[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ locked=”off” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ width=”100%” max_width=”1450px” module_alignment=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”]
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text module_id=”reading-eval-text-area” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_css_main_element=”border: 3px solid #666;||height: 500px;||overflow-y: scroll;||” global_colors_info=”{}”]
Hydroculture
The world is in the middle of a food crisis. Opinions differ as to its severity, but most accept that the crisis is real and potentially poses a major threat to the health and food supply of a large proportion of the global population. The roots of the crisis are diverse, but among them are two primary factors. The first of these is changing weather patterns and extreme weather events. Simply put, a number of previously productive agricultural regions are no longer as fertile as they once were because of the weather. And second, many farmers have found that they can get a better return growing biofuels than raising crops. As a result, large areas of valuable cropland are no longer being used for this end. Conventional agriculture is ill-suited to solve the food crisis, but hydroculture might be a potential solution.
As its name suggests, hydroculture typically involves growing plants in nutrient-rich water rather than in soil. Hydroponics is the most widely-known method of hydroculture. Some believe it has significant potential to reduce the impact of the food crisis by allowing farmers to produce large quantities of food in a sustainable and cost-effective way. In a typical hydroponics system, crops are grown indoors in controlled environments. The plants grow in containers filled with water and the nutrients that they need to thrive. These nutrients vary depending on the crop being grown but typically include nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, iron, zinc, and copper, among other trace elements. A light source provides the energy the sun would usually deliver.
In so-called static systems, the nutrient solution is changed or replaced either according to a schedule or when the plants require it. In continuous-flow systems, the nutrient solution flows constantly past the roots of the plants. Although it may seem like a technologically sophisticated form of agriculture, scientists have been experimenting with hydroculture since at least 1627. Early experiments showed that plants grow best when raised in water rich in various nutrients rather than in distilled water. By the early decades of the twentieth century, the concept of hydroponics was becoming more widely known and some commercial applications of the technology were even in place. These days, NASA, the US government agency in charge of space missions, is even researching hydroponics.
Hydroponics offers a number of benefits over conventional agriculture. It happens indoors, and so does not require large areas of land. In fact, hydroponics farms can be located in industrial warehouses in or near large cities. This gives them another advantage over traditional farms since they can be located much closer to the markets for their produce, reducing distribution and transportation costs for hydroponics farmers. The indoor location allows farmers to create controlled environments. This means not only does the weather not affect crops, but farmers can grow crops that would not normally thrive in a particular region, such as tropical vegetables in Canada. But hydroponics farms are not without their drawbacks. For one thing, some important food crops do not grow well hydroponically. Most herbs and vegetables thrive, but important sources of nutrition like carrots, potatoes, and corn are either not suitable or hard to grow. And so much space would be required to raise staple crops like rice and wheat cost-effectively that their hydroponic cultivation is not practical. Further, most foods that grow well hydroponically are relatively low in protein, a vital nutrient for human health.
A variation on hydroponics that solves some of these issues is aquaponics. A basic aquaponic system is a hydroponics farm with a second layer. On top are plants growing hydroponically in nutrient-rich water. A Below that is a tank of fish being raised as part of a fish farm. In traditional aquaculture, farmers must spend time and money cleaning the water in which the fish live; if they do not, the health of the fish will suffer as waste from the fish concentrates in the water. B The clever part of aquaponics is that instead of having to filter and discard the fish waste, farmers can use it as the source of nutrients for the plants. C By closing the system in this way, aquaponic farms can produce the same kinds of herbs, fruits, and vegetables as hydroponic farms, as well as high-quality protein from farm-raised fish. D
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]