Future Farming
Growing up in a small house with my parents taught me several important things. One of those things learning experiences happened on one hot summer day when I helped my Dad clean and rearranged the garage. He needed more floor space for a project. We took everything out of the garage and lined the driveway with it. After a good sweep and disposing of old and unused items, we started to install shelves and pegboard to the walls. I was nine or ten and didn’t think anything about this project. I was doing as was told, so I could leave and go fishing with my friends. When I finally decided to ask, “what’s up with the shelving,” my Dad replied, we are making space. When we finished the garage rearrangement, we had about three-quarters of the garage as usable space after starting with maybe a quarter. That is when I learned about vertical organization and stacking. It seems like a simple topic, and now you’re wondering, “what the heck does this have to do with future farming?”.
The answer is simple, space. No, not “space the final frontier” like Star Trek but space as an area to work with. What I am talking about is aquaponics and vertical farming. There is much more to aquaponics from what I have read and attempted to do myself, but I will explain the process the best I can for this article. The image below shows the nitrogen cycle with a quick explanation of how aquaponics works.
Aquaponics is a symbiotic system that uses the ammonia produced by fish waste to feed plants nutrients. The ammonia rich water is moved through a biofilter or grow bed which bacteria breaks down the ammonia into organic nitrogen rich nutrients which the plants use to grow. The plants and grow bed clean and filter the water and return it to the fish squeaky clean.
Ok, so now we know what aquaponics is, but how is it the future? With the symbiotic relationship within an aquaponics system, a farm or family has the ability to produce fresh organic greens and fruiting crops along with a variety of aquatic life. Fish is the main choice, but “freshwater prawn, crayfish, mussels, oysters, and even lobsters can be grown within a system as well.” (UPONICS) I don’t know about you but fresh fish within 24 hours of the water tastes so much better than frozen fish. As an addition fresh food has a better nutrition levels as it has not started to decay or become stale.
Another benefit to an aquaponics-based system is the space it takes to operate. “Vertical farming produces more crops from the same square footage of growing area. 1 acre of an indoor area offers equivalent production to at least 4–6 acres of outdoor capacity.” (LEBLANC) I feel this is important for future generations. As our human footprint increases on the earth’s surface, conventional farmland could become converted to a living and more populated areas. This will result in the displacement from where we acquire our food now. Human progress will also take its toll on wildlife habitats. Deforestation down in South America was a topic I remember from grade school. Growing Vertically will allow us to minimize the footprint required to grow food and feed our growing population.
Vertical farming can be accomplished outdoors with similar systems using natural sunlight to grow plants. Still, in a controlled environment, it allows for temperature reliability, year-round growing schedules, around the clock light, and for the organic folks out there, no pesticides or commercial fertilizers. I have been gardening or attempting in Florida for many years and have had some success. Still, it is hard to produce a good quality food source at home without shade cloth stands and pesticides to combat the bug problems between the harsh summer sun.
Water consumption is another positive feature of Vertical aquaponics farming. On average, a “Traditional garden requires 20 times the water use of a recirculating system.” (BAPTISTA) Conventional farming uses tons of water every day. With drought concerns in the summer and spring times, less water wasted or lost could be very beneficial. Also, the fertilizers and pesticides that are sprayed on conventional farms can leak into the groundwater.
Some say that vertical indoor farming produces more greenhouse gasses than traditional farming due to temperature control, around the clock lighting, water, and air pumps. Most of the world that has power generation uses fossil fuels to produce energy. I say, comparing aquaponics farming to conventional farming, “even with the use of grow lights in aquaponic farming systems, less energy is used than the amount used in conventional commercial farming systems.” (SHELLEY) In addition, “indoor farms are said to reduce food miles, air pollution, water use and the need for fertilizers and pesticides, as well as using space more efficiently and conserving nature.” (MILESTAD) I also feel that the amount of food and the number of crops produced is an even trade for energy consumption. Granted, a solar or wind-powered farm would be preferable. Scientists are always making progress toward a more sustainable power source, but what we have now is what we need to work with. “The bottom line on vertical farms is that today, indoor lettuce has a huge climate cost, but it’s not hard to envision a world where a transformed energy grid changes that equation” (HASPEL)
In conclusion, this topic is vital because as Humans thrive and continue to grow and use this planet, people will require food. Finding a better, more conservative way of producing quality food will be vital to human existence. Systems like these are being built outdoors around the world using low tech components and whatever recycled parts they can find to help provide food to communities and make a difference. I live in the greatest country in the world, and I feel the United States should be leading the way on better practices and development. I probably won’t be around to see the writings and mentioning’s above come into fruition, but my kids maybe and our children are the future of this county and the world. Teaching them conservation and developing better ways for everything we do will fall into their hands. As parents, we help plant that seed and sow them into strong roots for the human race’s future.
Works Cited
“Aquaponics Fish (Best Species for Aquaponics).” UPONICs, Hydroponics and Aquaponics Information, 12 June 2019, uponics.com/aquaponics-fish/.
Baptista, Perry. “Water Use Efficiency in Hydroponics and Aquaponics.” ZipGrow Blog Library, 4 June 2014, blog.zipgrow.com/water-use-efficiency-hydroponics-aquaponics/.
Haspel, Tamar. “Will Indoor, Vertical Farming Help Us Feed the Planet — or Hurt It?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 17 June 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/will-indoor-vertical-farming-help-us-feed-the-planet--or-hurt-it/2016/06/16/f1faaa98-3332-11e6-8ff7-7b6c1998b7a0_story.html.
LeBlanc, Rick. “What You Should Know About Vertical Farming.” The Balance Small Business, 25 June 2019, www.thebalancesmb.com/what-you-should-know-about-vertical-farming-4144786.
Milestad, Rebecka, et al. “The Högdalen Urban Farm: A Real Case Assessment of Sustainability Attributes.” Food Security, vol. 12, no. 6, Dec. 2020, p. 1461. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=edb&AN=147250262&site=eds-live.
Shelley, Tennille. “Nasty Truth: Aquaponics vs. Traditional Farming.” Survivopedia, 8 Apr. 2018, www.survivopedia.com/nasty-truth-aquaponics-vs-traditional-farming/.
