Why do we need hydroponics

Pesticides from traditional soil-based agriculture run off into rivers and streams, harming fish populations. Reducing pollution is vital to protecting plants and animals indigenous to areas near farms. Integrated Pest Management, or IPM, is a very common method of insect pest and disease control in hydroponics. IPM is a plan that growers use to carefully monitor pest populations, and uses biological controls or OMRI-approved methods of pest control.

Biological controls include the release of beneficial insects such as ladybugs or lacewing larvae to predate on pests like aphids or whiteflies. Conservation and sustainability are a big part of hydroponic growing. Hydroponic nutrient solutions are recycled in recirculating systems, and can be reused in other garden areas such as potted plants or lawn areas. Many types of grow media can be sterilized and reused in your hydroponic system. Inert media, such as coconut coir, perlite and Growstones, is designed for excellent water absorption as well as air circulation, so they can also be reused in potted plants or soil gardens.

Reusing and recycling these products reduces the amount of waste that ends up in landfills. Hydroponics gives hope for food production to areas of the world with poor or infertile soils. This gives populations of people in these areas access to healthy produce. The vegetables grown in these areas, and other places with hydroponic systems, are fresh, delicious and full of flavor- even more so than their soil counterparts.

Hydroponics empowers communities that would otherwise not have access to fresh and delicious food. From a scientific perspective, hydroponics is the way to go. Closed, recirculating systems allow for complete control over the nutrient solution so growers are able to know exactly what nutrients their plants receive. Various nutrient formulas are designed specifically to suit different types of plants at different growth stages.

Growers can choose the nutrients based on the crop they are growing, and can tweak the formula for the vegetative stage or the flowering stage. This leads to higher yields than traditional soil-based agriculture. In addition, nutrient meters can be used to regularly test the nutrient concentration. Tests allow growers to add elements when they see a sign of nutrient deficiency.

Items that are not present in hydroponically grown produce are just as important to note as items that are present. The elimination of soil means that unwanted build ups of undesirable concentrations of nutrients can be evaded. About Us. Our Impact.

Get Involved. Benefits of Hydroponics. Benefits of Hydroponics noblestudios T Hydroponic Farming is the Future! Farmers can have total control over a hydroponic system. In other words, no wait period is needed after harvesting a crop cycle before the next crops can be planted again. With the help of a constant stream of nutrient and light inputs that significantly reduces the crop cycle, this farming model can result in 7 to 14 times more growth cycles than traditional practices.

Another benefit of the secure indoor growing environment is the protection it provides the plants against harmful pests and microbial diseases. Traditional agriculture makes use of intense applications of herbicides and pesticides to shield crops from natural threats, though these chemicals have become under increasing scrutiny for the adverse effects they pose to humans and surrounding ecosystems.

Pesticides often contaminate surface water, are toxic to many non-targeted insects, animals and plants, can eliminate positive and healthy soil microbes, and have been linked to breast cancer in humans. The faster we can cut down on the amount of pesticides contaminating our food and environment, the better off our health and world will be.

Furthermore, pesticides have failed to make our agriculture industry completely resilient against invasive species. This past summer, a devastating swarm of locust pests descended upon East Africa, guzzling up the food supplies of up to 25 million people. Farming indoors eliminates crop vulnerability to extreme circumstances such as these and more common, lower grade pest invasions alike. The many benefits of hydroponic farming do not come without challenges.

For small, start-up farmers, entering into the hydroponic farming world can come with high costs associated with renting the space, mortgage payments, the renovation of a building or space to accommodate the hydroponic structures, initial costs for materials such as LED lights, watering and feed systems, plant racks, seeds, controlled environment technology, etc , and costs of the labor and electricity to keep the farm up and running.

While these entry costs are high, hydroponic farms have the potential to turn underutilized buildings into farmland to serve the community and create jobs. Here is an example of a reduced calculation done for the startup costs for a typical indoor farm by ZipGrow, for more details click here :. Footprint of a ft2 indoor hydroponic farm, automated nutrient dosing and high efficiency LED lighting.

Once these initial costs are overcome, more challenges must be faced in order to ensure a productive and secure hydroponic farm. Stacked rack systems as opposed to vertical growth towers can face challenges with air flow, heat and humidity. With horizontal modeling, there needs to be much more space between each plane to reduce the risks associated with poor airflow, such as high humidity, increased vulnerability to pests and disease, and a reduced growing capacity from lower CO2 levels. Additionally, the energy costs associated with hydroponic farming and maintaining optimal growing conditions for the plants are quite high.

The combination of high intensity LED lighting plus climate monitoring and control systems results in a large electricity usage at hydroponic farms. It is important that hydroponic farms look to source their energy from renewable resources by investing in solar panels or wind energy.

Farms such as Jones Food Company source all of their energy from the solar panels installed on the roofs of their facilities. Hydroponic farms offer a pathway towards a more sustainable food ethic that prioritizes the health of our food, bodies and environment without the heavy use of chemicals. Far from being a pipe-dream, hydroponic farming is already being rapidly integrated into current food networks. Ocado, a leading British online supermarket, recently announced its partnership with Priva and Acres , both leading participants in the vertical farm industry.

This joint venture will allow Ocado to supply fresh, local and hydroponically-grown ingredients to its customers. Furthermore, as the industry becomes more competitive, more partnerships like this will help drive down the prices of hydroponically-grown produce and make hydroponic farms more competitive with conventional farms.

While our global climate issue is multi-dimensional and a result of many different practices, reducing the impact from the agricultural industry will be a huge step forward. At the beginning of the 21st century, hydroponic farming had not yet been invented. Now, only 20 years later, the industry has gained solid ground and is already dramatically shifting our agricultural practices and the future of our food system.

Why hydroponic farming?