🌱 Growing Crops Without Soil: The Answer To Our Food Troubles?
Here's a look into how hydroponic and vertical farming can revolutionise farming as we know it.
Dear Readers, if you're reading today's blog while having breakfast, take a close look at your plate full of food and cup full of tea/coffee.
Because very soon this plate full of food is going to be a distant dream for a lot of people.Â
Our population is set to increase to 10 billion by 2050. That's two billion extra people, who will require 56% more food.Â
On the other hand, our food production is set to decline by 18-23%!Â
This demand-supply mismatch is going to make our Covid supply chain woes look like a joke.Â
But we're not here to just put you in panic mode about this. We're here to discuss what can be done to make sure your plate full of food remains full.Â
📈 The Rise of Modern Farming
If you've been following ReadOn for a while now, you know how passionate we are about farmers and the agritech space.Â
So, we keep researching new innovations happening in this area.Â
And that's when we discovered hydroponics farming. What's that?Â
It is basically farming in water instead of soil.Â
Yes, turns out, you don't really need soil to grow plants. You can grow them in nutrient-rich water. And because you don't need soil to plant crops, you can grow more plants in the same space, stacking them all on top of one another.Â
This way, the same stretch of land can produce 240x more crops. So, we can dramatically increase food production.
And that's not the only benefit of hydroponic farming.
💡The Benefits of Hydroponic Farming
Since this type of farming usually happens indoors in closed set ups, plants are exposed to less pests. So, hydroponic farming uses 40% less pesticides.Â
This has both health and economic benefits.Â
Farmers currently spend a lot of money on pesticides. Hydroponic farms could considerably reduce their expenditure.Â
And a lot of the pesticides that they use are super harmful for us and can even cause cancer.Â
Plus, hydroponic farms also require 90% less water. So, farmers will have to pump less water, saving money and conserving water for the rest of us.
The best part? It also accelerates crop growth. Crops which earlier took over 35-40 days to grow can now be grown in 12-15 days.Â
What's more, these farms no longer need to be confined to rural areas. Vertical farms can be set up in cities as well, in fact in your very own home. This could reduce the distribution problem for farmers and also save transport costs.Â
Result? Veggies become cheaper and healthier.Â
What's more, a lot of these greenhouses are climate controlled. So, farmers no longer have to be dependent on the ravages of the weather. Be it a heat wave or excess rainfall, their crops will remain safe.Â
But there's a catch…Â
😥 The Problems with Hydroponic Farming
Ultimately everything boils down to one problem: cash.Â
A hydroponic farm is super fancy and a 5,000 square feet farm needs an initial upfront investment of at least Rs. 18-Rs. 20 lakhs.Â
On top of that, monthly costs average around Rs. 80,000.Â
But, even a 5,000 square feet farm can yield 3,200 kgs of produce in one cycle.Â
If you grow a crop like lettuce, your per cycle profit will be around Rs. 6-7 lakhs. Which means, in three to four cycles, you can recover the set up costs.Â
It has been noted that with crops like turmeric, the profits can also be as high as Rs. 2 crore per cycle.Â
But the main issue is that for most farmers this is a massive investment.Â
Plus, this concept is foreign to them. So, they need to be educated about this.Â
While a lot of startups like Clover, Barton Breeze, Urban Kisaan, Pindfresh, are all trying to help farmers set up such farms, without proper knowledge, this farming won't be able to take off.Â
However, the government could provide farmers with subsidies and adequate knowledge to help them set up such farms.Â
This would not just help these farmers but also increase India's food production.Â
So, the amount we invest in subsidies will be recovered through food exports.Â
Meanwhile, regular folks like you and I can also start small hydroponic farms or even kitchen farms right from our homes. This will not just help us beat inflation but could help us start a lucrative business as well.Â
But we would like to note that this is still a growing sector. While many countries like Singapore and Australia have used vertical and hydroponic farming to feed its population, we still don't know much about the drawbacks of this kind of farming if there are any.Â
So, we will have to wait and watch to see how this sector develops.Â
âš¡In a line: In the coming years we will have too many mouths to feed and not enough crops: a problem that hydroponics farming can solve.Â
💡Quick question: Do you know any other innovative ways in which farming can be revolutionised?
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