Tag Archives: agriculture

17 January 2023
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How could you grow kale on Sahara? The magic of hydroponic farming.

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Over the last 20 years, there could be seen a quite steady decline in the number of people with any level of malnutrition, or even starvation. However, the disruptions in recent years, caused those numbers to rise high up again. According to WHO (World Health Organization), the number of people experiencing any form of hunger increased to 828 million globally in 2021, which is an over 46 million difference in comparison with 2020 and an over 150 million increase since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic (World Health Organization, 2022).  

What can be done?

In places, where there is little access to water or lack of suitable land, the number of possible options is limited. Hence, here comes hydroponic farming. 

By definition, hydroponic agriculture is a process of growing plants by exchanging traditional soil for nutrient-rich water solutions, which may include an aggregate substrate, or other growing media, such as vermiculite, coconut coir, or perlite (National Agricultural Library, USDA, n.d.). Even though researchers suspect that this technique found its origin over 100 years ago, it started to gain afresh popularity in recent years, as a sustainable and efficient way to cultivate crops. 

Why is that?

One of the greatest advantages of hydroponic farming is water conservation. Traditional farming methods can be considered very water-intensive – for instance, there is needed over 1600 litres of water to produce 1kg of cereals (Armstrong, 2021) – yet hydroponics can use up to 90% less water than standard soil-based farming (Boylan, 2020). Moreover, this infrastructure for the process can be equipped with various sensors that enable full control of the environment – water, temperature, amount of nutrients or light. 

Controlled environment agriculture (CEA) allows for the optimisation of growth factors for a given plant, so any crops can be grown efficiently throughout the whole year. Furthermore, if plants will be cultivated hydroponically and indoors, they can be used as a fresh and nutritious source (eg. broccoli, cucumber, or kale), even in regions where water is scarce, such as the Sahara Desert. In addition, hydroponics can also help to reduce the use of pesticides and other chemicals, as the controlled environment of a hydroponic system can be developed to minimize the presence of any pests and diseases. 

All those features could contribute to mitigating the dangers to food production caused not only by the global warming crisis and increasing temperatures but also the disruptions within the global supply chain. 

Farms in the city

Due to its efficiency, hydroponic agriculture can also be employed to grow crops in urban areas and indoor spaces. This is particularly useful in cities where, as most of us know well, the land is minuscule and expensive. Anyone can build their own hydroponic farm, no matter if it’s indoors, on the balcony or in the garden. Growing your own vegetables or fruits at home can save you expenses, provide fresh sustenance, and decrease carbon emissions normally associated with transportation. You also can become an urban farmer, check the video below!

The Straits Times: Teen grows sustainable hydroponic farm at home

What are the challenges?

As always, despite the many advantages of hydroponic agriculture, there are also some challenges that must be overcome in order for it to become a feasible alternative to the traditional farming approach. One of the main challenges in hydroponic systems is the high cost of infrastructure – both its construction and maintenance. When summed, the total cost of used technologies, equipment and power can become significant. 

This is directly caused by the lack of research and innovative development in the field of hydroponic agriculture. While there has been some research in this area, it is still a relatively new area and there are still many advancements needed to fully optimize the growth of plants in a hydroponic system.

Future of farming

Despite these challenges, the future of hydroponic agriculture looks hopeful. Currently valued at US$12.9 billion, the hydroponics industry is expected to grow even up to US$58.1 billion by 2032, especially in growing economies like India, Brazil, South Africa, and Thailand (Future Market Insights, 2022). This technology is not only essential to end the world’s starvation, but also as the population constantly grows, the demand for food (especially fresh food) will also increase, making sustainable agriculture methods such as hydroponics more important than ever. 

As mentioned earlier, the United Nations’ data proves that at the given moment, the world population is moving further away from achieving the SDG’s 2030 goal to end hunger and malnutrition in any form (United Nations, 2022). That is why innovations in technologies such as hydroponic, or related vertical, farming are especially needed to provide a high yield of nutritious crops to anyone, anywhere on earth, at any time of the year. 

Hence, wherever you are in the city, suburbs, or rural area, try it. We need to raise awareness and invest in this technology to make it accessible to everyone, in every corner of the world.

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Resources:

World Health Organization. (2022, July 6). UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021. https://www.who.int/news/item/06-07-2022-un-report–global-hunger-numbers-rose-to-as-many-as-828-million-in-2021

National Agricultural Library, USDA. (n.d.). Hydroponics. https://www.nal.usda.gov/farms-and-agricultural-production-systems/hydroponics

Armstrong, M. (2021, June 7). Which foods need the most water to produce?. Word Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2021/06/water-footprint-food-sustainability

Boylan, C. (2020, November 9). THE FUTURE OF FARMING: HYDROPONICS. PRINCETON STUDENT CLIMATE INITIATIVE. https://psci.princeton.edu/tips/2020/11/9/the-future-of-farming-hydroponics

Future Market Insights. (2022). Hydroponics Market Outlook (2022-2032). https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/hydroponics-market

United Nations. (2022). Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022. Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal2

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7 December 2022
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Is Vertical Farming the Future?

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The global vertical farming market is actively developing and growing. It is believed that this relatively new type of farming is changing the agriculture sector and can help solve environmental problems. Let’s find out whether it’s true.

What is vertical farming?

Take a spacious building, hundreds of high shelves or pillars, no sunlight and rain, only artificial lightning and various technologies (dosing systems, the Internet of Things, sensors, AI, ML, and many others); there we go: we can start growing products vertically indoors. Of course, it is more complicated, but hopefully, the main idea is clear.

What food can be grown?

Most indoor farms grow herbs, salad leaves, and strawberries. Technically, it is possible to cultivate anything on such farms, but the problem is profitability. To grow wheat, potato, or rice, we need much more time and light than to grow, for example, lettuce. More time and energy mean more costs and a higher price for the final product.

According to Science Focus, a loaf of bread made from indoor-farm wheat will cost around $18. For comparison, a usual loaf is a dollar, give or take. So, it doesn’t make sense to produce crops with a long growing season on indoor farms.

What are the advantages?

Vertical farms are good for the environment.

For example, such farms use less water than usual farms. Nordic Harvest, Europe’s largest vertical farm, says: “We use up to 250 times less water compared to conventional agriculture.” Another company, the Jones Food Company (JFCo), says that they clean and reuse water up to 30 times, which significantly reduces its waste.

Also, the plants are located indoors, so pesticides used to protect crops from pests and disease carriers are not needed. Not using pesticides means not releasing them into the environment and accordingly not polluting it. 

Vertical farms can be easily located in the cities, near the consumers. So, there is no need to transfer products over long distances, which means less fuel is used and crops stay fresher.

Growing crops vertically saves space that can be used for something beneficial, for example, planting more trees.

Moreover, crops cultivated in a controlled environment are more consistent in appearance and flavor. Many products are wasted because they do not look appealing enough to consumers. That is why consistently having good-looking crops helps reduce food waste.

Finally, indoor farm products do not depend on weather conditions and climate thanks to technologies that create a sufficient growing environment. Hence, crops can be grown throughout the whole year. 

What about disadvantages?

With all the advantages, it can sound as if vertical farms are a salvation, the perfect solution to countless problems, and should be used more actively. But unfortunately, it’s not that simple, and there are some pitfalls.

First, indoor farms require a lot of energy to power various equipment. Energy costs a lot, while rain and sunlight used for conventional farms are free. Some farms use fossil fuels to produce electricity, contributing to environmental problems and not solving them. But other companies decided to rely on reusable energy.

For example, according to the Guardian, the Jones Food Company will cover their farm roofs with solar panels and use neighboring land for future solar panels or wind turbines. However, whether this will be enough to power the whole farm is a question.

Then, setting up and maintaining many technologies used on a farm is very expensive. Apart from these costs, we need to consider the costs for buying real estate. The buildings used for vertical farms are huge, hence expensive. And it is important to repeat that not all crops can be grown on vertical farms and be cost-effective.

Final thoughts

According to Grand View Research, in 2019, the global vertical farming market was valued at $1.02 billion. Fortune Business Insights claims that this number turned into $4.16 billion in 2022 and predicts that it will reach $20.91 billion by 2029. So, it does look like indoor farming has a lot of potential.

Considering that vertical farms can help solve environmental problems, faith in them increases. However, finding ways to decrease the costs for setting-up indoor farms and maintaining them is vital for vertical farming to be as beneficial as possible. 

It doesn’t look like we will be buying potatoes, wheat, or other staple crops produced on indoor farms, but buying herbs, salad, strawberries, and some other products from such farms is already a reality.

Resources:

Vertical Farming Technology: How Does It Work?

https://www.sciencefocus.com/science/what-is-vertical-farming/

Nordic Harvest

https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/vertical-farming-produce-market

Vertical farming – is this the future of agriculture?

https://www.wired.com/story/wired-impact-infarm-vertical-farming/

https://www.fortunebusinessinsights.com/industry-reports/vertical-farming-market-101958

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8 November 2020
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Future of the Industry 10x bigger than software

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This story is about technology which is revolutionising 10x bigger industry than software — agriculture.

We are facing real challenges in agriculture. How will we manage to feed an increasing number of people with the limited space? How can we attract young people to be farmers? How will we manage to grow with no chemicals harmful to our planet? How will we deal with the climate change? But let’s start with a story of a man who established first New York City vertical farm.

Kimbal Musk in The Kitchen

Kimbal Musk is a businessman, chef and owner of Kitchen Restaurant Group — community restaurant located in several U.S. cities. In 90s, together with his brother Elon, he established Zip2 — the online city guide software provider. They started with almost no money — slept on the office floor, showered in the YMCA and ate alone — mostly fast-food. After selling Zip2, Kimbal went to New York City, found his passion for food and learned how to cook. After 09/11 he cooked for firefighters and saw how food brought them together in a specific way. After this expirience he decided to open a new type of restaurant. Place designed to bring people together in a sense of a community built around eating — The Kitchen. During the process of menu design he came across a problem with quality of industrial food supply chain. Industrial food is a mass production and it doesn’t taste good. It’s also a reason why over 70% of Americans are overweight or obese. Kimbal decided to dedicate his life to bringing quality food to people.

And that’s how Square Roots started. An indoor urban farm built with old shipping containers. Each container (30m2) is equivalent of 8000 m2 outdoor farming. It’s also water efficient using 30l of water (daily shower is 30-60l) a day thanks to the water enclosed circuit. Ability to control humidity, temperature, light and minerals gives a possibility to grow better quality, tastier plants faster. It uses artificial LED light but even though it is more energy efficient than traditional farms. Clients can choose certain greens for their custom subscription plan. In places like New York it’s the best way to get lettuce, herbs, rucola etc. Same technology is also the only way to farm in space and will be someday used on Mars. Vertical farming is also a way to get young people interested in the subject of breeding. In its first week the company has had hundreds of young people waiting in line to be a farmer in Square Roots. Expected salary of farmer in NYC is between $37K – $39K/yr.

Square Roots Brooklyn Farm

Square Roots Brooklyn Farm

Vetrical Farms technology is also used in Europe. The Netherlands – the world’s number two exporter of food as measured by value there are numerous indoor vertical farms. The Dutch are also the world’s top exporter of potatoes and onions and the second largest exporter of vegetables overall in terms of value despite relatively small size. Thanks to the controlled environment and stacking plants vertically, the Netherlands are producing 10x more plants per 1km2 in comparison to the world average.

The future of farming is bright – and it’s vertical.

 

Sources:

  1. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/07/03/2057417/0/en/Global-Digital-Agriculture-Market-Expected-to-Grow-from-5-6-Billion-in-2020-to-6-2-Billion-by-2021-Recording-a-CAGR-of-9-9-Revised-to-Reflect-the-Implications-of-the-COVID-19-Pande.html
  2. https://www.statista.com/forecasts/963597/software-revenue-in-the-world
  3. https://nypost.com/2019/10/08/heres-how-many-meals-the-average-american-eats-alone/
  4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/niallmccarthy/2017/10/16/u-s-obesity-rates-have-hit-an-all-time-high-infographic/
  5. https://squarerootsgrow.com/about_us/
  6. http://thekitchen.com/
  7. http://inhabitat.com/nyc/kimbal-musk-just-launched-a-revolutionary-shipping-container-farm-initiative-in-brooklyn/
  8. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/12/kimbal-musk-and-square-roots-hope-to-feed-the-world-and-someday-mars.html
  9. https://www.freightfarms.com/square-roots
  10. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/09/holland-agriculture-sustainable-farming/
  11. https://www.glassdoor.com/Salary/Square-Roots-Salaries-E1937746.htm

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9 January 2019
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A NEW GREEN REVOLUTION TO BEGIN?

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Tobacco plants that grow as much as 40% larger than usual have been designed by genetic engineers in Illinois. This is the first step in producing larger plants like potatoes which could be distributed to the poor countries throughout the world.

The genetically modified plants are wider and taller from the regular ones. As a team at the University of Illinois and the United States Department of Agriculture said, they gave tobacco something called “photorespiratory bypass”. It is a kind of a cassette of genetic changes that let the plants turn sunlight into energy more efficiently.

What is interesting, in 2016 University of Illinois bioengineers managed to make tobacco plants grow 20% bigger by helping them respond more quickly to changes in light and shade. This time actually they made plants that use less energy during photorespiration, which is a process that plants need to clear out a toxin called glycolate created during photosynthesis. To achieve this, the team had to add about 16,000 letters of novel DNA instructions to tobacco plants.

You are probably wondering why all of these experiments were carried out with the use of tobacco. Not only do tobacco plants grow quickly, but also are easy to genetically modify. The team is known to be already working on similar gene changes to potatoes, soybeans , and cowpeas.

However, as Heike Sederoff, a plant scientist at North Carolina State University claims, there is a long way for researchers to prove that these modifications actually work. He believes that we should not expect such plants in the markets earlier than 20 years from now.

 

Nevertheless, there are plenty of philanthropes and foundation which are hoping that genetic engineering could lead to a huge step forward in farm productivity. Scientists at Illinois were donated by more than $80 million by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The goal of the whole project, which is called RIPE (Realizing Increased Photosynthetic Efficiency) is to increase the yields of staple food crops and improve global food security. As we can find out from their website, the Green Revolution’s advances have already reached their biological limits. They find it crucial to keep pace with this century’s growing population (which is forecasted to grow to nearly 10 billion by 2050) and provide food to the biggest possible number of people by making new innovations to agriculture industry.

There are also other organizations trying to find new solutions, like C4 consortium led by Paul Quick at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines, which is developing a process called C4 photosynthesis. It boosts plants’ growth by capturing carbon dioxide and concentrating it in specialized cells in the leaves, which allows the photosynthetic process to operate much more efficiently. Researchers claim that engineering C4 photosynthesis into rice and wheat could increase yields per hectare by roughly 50 percent. Alternatively, they believe that it would be possible to use far less water and fertilizer to produce the same amount of food.

What are your thoughts on this topic? Would you buy such genetically modified plants without any concerns? Let me know down below!

 

Sources:

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/535011/supercharged-photosynthesis/

https://ripe.illinois.edu/objectives/our-story

https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612710/gene-engineers-make-super-sized-plants-that-are-40-larger/

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