, the estimated consumption of HDPE for agriculture net production is 5.300t per year, while the total consumption in agriculture of HDPE is 30.000 t per year and of PP is 46.500 t per year. For the European normative situation, no standard exists concerning agricultural nets. There are currently only a few national standards regarding agricultural nets and films specifically. Concerning nets, there is a set of Italian Standards that covers a wide range of agricultural net properties. Other national standards deal partly with agricultural films such as the French standard NF EN 13206 and the Italian standards UNI 9738 and UNI 9298. A systematic review of the current agricultural applications of nets in Europe has been developed by means of a literature study, technical investigations, interviews with permeable covering producers and specialized greenhouse builders, as well as insurance organizations and growers, who are familiar with permeable cladding (net) applications. Net Types Net types are characterized by different structural features like type of material, type and dimensions of threads, texture, mesh size, porosity/solidity and weight; by physical properties like air permeability and by several mechanical characteristics such as tensile stress, strength, elongation at break, and durability. Normally the available dimensions of nets vary a lot in both width and length. Widths usually vary from 1 to 6 m or from 12 to 20 m and lengths from 25 to 300 m. Wider nets are constructed by attaching the required number of nets in width. A first classification of nets can be based on type of material, type of threads and texture, color, and additives used. Type of Material For agricultural nets, primarily high density polyethylene is used: it is a non-toxic material, which can be used in direct contact with plants; it is completely recyclable; easily convertible; waterproof; durable, if stabilized to ultra violet (UV) radiation。This kind of membrane is in horticulture and in orchards applied as direct cover on plants to protect cultivations from rain, frost, or wind. Non-woven layers are characterized by a very low structural resistance and cannot be used as coverings of structural frames. Starch-based biodegradable materials are also used in some innovative agricultural net productions. At the end of their life, biodegradable materials can be disposed directly in soil or can be incorporated in a composting plant with organic materials, such as food and vegetable residues and manure, in order to generate carbon-rich compost. Biodegradable materials are not very common in the market due to their high costs, compared with other plastic materials, and because of the reduction of their physical and mechanical properties when exposed for prolonged periods to climatic agents, mainly to solar radiation. Type of Threads and Texture Threads of HDPE are produced in two main types: round monofilaments or flat tapes. Round monofilaments are extruded directly by the HDPE compound, but in order to obtain flat tapes it is first necessary to produce the film of wanted thickness and color and finally to cut it. Depending on the kind of texture three main typologies of nets can be defined for common agricultural applications: flat woven or Italian; English or Leno; knitted or Raschel 。Flat woven is characterized by a simple orthogonal weave between weft and warp threads. In the loom processing, weft is the horizontal thread which pass through the vertical threads — the warp — forming the fabric. Flat woven nets are light and stable in their shape, but they are relatively stiff and they resist deformations. English woven is a modified flat woven net and it is produced with the same type of looms. It is based, like the flat woven one, on the orthogonal weave between weft and warp threads but with a double thread in weft direction, enclosing the warp thread in between. English woven nets are used when a more rigid protective covering is required, like for vineyards during strong hail storms. Raschel looms produce nets with longitudinal ‘chains’ and transversal knitted threads. In Raschel nets all threads are linked with each other in order to prevent the unraveling of threads, for example as a result of strong wind or hail storms. Selvages on the borders usually stabilize and secure the net and reinforced buttonholes enable nets to be installed more easily and quickly to the supporting structure.