The employment of Phytoponics has created a hydroponic system that costs significantly less than the traditional designs. The technology they wish to use has the potential to fulfil global food demands.
The population of the world is increasing rapidly. The growth of the crops requires constant evaluation if we wish to feed the world and preserve the environment.
Years back when farming started, it had little impact on the global population. The rate of the population did not increase for several years until the industrialization and improvements in the agricultural sector. In about 200 years, the world’s population went through a dramatic rise of five billion people. The world preserved its population because of the adequate food supply.
There were huge gains the crop yields due to the revolution in the farming sector. The revolution is called the green revolution, the usage, and invention of nitrogenous fertilizers. This marked the beginning of further improvements in farming technology. All this proved beneficial for workers and farmers. The total population of the USA was 38 million in the year 1870. Out of that population, 52% were involved in agriculture. Comparing this with the current population of 323 million, only 2% of the population is working on farms.
The population will grow even further, and the methods that once saved the world from hunger would no longer be able to meet the food demand. All these points hint at the need for new and better approaches to farming.
Modern Agriculture Problems
Water
Farming requires lots of water. Out of the used water, a larger percentage is evaporated. The efficiency of water absorbance is pretty low. It was not really an issue when we talk about 50 years back when water was present in huge amounts. Now, water has become an essential resource, that is needed to be used carefully to save our future.
In this regard, the EU Water Farming Directive believes that artificial price management is a way to improve the efficiency of water usage at farms. The price of water would eventually rise in the future. Investors and business owners must take precautionary measures to save their businesses from any negative impacts of a rise in water prices.
Land
The soil and land are becoming insufficient with more and more industrialization. If industrialization is not the cause the soil is becoming infertile due to climate or weather conditions. According to the European court study 13 European states were negatively affected by deforestation. In the past year, it was considered the solution to produce fertile land. But it destroyed much of the earth’s rainforests. It also contributed to climate change. Doing so is bringing no long-term good as the water is also becoming insufficient due to this.
Environment
The excess use of fertilizers and pesticides has worsened the environmental conditions. When the fertilizer containing nitrogen run through water, it causes the growth of algae. Its existence in water is so harmful. It produces toxins that harm animals and humans in many ways. In order to save the existence of humans and animals, the EU Nitrate Directive has enforced certain limits on the use of fertilizer.
Growing Innovations in Phytoponics
Phytoponics have been working on the invention of a new design of the hydroponic system. It is called hydrosac. When talking about Hydroponic, it’s the method that involves the growth of plants without soil. In fact, the roots of plants are held in a solution containing oxygenated and nutrient-rich constituents. The used solution causes the plants to grow at a very fast rate.
Hydrosac is the thin and long container that connects the reservoir of nutrient solution to the pump. The lower part of the container and filled with broth. Then comes the floating chambers where plants are placed in rot preventing and healthy air gap above the water. To maintain the sufficient oxygen level for the plants, an inbuilt accelerator is used. It blows the bubbles of oxygen through the solution. All this enables the plant to grow stronger. As the plant grows further, its roots grow into the nutrient solution
This technology has numerous advantages when compared to soil farming.
Environment
This technology eliminates the use of herbicides, fertilizers, and pesticides. The constituents that plants use for their growth like water are re-circulated, if not properly absorbed by the plant. With hydroponic technology, farmers get complete control over the environment. The thorough cleaning of equipment and manipulation of nutrient reservoirs reduces any hazard caused by pests and weeds. Lastly, all the nutrients are contained in a system, so there is no gas emission in the environment.
Growth
Hydrosac can cause the plants to grow at a much higher rate when compared to soil. That is made possible with the deep-water culture method. Under the study conducted by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2015, lettuces were grown in a hydroponic 10 times faster than in soil.
Land
Hydrosac technology doesn’t require acres of land to grow crops. The less usage of land would eliminate the issue of deforestation. We would no longer require the cutting of trees to feed the population. Lesser use of transport to load crops from rural areas. Hydrosac would enable the growth of fresh and healthy plants in urban areas.
Water
Water is an essential source of life that is being used in nearly all industries. With Phytoponics, the percentage of water used and wasted is much less. In this system, the water that is not initially absorbed by the plants is recirculated. We can achieve a high growth rate at 90% less water when compared to ordinary farming.
Evidence to Support Phytoponics over other technologies
Some growers were willing to employ Hydropic while others are still reluctant to trust this technology. That is because there are various technologies in the market. Mostly the growers opt for the technology that offers more profit and ignores the factor of sustainability. Hydroponic can become commercially appealing if the environmental conditions deteriorate to the level where prices of land and water become so expensive that growers are left with no option other than hydroponic.
Scaling Up
The traditional system is very expensive when talking of setup costs and transportation. When talking about Hydroponics, has a flexible polymer design. That makes the setup and transportation cost pretty low. The installation of this technology is also quite easy. All it needs is, to unroll the system, inflate, and connect to the farming resources.
Considering the low cost and ease of installation involved in Hydroponics, the farmers can scale up after a small trial with the system’s operations. It is the source of attraction for growers and investors that all this comes with such a low-risk factor.
Cost
Most hydroponic plants are very expensive for a local farmer to purchase. The only way to purchase it is through borrowing money. Farmers may think that the crop’s yield, quality, and growth rate are too slow to make their investment worthy.
Well, Phytoponics Hydrosac is significantly cheaper than other traditional systems. It is made of polymer materials rather than expensive and heavy machines. All this ensures sustainability and profitability.
Hydroponic technology can be the answer to all the food production problems. But the reason it is not being used at a much larger scale is the lack of commercial innovation. There is much hope that hydroponics would take the farming sector to a sustainable and better future.