Illinois Works for the Future, the Rockford Jobs Council, the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, the Workforce Investment Board, and leaders at all levels of government will be strengthened in their economic development efforts if they honor two basic entrepreneurial maxims:
1. “The key to success is to find a need and fill it.”
2. “Intelligent persons know when the wrong answer has been given to a question. Creative persons know when the wrong question is being asked.”
Because jobs flow from serving human needs, reason suggests that our efforts will be most fruitful if we expand our questioning beyond “How can we create jobs?” — as though jobs are created by magic — and center our questions on determining what needs there are and what we can do to meet those needs. Immediately the most obvious and most pressing human need — providing food and water for parched and starving children and adults — becomes apparent.
Based on the most modest statistics from world health monitoring agencies, about 16,000 children alone die of hunger and related suffering each day. A little creative thinking can make both the crisis we face and its inherent economic ramifications more lucid.
Imagine placing the emaciated bodies of each child in a normal hearse. By Thanksgiving, the we would create a bumper-to-bumper funeral procession extending all the way from New York to San Francisco.
That gruesome picture doesn’t include adult victims and doesn’t portray the misery of those living with the consequences of malnutrition — lost human potential, including mental retardation and other maldevelopment — all of which we have the power to end if we so choose.
Technology available to us today in multistory crop production and other developments can provide food and drinking water far in excess of conventional production methods without pesticide and chemical pollution, without crop failure from drought and other weather problems, and without burning fossil fuels that create devastating climate changes around the world.
Elements for creating multistory crop production farms taking up a city block and capable of feeding and providing water for at least 50,000 people already exist. Greenhouses, hydroponic farming, irrigation systems and solar energy are not new. Controlled lighting, temperature and humidity are not new. Recycling and purifying water are not new. Indoor planting beds and fields are not new. Multistory buildings are not new. What is new is simply the combination of those elements, even in urban settings where 80 percent of the world’s population is projected to live by 2050.
Cost estimates for construction of a multistory crop production farm range from $85 million to $200 million, depending on size and scope. Beyond that, billions of dollars, private and public, are projected to be invested in multistory crop production farm technology and development, driven by studies showing that the world’s population growth during the next four decades will require almost 60 percent more food production even as tillable land is shrinking.
Multistory farm construction will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing and construction here and abroad for workers who create and assemble millions of valves, light panels, microswitches, computer control systems, solar energy panels, desalinization and recycling systems, hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and reinforced concrete, millions of miles of electrical cable, hundreds of thousands of miles of pipe, hundreds of thousands of panes of glass, millions of fasteners, and thousands of planting and harvesting devices and maintenance machines.
Multistory farm developments also create thousands of computer programming and technological research jobs, hundreds of thousands of jobs in transportation of supplies and materials, and, of course, thousands of jobs processing crops and maintaining the farms themselves. If providing water and food for parched and starving children and adults is not sufficient motivation, perhaps the employment factor is.
Even at the $200 million figure, the cost of a multistory crop production farm is less than the weekly cost of the Iraq war. Our expenditures alone for war, for foreign oil, and for global entertainment and media over five years would build enough multistory crop production farms to feed more than half the world’s population.
Our national leaders might want to consider what happened to our nation when JFK committed us to landing a man on the moon within a decade. With his articulation of that vision, our languishing economy came alive with a sense of purpose. Jobs were created. Educational excellence blossomed. And enduring life enhancements for all humanity flowed from it.
Imagine what might happen if our president said, “I am today committing the full resources of the United States of America to eliminating hunger from the face of the Earth within the next decade by harnessing modern technology and helping all humankind realize the full promise of safe and environmentally sound multistory farming.” Just imagine.
Multistory crop production could end famine, create jobs
Multistory crop production could end famine, create jobs
Illinois Works for the Future, the Rockford Jobs Council, the Rockford Area Economic Development Council, the Workforce Investment Board, and leaders at all levels of government will be strengthened in their economic development efforts if they honor two basic entrepreneurial maxims:
1. “The key to success is to find a need and fill it.”
2. “Intelligent persons know when the wrong answer has been given to a question. Creative persons know when the wrong question is being asked.”
Because jobs flow from serving human needs, reason suggests that our efforts will be most fruitful if we expand our questioning beyond “How can we create jobs?” — as though jobs are created by magic — and center our questions on determining what needs there are and what we can do to meet those needs. Immediately the most obvious and most pressing human need — providing food and water for parched and starving children and adults — becomes apparent.
Based on the most modest statistics from world health monitoring agencies, about 16,000 children alone die of hunger and related suffering each day. A little creative thinking can make both the crisis we face and its inherent economic ramifications more lucid.
Imagine placing the emaciated bodies of each child in a normal hearse. By Thanksgiving, the we would create a bumper-to-bumper funeral procession extending all the way from New York to San Francisco.
That gruesome picture doesn’t include adult victims and doesn’t portray the misery of those living with the consequences of malnutrition — lost human potential, including mental retardation and other maldevelopment — all of which we have the power to end if we so choose.
Technology available to us today in multistory crop production and other developments can provide food and drinking water far in excess of conventional production methods without pesticide and chemical pollution, without crop failure from drought and other weather problems, and without burning fossil fuels that create devastating climate changes around the world.
Elements for creating multistory crop production farms taking up a city block and capable of feeding and providing water for at least 50,000 people already exist. Greenhouses, hydroponic farming, irrigation systems and solar energy are not new. Controlled lighting, temperature and humidity are not new. Recycling and purifying water are not new. Indoor planting beds and fields are not new. Multistory buildings are not new. What is new is simply the combination of those elements, even in urban settings where 80 percent of the world’s population is projected to live by 2050.
Cost estimates for construction of a multistory crop production farm range from $85 million to $200 million, depending on size and scope. Beyond that, billions of dollars, private and public, are projected to be invested in multistory crop production farm technology and development, driven by studies showing that the world’s population growth during the next four decades will require almost 60 percent more food production even as tillable land is shrinking.
Multistory farm construction will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing and construction here and abroad for workers who create and assemble millions of valves, light panels, microswitches, computer control systems, solar energy panels, desalinization and recycling systems, hundreds of thousands of tons of steel and reinforced concrete, millions of miles of electrical cable, hundreds of thousands of miles of pipe, hundreds of thousands of panes of glass, millions of fasteners, and thousands of planting and harvesting devices and maintenance machines.
Multistory farm developments also create thousands of computer programming and technological research jobs, hundreds of thousands of jobs in transportation of supplies and materials, and, of course, thousands of jobs processing crops and maintaining the farms themselves. If providing water and food for parched and starving children and adults is not sufficient motivation, perhaps the employment factor is.
Even at the $200 million figure, the cost of a multistory crop production farm is less than the weekly cost of the Iraq war. Our expenditures alone for war, for foreign oil, and for global entertainment and media over five years would build enough multistory crop production farms to feed more than half the world’s population.
Our national leaders might want to consider what happened to our nation when JFK committed us to landing a man on the moon within a decade. With his articulation of that vision, our languishing economy came alive with a sense of purpose. Jobs were created. Educational excellence blossomed. And enduring life enhancements for all humanity flowed from it.
Imagine what might happen if our president said, “I am today committing the full resources of the United States of America to eliminating hunger from the face of the Earth within the next decade by harnessing modern technology and helping all humankind realize the full promise of safe and environmentally sound multistory farming.” Just imagine.
If climate change and population growth progress at their current pace, in roughly 50 years farming as we know it will no longer exist. This means that the majority of people could soon be without enough food or water. But there is a solution that is surprisingly within reach: Move most farming into cities, and grow crops in tall, specially constructed buildings. It’s called vertical farming.
The floods and droughts that have come with climate change are wreaking havoc on traditional farmland. Three recent floods (in 1993, 2007 and 2008) cost the United States billions of dollars in lost crops, with even more devastating losses in topsoil. Changes in rain patterns and temperature could diminish India’s agricultural output by 30 percent by the end of the century.
What’s more, population increases will soon cause our farmers to run out of land. The amount of arable land per person decreased from about an acre in 1970 to roughly half an acre in 2000 and is projected to decline to about a third of an acre by 2050, according to the United Nations. With billions more people on the way, before we know it the traditional soil-based farming model developed over the last 12,000 years will no longer be a sustainable option.
Irrigation now claims some 70 percent of the fresh water that we use. After applying this water to crops, the excess agricultural runoff, contaminated with silt, pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers, is unfit for reuse. The developed world must find new agricultural approaches before the world’s hungriest come knocking on its door for a glass of clean water and a plate of disease-free rice and beans.
Imagine a farm right in the middle of a major city. Food production would take advantage of hydroponic and aeroponic technologies. Both methods are soil-free. Hydroponics allows us to grow plants in a water-and-nutrient solution, while aeroponics grows them in a nutrient-laden mist. These methods use far less water than conventional cultivation techniques, in some cases as much as 90 percent less.
Now apply the vertical farm concept to countries that are water-challenged — the Middle East readily comes to mind — and suddenly things look less hopeless. For this reason the world’s very first vertical farm may be established there, although the idea has garnered considerable interest from architects and governments all over the world.
Vertical farms are now feasible, in large part because of a robust global greenhouse initiative that has enjoyed considerable commercial success over the last 10 years. (Disclosure: I’ve started a business to build vertical farms.) There is a rising consumer demand for locally grown vegetables and fruits, as well as intense urban-farming activity in cities throughout the United States. Vertical farms would not only revolutionize and improve urban life but also revitalize land that was damaged by traditional farming. For every indoor acre farmed, some 10 to 20 outdoor acres of farmland could be allowed to return to their original ecological state (mostly hardwood forest). Abandoned farms do this free of charge, with no human help required.
A vertical farm would behave like a functional ecosystem, in which waste was recycled and the water used in hydroponics and aeroponics was recaptured by dehumidification and used over and over again. The technologies needed to create a vertical farm are currently being used in controlled-environment agriculture facilities but have not been integrated into a seamless source of food production in urban high-rise buildings.
Such buildings, by the way, are not the only structures that could house vertical farms. Farms of various dimensions and crop yields could be built into a variety of urban settings — from schools, restaurants and hospitals to the upper floors of apartment complexes. By supplying a continuous quantity of fresh vegetables and fruits to city dwellers, these farms would help combat health problems, like Type II diabetes and obesity, that arise in part from the lack of quality produce in our diet.
The list of benefits is long. Vertical farms would produce crops year-round that contain no agro-chemicals. Fish and poultry could also be raised indoors. The farms would greatly reduce fossil-fuel use and greenhouse-gas emissions, since they would eliminate the need for heavy farm machinery and trucks that deliver food from farm to fork. (Wouldn’t it be great if everything on your plate came from around the corner, rather than from hundreds to thousands of miles away?)
Vertical farming could finally put an end to agricultural runoff, a major source of water pollution. Crops would never again be destroyed by floods or droughts. New employment opportunities for vertical farm managers and workers would abound, and abandoned city properties would become productive once again.
Vertical farms would also make cities more pleasant places to live. The structures themselves would be things of beauty and grace. In order to allow plants to capture passive sunlight, walls and ceilings would be completely transparent. So from a distance, it would look as if there were gardens suspended in space.
City dwellers would also be able to breathe easier — quite literally. Vertical farms would bring a great concentration of plants into cities. These plants would absorb carbon dioxide produced by automobile emissions and give off oxygen in return. So imagine you wanted to build the first vertical farm and put it in New York City. What would it take? We have the technology — now we need money, political will and, of course, proof that this concept can work. That’s why a prototype would be a good place to start. I estimate that constructing a five-story farm, taking up one-eighth of a square city block, would cost $20 million to $30 million. Part of the financing should come from the city government, as a vertical farm would go a long way toward achieving Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s goal of a green New York City by 2030. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has already expressed interest in having a vertical farm in the city. City officials should be interested. If a farm is located where the public can easily visit it, the iconic building could generate significant tourist dollars, on top of revenue from the sales of its produce.
But most of the financing should come from private sources, including groups controlling venture-capital funds. The real money would flow once entrepreneurs and clean-tech investors realize how much profit there is to be made in urban farming. Imagine a farm in which crop production is not limited by seasons or adverse weather events. Sales could be made in advance because crop-production levels could be guaranteed, thanks to the predictable nature of indoor agriculture. An actual indoor farm developed at Cornell University growing hydroponic lettuce was able to produce as many as 68 heads per square foot per year. At a retail price in New York of up to $2.50 a head for hydroponic lettuce, you can easily do the math and project profitability for other similar crops.
When people ask me why the world still does not have a single vertical farm, I just raise my eyebrows and shrug my shoulders. Perhaps people just need to see proof that farms can grow several stories high. As soon as the first city takes that leap of faith, the world’s first vertical farm could be less than a year away from coming to the aid of a hungry, thirsty world. Not a moment too soon.
President vows to reduce reliance on food imports
President vows to reduce reliance on food imports
President Mohamed Nasheed spoke yesterday of the government’s plans to produce 20 per cent of the country’s foodstuffs by the end of his first term in office.
Agriculture will improve both the nation’s prosperity and the standard of living, said the president, speaking at the country’s first farmer’s ceremony held at Faafu atoll Nilandhoo.
“Our objective is to broaden economic activities in the country and produce what we need as much as possible in the Maldives,” he said.
Dr Ibrahim Didi, minister of fisheries and agriculture, told Minivan News that 1,300 people had recently been given the opportunity to participate in three-month farming courses.
Further, in April, the ministry revealed that Rf12,125,000 (US$9.5 million) worth of loans would be issued to farmers to develop agriculture in the country.
The minister added the government planned to reduce import taxes on fertilisers and farming equipment to encourage start-ups.
Stumbling blocks
Addressing Nilandhoo islanders yesterday, the president said that while fertile land was a challenge in the Maldives, new technologies, such as hydroponic farming could be successfully applied to the Maldives.
Hydroponic farming allows crops to grow in sand, gravel or liquid with the help of added nutrients and irrigation.
“There are many countries without enough land or water for agriculture,” he said. “In our view, one of the countries that has developed the most in this field is Israel. In that country, in the desert, with a shortage of water, they run a perfect agriculture industry.”
Speaking to Minivan News today, Mohamed Ali, state minister for agriculture, said farmers' attitudes to farming needed to be changed.
While there was currently small-scale farming in the country, he said, farmers worked independently rather than in partnership.
“Unless there are co-operatives between farmers to produce what and when, there’s no way you can have a guaranteed supply at a guaranteed time,” said Ali. “Some people should have nurseries, others should plant and others sell and then you can have a constant supply.”
Addressing the country’s poor transport system, the president said the establishment of a ferry network would help overcome this hurdle.
Last week, the government signed an agreement with Maldives Dhoni Services for a ferry network in the South Central Province - the first of its kind in the country.
Future possibilities
Both Nasheed and Ali agreed that if a ferry system could be established and co-operatives formed to coordinate farming, produce could be sold to tourist resorts.
Didi said the government would make certain that Maldivian produce was cheaper than imports to encourage resorts to buy locally.
The positive impact of farming would be manifold, said Ali. A 20 per cent reduction in government expenditure on food imports would not only lead to fewer dollars leaving the country but would also create job opportunities for locals, he said.
He added more fresh local produce would improve health and nutrition in the country.
Undernutrition in the Maldives is a serious problem and latest statistics reveal that 17 per cent of children under five suffer from stunted growth, 13 per cent from wasting and 25 per cent are underweight.
Safoora Mansoor, an interpreter at Nilandhoo healthcentre, said promoting farming was a “very good idea”. “Then we can buy our own fruits from here at a lower price,” she said. “And it would be even better if we could sell our produce to other islands.”
At last night’s ceremony, the president spoke confidently about delivering on his party’s pledges. “I want to assure citizens that we will not back down,” he said. “We will do all we can and pave the way for all citizens to benefit from an agriculture industry.”
Notes From an Urban Farmer
Notes From an Urban Farmer
I think we can do Urban farming in this technology.
Novella Carpenter (Farm City/Flickr)
Urban farmer Novella Carpenter’s hens feed on the weeds in the cracks of the sidewalks in Oakland, California. On an abandoned lot on her dead-end street, she’s coaxed all sorts of things to thrive – carrots and watermelon, pigs, eggs, and bees – with some seeds, some sun, and many, many truckloads of horse manure. She writes about it in great, glorious detail, in “Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer.”
She joined us Thursday — along with urban farming visionary Will Allen (Novella calls him a “hero of urban farming”) – to talk about growing food in the inner city (listen to full hour here). We asked if she’d share some follow-up thoughts – on hygiene, hydroponics, and growing year-round. She sent us this:
Thank you so much On Point for having me on the radio. It’s funny, wherever I go, someone has a story about farming: after the show, the sound engineer (in Berkeley) pulled out his iPhone and showed me photos of his amazing harvest of Gravenstein apples and the resultant apple sauce that he and his wife had canned. People are really starting to connect with their food and are feeling empowered by home food production.
Which brings up some of the issues that callers raised and we didn’t have enough time to fully discuss. One of the amazing opportunities I’ve had as an author touring around the country to promote my book, “Farm City,” has been to meet fellow urban farmers. And like Will Allen mentioned, many of them are people of color or working class folks. I had a Latina woman give me a kiss on the cheek at a reading in Los Angeles because she said I was making Latino farm workers proud of their skills, and as a young woman she was learning to embrace that culture of hard work and good food. We’ve forgotten that farming is an art, science, and craft. Anyone who has a history of doing this work in their family should be proud of that history because food is so elemental, so powerful.
Living in Oakland, I’ve met quite a few former Black Panthers, and they’ve reminded me that part of the Black Panthers’ programs was to feed their people healthy food, and they even had school garden projects that taught children about good nutrition and organic gardening. This was in the 1970s! It’s only recently that inner-city people have been forced to eat cheap, unhealthy fast food because it is all they can afford. When I see people in my neighborhood coming into my garden to eat a tomato or pick some greens for dinner, I feel so happy that I’ve created that possibility. And it’s the least I can do–as a squatter, I want to give something back.
In terms of the caller who was worried about odors and dangers associated with urban livestock, she was right that urban areas in the 1800s had some management issues. Cows were being kept in garages and fed swill from the local distilleries, pigs ran free, eating garbage and terrorizing people. However, our society is very different now, and in cities especially animal welfare is a huge concern. I would argue that cities might make better places for raising livestock because best practices would have to be maintained or the neighbors would complain. Can you imagine living right next to an industrial cattle feedlot? There would be an outcry from the public. Since there are neighbors watching (and smelling), you have to keep things tidy and reasonable (as I discovered while raising my pigs and too many chickens.)
Finally, there was a question about hydroponics and year-round growing. As a Californian, the only hydroponics I’m familiar with are for growing a certain cash crop. I have traveled to Venezuela where they have a big program of organiponicos–basically tables with some soil that are fed nutrients. But again, that’s a tropical place. In 19th-century Paris, there was a large farm near the center of town where the crops were grown under cloches and kept warm with the decomposition of horse manure (then the major way to get around). So I advise that person to start researching what people did historically: we’re going to have to re-learn things that our ancestors did. Another example is keeping root cellars. You can store apples and carrots in sand, for instance, and they will last a good long time. And I’m totally inspired by Will Allen’s innovations and ability to grow so much throughout the year in the cold Midwest.
As the Economy Struggles, Urban Gardens Grow
As the Economy Struggles, Urban Gardens Grow
By reclaiming vacant lots, providing cheap produce, and giving community members a sense or purpose, city gardens reap a bounty of benefits.
A little garden between the skyscrapers and busy streets of a metropolis is no longer a luxury only for those with deep pockets and great patios. Urban farms and gardens are being planted in major cities throughout the U.S. thanks, in part, to an increasing need to lower the cost of locally grown, organic food. While it's impossible to gauge just how many urban farms and gardens there are across the country (they range from personal plots to full-scale farms with viable acreage), many are found in urban epicenters, often in low-income neighborhoods lacking grocery stores and farmers markets. They're wedged between government housing, abandoned buildings, halted construction projects and streets known more for their crime problems than their heirloom tomatoes. And as the economy fails to thrive, advocates say the benefits of these gardens are even more pronounced.
"The recession has increased interest in home food gardening," says Colin McCrate of the Seattle Urban Farm Co. "Although the failing economy gives yet another reason to start growing vegetables, I think that most people are growing their own food because they believe this is a tangible way to reduce their impact on the environment and improve the quality of their diets."
Proponents say there are several reasons why urban agriculture makes sense in 2009. "Before the recession, there was an interest in greening and thinking about food systems," says Patrick Crouch of Detroit-based Earthworks Urban Farm. But he believes a perfect storm of economics, ecological awareness, and basic supply-and-demand could push urban agriculture forward in cities. "A huge number of vacant lots is usually seen as a detriment to a community," he says. But by turning these spaces into farms and gardens, they present long-term greening and financial opportunities for residents that lack basic health and nutritional care, not to mention radically decreased economic opportunities during the recession.
Today's urban agricultural movement began visibly in the U.S. with victory gardens during the world wars and experienced a renaissance after the nation's last economic crisis in the 1970s. With more Americans becoming conscious of "green" issues, recent economic challenges have once again introduced it as an alternative for people impacted by financial shortfalls across the country.
At Philadelphia's Greensgrow, a hydroponic farm situated on a lot once belonging to an abandoned galvanized steel plant, visitors are greeted by beds of organic soil blooming with vegetables that are sold for nominal fees to neighbors, nonprofits, and nearby restaurants. Similarly, at Seattle's P-Patch network of community gardens, 7 to 10 tons of produce is harvested each year for local food banks, and more than 23 acres of land serves up affordable food to low-income and immigrant populations.
And at Backdoor Harvest, an urban agricultural organization in St. Louis, novice and longtime tillers are busy planting "recession gardens," private plots that supply individuals and families with well-rounded ingredients for meals that save substantially on grocery bills. Founder Marsha Giambalvo helps members design their own sustainable gardens depending on the sorts of meals they plan to prepare using fruits, vegetables and even herbs. Backdoor Harvest also sells fresh, organic crops to local farmer's markets and eateries at lower cost than most supermarkets. She's encouraging neighbors to adopt and prune trees that may already grow wild in neighborhoods, and to plant trees for harvesting apples, oranges, lemons, and other fruits.
In Detroit, a hot bed for reforestation initiatives thanks to The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit dedicated to streetscaping, Earthworks Urban Farm provides low-cost produce at volunteer-run markets. Bordering an old railroad track in a residential neighborhood, the farm also supplies food to its parent organization, Capuchin Soup Kitchen, which has witnessed a boom among families who can no longer afford to provide meals for their children.
These farms also fill the void of community improvement projects as funding is slashed by local governments. Added Value, a nonprofit in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, N.Y., has spent the past decade revitalizing local parks and transforming vacant land into green space. An army of volunteers now harvests food on its 2.75 acres, once the site of a dilapidated playground. Funds for many of the projects come from the farms themselves. As community members buy and sell produce, money is filtered back into that same community.
"Urban farms carry the message of food self-sufficiency and healthy living," says Katherine Kelly, executive director of the K.C. Center for Urban Agriculture in Kansas City, Kans. "What the recession has done is remind us how costly food can be."
Not all gardens grow out of formally structured organizations. Three years ago, Bruce Fields and several neighbors turned a tar beach in Chicago's Wicker Park into a lush garden that he blogs about on Greenroofgrowers.blogspot.com. This wave of "guerrilla gardening," or taking over space for greening's sake, is becoming another way city folks are rescuing unused, and often unattractive space (legally and otherwise) to grow food and flora. As the recession slows construction and leaves vacant lots empty where perhaps a condo would have stood before the real-estate slump, this radical form of gardening stakes its claim anywhere a plant or tree can take root.
Gardening may be a subtle form of control as people face dwindling 401(k)s and shaky employment prospects. "These are often symbolic actions," says Erik Knutzen, co-author of The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-Sufficient Living in the Heart of the City (Process, 2008). "It leads to a sense of empowerment," he says. Finding new ways of sustaining basic needs (in this case, food security) and creating social opportunities (growing, buying and selling produce with neighbors) inspire people to take charge of their communities.
"There's nothing like picking a tomato and bringing it to the table," says Knutzen, who attributes urban agriculture to saving money and inspiring better health and community habits overall. "And this leads to other improvements," he says, "like caring more about our neighborhoods and bringing about more positive change right where we live."
Hydroponics Farming
Hydroponics
Hydroponics (from the Greek words hydro water and ponos labor) is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, or mineral wool.
Plant physiology researchers discovered in the 19th century that plants absorb essential mineral nutrients as inorganic ions in water. In natural conditions, soil acts as a mineral nutrient reservoir but the soil itself is not essential to plant growth. When the mineral nutrients in the soil dissolve in water, plant roots are able to absorb them. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to thrive. Almost any terrestrial plant will grow with hydroponics. Hydroponics is also a standard technique in biology research and teaching.
HISTORY OF HYDROPONICS
The study of crop nutrition began thousands of years ago. Ancient history tells us that various experiments were undertaken by Theophrastus (372-287 B.C.), while several writings of Dioscorides on botany dating from the first century A.D., are still in existence.[1]
The earliest published work on growing terrestrial plants without soil was the 1627 book, Sylva Sylvarum by Sir Francis Bacon, printed a year after his death. Water culture became a popular research technique after that. In 1699, John Woodward published his water culture experiments with spearmint. He found that plants in less pure water sources grew better than plants in distilled water. By 1842 a list of nine elements believed to be essential to plant growth had been made out, and the discoveries of the German botanists, Julius von Sachs and Wilhelm Knop, in the years 1859-65, resulted in a development of the technique of soilless cultivation.[1] Growth of terrestrial plants without soil in mineral nutrient solutions was called solution culture. It quickly became a standard research and teaching technique and is still widely used today. Solution culture is now considered a type of hydroponics where there is no inert medium.
In 1929, Professor William Frederick Gericke of the University of California at Berkeley began publicly promoting that solution culture be used for agricultural crop production. He first termed it aquaculture but later found that aquaculture was already applied to culture of aquatic organisms. Gericke created a sensation by growing tomato vines twenty-five feet high in his back yard in mineral nutrient solutions rather than soil. By analogy with the ancient Greek term for agriculture, geoponics, the science of cultivating the earth, Gericke introduced the term hydroponics in 1937 (although he asserts that the term was suggested by Dr. W. A. Setchell, of the University of California) for the culture of plants in water (from the Greek hydros, "water", and ponos, "labor").[1]
Reports of Gericke's work and his claims that hydroponics would revolutionize plant agriculture prompted a huge number of requests for further information. Gericke refused to reveal his secrets claiming he had done the work at home on his own time. This refusal eventually resulted in his leaving the University of California. In 1940, he wrote the book, Complete Guide to Soilless Gardening.
Two other plant nutritionists at the University of California were asked to research Gericke's claims. Dennis R. Hoagland and Daniel I. Arnon wrote a classic 1938 agricultural bulletin, The Water Culture Method for Growing Plants Without Soil,[2] debunking the exaggerated claims made about hydroponics. Hoagland and Arnon found that hydroponic crop yields were no better than crop yields with good quality soils. Crop yields were ultimately limited by factors other than mineral nutrients, especially light. This research, however, overlooked the fact that hydroponics has other advantages including the fact that the roots of the plant have constant access to oxygen and that the plants have access to as much or as little water as they need. This is important as one of the most common errors when growing is over- and under- watering; and hydroponics prevents this from occurring as large amounts of water can be made available to the plant and any water not used, drained away, recirculated, or actively aerated, eliminating anoxic conditions which drown root systems in soil. In soil, a grower needs to be very experienced to know exactly how much water to feed the plant. Too much and the plant will not be able to access oxygen; too little and the plant will lose the ability to transport nutrients, which are typically moved into the roots while in solution.
These two researchers developed several formulas for mineral nutrient solutions, known as Hoagland solutions. Modified Hoagland solutions are still used today.
One of the early successes of hydroponics occurred on Wake Island, a rocky atoll in the Pacific Ocean used as a refueling stop for Pan American Airlines. Hydroponics was used there in the 1930s to grow vegetables for the passengers. Hydroponics was a necessity on Wake Island because there was no soil, and it was prohibitively expensive to airlift in fresh vegetables.
In the 1960s, Allen Cooper of England developed the Nutrient film technique. The Land Pavilion at Walt Disney World's EPCOT Center opened in 1982 and prominently features a variety of hydroponic techniques. In recent decades, NASA has done extensive hydroponic research for their Controlled Ecological Life Support System or CELSS. Hydroponics intended to take place on Mars are using LED lighting to grow in different color spectrum with much less heat.
In 1978, hydroponics pioneer Dr. Howard Resh published the first edition of his book "Hydroponics Food Production." This book (now updated) spurred what has become known as the 3-part base nutrients formula that is still a major component of today's hydroponics gardening. Resh later went on to publish other books, and is currently in charge of a highly advanced hydroponics research and production facility in the Caribbean.
ORIGIN
Soilless culture
Gericke originally defined hydroponics as crop growth in mineral nutrient solutions, with no solid medium for the roots. He objected in print to people who applied the term hydroponics to other types of soilless culture such as sand culture and gravel culture. The distinction between hydroponics and soilless culture of plants has often been blurred. Soilless culture is a broader term than hydroponics; it only requires that no soils with clay or silt are used. Note that sand is a type of soil yet sand culture is considered a type of soilless culture. Hydroponics is a subset of soilless culture. Many types of soilless culture do not use the mineral nutrient solutions required for hydroponics.
Billions of container plants are produced annually, including fruit, shade and ornamental trees, shrubs, forest seedlings, vegetable seedlings, bedding plants, herbaceous perennials and vines. Most container plants are produced in soilless media, representing soilless culture. However, most are not hydroponics because the soilless medium often provides some of the mineral nutrients via slow release fertilizers, cation exchange and decomposition of the organic medium itself. Most soilless media for container plants also contain organic materials such as peat or composted bark, which provide some nitrogen to the plant. Greenhouse growth of plants in peat bags is often termed hydroponics, but technically it is not because the medium provides some of the mineral nutrients.
ADVANTAGES
Today, hydroponics is an established branch of agronomical science. Progress has been rapid, and results obtained in various countries have proved it to be thoroughly practical and to have very definite advantages over conventional methods of horticulture. The two chief merits of the soilless cultivation of plants are, first, much higher crop yields, and secondly, the fact that hydroponics can be used in places where ordinary agriculture or gardening is impossible. Thus not only is it a profitable undertaking, but one which has proved of great benefit to humanity. People living in crowded city streets, without gardens, can grow fresh vegetables and fruits in window-boxes or on house tops. By means of hydroponics all such places can be made to yield a regular and abundant supply of clean, health-giving greenstuff. Not only town dwellers, but also country residents have cause to be thankful to soiless culture. Deserts, rocky and stony land in mountainous districts or barren and sterile areas can be made productive at relatively low cost.
Other advantages include faster growth combined with relative freedom from soil diseases, and very consistent crops, the quality of produce being excellent. There is also a considerable reduction in growing area, weeds are practically non-existent, while standard methods and automatic operations mean less labor, less cost, and no hard manual work. Some plants can be raised, out of season, better control of crops naturally results in addition to no dirt and no smells. Waterlogging never occurs now. Chemically grown plants are not inferior to naturally reared ones in point of flavor, nor have analyses shown any deficiency in vitamin content.
DISADVANTAGES
The hydroponic conditions (presence of fertilizer and high humidity) create an environment that stimulates salmonella growth.[3] Another disadvantage is pathogens attacks including damp-off due to Verticillium wilt caused by the high moisture levels associated with hydroponics and overwatering of soil based plants.
TECHNIQUES
The two main types of hydroponics are solution culture and medium culture. Solution culture does not use a solid medium for the roots, just the nutrient solution. The three main types of solution culture are static solution culture, continuous flow solution culture and aeroponics. The medium culture method has a solid medium for the roots and is named for the type of medium, e.g. sand culture, gravel culture or rockwool culture. There are two main variations for each medium, subirrigation and top irrigation. For all techniques, most hydroponic reservoirs are now built of plastic but other materials have been used including concrete, glass, metal, vegetable solids and wood. The containers should exclude light to prevent algae growth in the nutrient solution.
Static solution culture
In static solution culture, plants are grown in containers of nutrient solution, such as glass Mason jars (typically in-home applications), plastic buckets, tubs or tanks. The solution is usually gently aerated but may be unaerated. If unaerated, the solution level is kept low enough that enough roots are above the solution so they get adequate oxygen. A hole is cut in the lid of the reservoir for each plant. There can be one to many plants per reservoir. Reservoir size can be increased as plant size increases. A homemade system can be constructed from plastic food containers or glass canning jars with aeration provided by an aquarium pump, aquarium airline tubing and aquarium valves. Clear containers are covered with aluminium foil, butcher paper, black plastic or other material to exclude light, thus helping to eliminate the formation of algae. The nutrient solution is either changed on a schedule, such as once per week, or when the concentration drops below a certain level as determined with an electrical conductivity meter. Whenever the solution is depleted below a certain level, either water or fresh nutrient solution is added. A Mariotte's bottle can be used to automatically maintain the solution level. In raft solution culture, plants are placed in a sheet of buoyant plastic that is floated on the surface of the nutrient solution. That way, the solution level never drops below the roots.
Continuous flow solution culture
In continuous flow solution culture the nutrient solution constantly flows past the roots. It is much easier to automate than the static solution culture because sampling and adjustments to the temperature and nutrient concentrations can be made in a large storage tank that serves potentially thousands of plants. A popular variation is the nutrient film technique or NFT whereby a very shallow stream of water containing all the dissolved nutrients required for plant growth is recirculated past the bare roots of plants in a watertight gully, also known as channels. Ideally, the depth of the recirculating stream should be very shallow, little more than a film of water, hence the name 'nutrient film'. This ensures that the thick root mat, which develops in the bottom of the channel, has an upper surface which, although moist, is in the air. Subsequently, there is an abundant supply of oxygen to the roots of the plants. A properly designed NFT system is based on using the right channel slope, the right flow rate and the right channel length. The main advantage of the NFT system over other forms of hydroponics is that the plant roots are exposed to adequate supplies of water, oxygen and nutrients. In all other forms of production there is a conflict between the supply of these requirements, since excessive or deficient amounts of one results in an imbalance of one or both of the others. NFT, because of its design, provides a system where all three requirements for healthy plant growth can be met at the same time, providing the simple concept of NFT is always remembered and practised. The result of these advantages is that higher yields of high quality produce are obtained over an extended period of cropping. A downside of NFT is that it has very little buffering against interruptions in the flow e.g. power outages, but overall, it is probably one of the more productive techniques.
The same design characteristics apply to all conventional NFT systems. While slopes along channels of 1:100 have been recommended, in practice it is difficult to build a base for channels that is sufficiently true to enable nutrient films to flow without ponding in locally depressed areas. Consequently, it is recommended that slopes of 1:30 to 1:40 are used. This allows for minor irregularities in the surface but, even with these slopes, ponding and waterlogging may occur. The slope may be provided by the floor, or benches or racks may hold the channels and provide the required slope. Both methods are used and depend on local requirements, often determined by the site and crop requirements.
As a general guide, flow rates for each gully should be 1 liter per minute. At planting, rates may be half this and the upper limit of 2L/min appears about the maximum. Flow rates beyond these extremes are often associated with nutritional problems. Depressed growth rates of many crops have been observed when channels exceed 12 metres in length. On rapidly growing crops, tests have indicated that, while oxygen levels remain adequate, nitrogen may be depleted over the length of the gully. Consequently, channel length should not exceed 10-15 metres. In situations where this is not possible, the reductions in growth can be eliminated by placing another nutrient feed half way along the gully and reducing flow rates to 1L/min through each outlet.
Aeroponics
Main article: Aeroponics
Aeroponics is a system where roots are continuously or discontinuously kept in an environment saturated with fine drops (a mist or aerosol) of nutrient solution. The method requires no substrate and entails growing plants with their roots suspended in a deep air or growth chamber with the roots periodically wetted with a fine mist of atomized nutrients. Excellent aeration is the main advantage of aeroponics.
Aeroponic techniques have proved to be commercially successful for propagation, seed germination, seed potato production, tomato production, leaf crops and micro-greens.[5] Since Richard Stoner, inventor and entrepreneur, first commercialized aeroponic technology in 1983 aeroponics has been implemented as an alternative to water intensive hydroponic systems worldwide.[6] The limitation of hydroponics is the fact that 1 kg of water can only hold 8 mg of air, no matter if aerators are utilized or not.
Another distinct advantage of aeroponics over hydroponics is that any species of plants can be grown in a true aeroponic system because the micro environment of an aeroponic can be finely controlled. The limitation of hydroponics is that only certain species of plants can survive for so long in water before they become water logged. The advantage of aeroponics is due to the fact that suspended aeroponic plants receive 100% of the available oxygen and CO2 to the roots zone, stems and leaves,[7] thus accelerating biomass growth and reducing rooting times. NASA research has shown that aeroponically grown plants have an 80% increase in dry weight biomass (essential minerals) compared to hydroponically grown plants. Aeroponics used 65% less water than hydroponics. NASA also concluded that aeroponically grown plants requires ¼ the nutrient input compared to hydroponics. Unlike hydroponically grown plants, aeroponically plants will not suffer transplant shock when transplanted to soil. Unlike hydroponics, aeroponics also offers growers the ability to reduce the spread of disease and pathogens.[8] Aeroponics is also widely used in laboratory studies of plant physiology and plant pathology. Aeroponic techniques have been given special attention from NASA since a mist is easier to handle than a liquid in a zero gravity environment.
Passive subirrigation
Main article: Passive hydroponics
Passive subirrigation, also known as passive hydroponics or semi-hydroponics, is a method where plants are grown in an inert porous medium that transports water and fertilizer to the roots by capillary action from a separate reservoir as necessary, reducing labor and providing a constant supply of water to the roots. In the simplest method, the pot sits in a shallow solution of fertilizer and water or on a capillary mat saturated with nutrient solution. The various hydroponic media available, such as expanded clay and coconut husk, contain more air space than more traditional potting mixes, delivering increased oxygen to the roots, which is important in epiphytic plants such as orchids and bromeliads, whose roots are exposed to the air in nature. Additional advantages of passive hydroponics are the reduction of root rot and the additional ambient humidity provided through evaporation.
Ebb and flow / Flood and drain subirrigation
Main article: Ebb and flow
In its simplest form, there is a tray above a reservoir of nutrient solution. The tray is either filled with growing medium (clay granules being the most common) and planted directly, or pots of medium stand in the tray. At regular intervals, a simple timer causes a pump to fill the upper tray with nutrient solution, after which the solution drains back down into the reservoir. This keeps the medium regularly flushed with nutrients and air. Once the upper tray fills past the drain stop it begins recirculating the water until the pump is turned off and the water in the upper tray drains back into the reservoir.
Top irrigation
In Top irrigation, nutrient solution is periodically applied to the medium surface. This may be done manually once per day in large containers of some media, such as sand. Usually, it is automated with a pump, timer and drip irrigation tubing to deliver nutrient solution as frequently as 5 to 10 minutes every hour.
Deep water culture
Main article: Deep water culture
The hydroponic method of plant production by means of suspending the plant roots in a solution of nutrient rich, oxygenated water. Traditional methods favor the use of plastic buckets and large containers with the plant contained in a net pot suspended from the centre of the lid and the roots suspended in the nutrient solution.
MEDIA
One of the most obvious decisions hydroponic farmers have to make is which medium they should use. Different media are appropriate for different growing techniques.
Diahydro
Diahydro is a natural sedimentary rock medium that consists of the fossilized remains of diatoms. Diahydro is extremely high in Silica (87-94%), an essential component for the growth of plants and strengthening of cell walls.
Expanded clay
Hydroton brand expanded clay pebbles.
Baked clay pellets, also known under the trademarks 'Hydroton' or LECA (light expanded clay aggregate), are suitable for hydroponic systems in which all nutrients are carefully controlled in water solution. The clay pellets are inert, pH neutral and do not contain any nutrient value.
The clay is formed into round pellets and fired in rotary kilns at 1200 °C. This causes the clay to expand, like popcorn, and become porous. It is light in weight, and does not compact over time. Shape of individual pellet can be irregular or uniform depending on brand and manufacturing process. The manufacturers consider expanded clay to be an ecologically sustainable and re-usable growing medium because of its ability to be cleaned and sterilized, typically by washing in solutions of white vinegar, chlorine bleach or hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), and rinsing completely.
A less popular view is that clay pebbles are best not re-used even when they are cleaned, due to root growth which may enter the medium. Breaking open a clay pebble after a crop has been grown will reveal this growth.
Rock wool
Rock wool (mineral wool) is probably the most widely used medium in hydroponics. Rock Wool is an inert substrate for both 'free drainage' and recirculating systems. It is produced by aerosolization of molten mineral compounds, resulting in a fibrous medium accessible to capillary action that is not degraded by microbiological activity.
Coir
Coco Peat, also known as coir or coco, is the leftover material after the fibres have been removed from the outermost shell (bolster) of the coconut. Coir is a 100% natural grow and flowering medium.
Perlite
Perlite is a volcanic rock that has been superheated into very lightweight expanded glass pebbles. It is used loose or in plastic sleeves immersed in the water. It is also used in potting soil mixes to decrease soil density. Perlite has similar properties and uses to vermiculite but generally holds more air and less water. If not contained, it can float if flood and drain feeding is used. It is a fusion of granite, obsidian, pumice and basalt. This volcanic rock is naturally fused at high temperatures undergoing what is called "Fusionic Metamorphosis".
Vermiculite
Like perlite, vermiculite is another mineral that has been superheated until it has expanded into light pebbles. Vermiculite holds more water than perlite and has a natural "wicking" property that can draw water and nutrients in a passive hydroponic system. If too much water and not enough air surrounds the plants roots, it's possible to gradually lower the medium's water-retention capability by mixing in increasing quantities of perlite.
Sand
Sand is cheap and easily available. However, it is heavy, it does not always drain well, and it must be sterilized between use.
Gravel
The same type that is used in aquariums, though any small gravel can be used, provided it is washed first. Indeed, plants growing in a typical traditional gravel filter bed, with water circulated using electric powerhead pumps, are in effect being grown using gravel hydroponics. Gravel is inexpensive, easy to keep clean, drains well and won't become waterlogged. However, it is also heavy, and if the system doesn't provide continuous water, the plant roots may dry out.
Brick shards
Brick shards have similar properties to gravel. They have the added disadvantages of possibly altering the pH and requiring extra cleaning before reuse.
Polystyrene packing peanuts
Polystyrene packing peanuts are inexpensive, readily available, and have excellent drainage. However, they can be too lightweight for some uses. They are mainly used in closed tube systems. Note that polystyrene peanuts must be used; biodegradable packing peanuts will decompose into a sludge. Plants may absorb styrene and pass it to their consumers; this is a possible health risk.
Styrofoam
Similar to polystyrene packing, plants may absorb PVC which is a health risk when consumed.
Wood fibre
Wood fibre, produced from steam friction of wood, is a very efficient organic substrate for hydroponics. It has the advantage that it keeps its stucture for a very long time.
NUTRIENT SOLUTION
Plant nutrients are dissolved in the water used in hydroponics and are mostly in inorganic and ionic form. Primary among the dissolved cations (positively-charged ions) are Ca2+ (calcium), Mg2+ (magnesium), and K+ (potassium); the major nutrient anions in nutrient solutions are NO3− (nitrate), SO42− (sulfate), and H2PO4− (dihydrogen phosphate).
Numerous 'recipes' for hydroponic solutions are available. Many use different combinations of chemicals to reach similar total final compositions. Commonly-used chemicals for the macronutrients include potassium nitrate, calcium nitrate, potassium phosphate, and magnesium sulfate. Various micronutrients are typically added to hydroponic solutions to supply essential elements; among them are Fe (iron), Mn (manganese), Cu (copper), Zn (zinc), B (boron), Cl (chlorine), and Ni (nickel). Chelating agents are sometimes used to keep Fe soluble. Many variations of the nutrient solutions used by Arnon and Hoagland (see above) have been styled 'modified Hoagland solutions' and are widely used. Variation of different mixes throughout the plant life cycle, further optimizes its nutritional value.[9]
Plants will change the composition of the nutrient solutions upon contact by depleting specific nutrients more rapidly than others, removing water from the solution, and altering the pH by excretion of either acidity or alkalinity. Care is required not to allow salt concentrations to become too high, nutrients to become too depleted, or pH to wander far from the desired value.
COMMERCIAL
The largest commercial hydroponics facility in the world is Eurofresh Farms in Willcox, Arizona, which sold 125 million pounds of tomatoes in 2005.[10] Eurofresh has 318 acres (1.29 km2) under glass and represents about a third of the commercial hydroponic greenhouse area in the U.S.[11] Eurofresh does not consider its tomatoes organic, but they are pesticide-free. They are grown in rockwool with top irrigation.
Some commercial installations use no pesticides or herbicides, preferring integrated pest management techniques. There is often a price premium willingly paid by consumers for produce which is labeled "organic". Some states in the USA require soil as an essential to obtain organic certification. There are also overlapping and somewhat contradictory rules established by the US Federal Government, so some food grown with hydroponics can be certified organic.
Hydroponics also saves water; it uses as little as 1/20 the amount as a regular farm to produce the same amount of food. The water table can be impacted by the water use and run-off of chemicals from farms, but hydroponics may minimize impact as well as having the advantage that water use and water returns are easier to measure. This can save the farmer money by allowing reduced water use and the ability to measure consequences to the land around a farm.
To increase plant growth, lighting systems such as metal halide or high pressure sodium are used to lengthen the day or to supplement natural sunshine if it is scarce. Metal halide emits more light in the blue spectrum, making it ideal for plant growth. High pressure sodium emits more light in the red spectrum, meaning that it is best suited for supplementing natural sunshine. However, these lighting systems require large amounts of electricity (and hence high electrical expenses) to operate.
AgriHouse Inc under NASA grants researched and developed a high-efficiency low-wattage lighting array that eliminates insects from eating hydroponically and aeroponically grown crops.[12] AgriHouse's low-wattage light array system has only a 2°F heat transfer from the bulb to the crop, allowing the light source to be extremely close to the growing crop. The NASA lighting system allows Grow-Anywhere LLC, Denver, Colorado, to grow mass volumes of leaf crops and micro-greens using aeroponics in an industrial warehouse space without sunlight.[13] According, Dr. Larry Forrest, owner, this type of operation could not have been achieved with metal halide or high pressure sodium bulbs due to their high energy cost of operation.[14]
The environment in a hydroponics greenhouse is tightly controlled for maximum efficiency and this new mindset is called Soil-less/Controlled Environment Agriculture (S/CEA). With this growers can make ultra-premium foods anywhere in the world, regardless of temperature and growing seasons. Growers monitor the temperature, humidity, and pH level constantly.
Hydroponics have been used to enhance vegetables to provide more nutritional value. A hydroponic farmer in Virginia has developed a calcium and potassium enriched head of lettuce, scheduled to be widely available in April 2007. Grocers in test markets have said that the lettuce sells "very well", and the farmers claim that their hydroponic lettuce uses 90% less water than traditional soil farming.[15]
Additionally, Cannabis is often cultivated using hydroponics.
ADVANCEMENT
With pest problems reduced, and nutrients constantly fed to the roots, productivity in hydroponics is high, plant growth being limited by the low levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, or limited light. To increase yield further, some sealed greenhouses inject carbon dioxide into their environment to help growth (CO2 enrichment), or add lights to lengthen the day, control vegetative growth etc.