Hydroponics: Farming Without Soil
Hydroponics is a low impact method of growing plants in nutrient solutions without using soil.
When designing the type of urban farm that would feed city dwellers sustainably, we looked critically at agriculture's inputs and outputs.
By using hydroponics we can dramatically reduce the ecological footprint normally associated with farming. We also chose to incorporate fish cultivation through the use of aquaponics, allowing us to farm protein and produce at the same time.
Hydroponics is a low impact method of growing plants in nutrient solutions without using soil.
When designing the type of urban farm that would feed city dwellers sustainably, we looked critically at agriculture's inputs and outputs.
By using hydroponics we can dramatically reduce the ecological footprint normally associated with farming. We also chose to incorporate fish cultivation through the use of aquaponics, allowing us to farm protein and produce at the same time.
Aquaponics is a method combining aquaculture (fish cultivation) with hydroponics (see above). This system uses natural fertilizer from filtered fish effluent, creating a closed-loop, pesticide-free organic system:
(1) Water containing natural fish waste gets filtered to become organic nutrient feed for the plants
(2) Plants absorb the nutrients and the cleansed water is recycled back to the fish tank
(1) Water containing natural fish waste gets filtered to become organic nutrient feed for the plants
(2) Plants absorb the nutrients and the cleansed water is recycled back to the fish tank
Hydroponic vs. Conventional Farming
This chart shows the relative amounts of resources it takes to produce equal amounts of food using these two farming practices. Compared with conventional field agriculture, hydroponics is sustainable, efficient, and requires no pesticides.
Additionally, hydroponic produce is picked ripe, and is thus fresher and tastier than conventionally farmed produce, which is typically picked prematurely, transported hundreds or thousands of miles, and then "gas blasted" with ethylene hormone to ripen artificially.
This chart shows the relative amounts of resources it takes to produce equal amounts of food using these two farming practices. Compared with conventional field agriculture, hydroponics is sustainable, efficient, and requires no pesticides.
Additionally, hydroponic produce is picked ripe, and is thus fresher and tastier than conventionally farmed produce, which is typically picked prematurely, transported hundreds or thousands of miles, and then "gas blasted" with ethylene hormone to ripen artificially.