Hydroponics is the technique of growing plants and crops using only mineral nutrient solutions, therefore without soil. When the required mineral nutrients are introduced into a plant's water supply artificially, soil is no longer required for the plant to live. Most terrestrial plants are able to grow using hydroponics. This would help conserve land, and if aggregate hydroponics are used it would also conserve water. Using hydroponics makes it possible to easily grow plants for consumption in a city and indoors. The two hydroponic systems are, aggregate hydroponics and liquid hydroponics. Aggregate hydroponic systems have a solid medium of support such as sand, sawdust or peat-moss. Where as liquid hydroponic systems have no other supporting medium for the plant roots, other than the water they sit in.
Hydroponics is also an important technology because it is one of the leading technologies that is being looked at to grow crops in the proposals for vertical farms.
It also becomes possible to grow small personal farms very easily using simplified hydroponics, which is based on minimal inputs, requires no pumps, energy, or expensive equipment. The small scale farms or gardens are built with recycled or discarded containers, and are hand watered once a day with a hydroponic nutrient that can be bought off the shelf.
In 1985, in a small Columbian town of Jerusalen, a hydroponic project was established by the United Nations Development Project (UNDP). The project used hydroponic growers, made of small containers and discarded wood pallets, these were than placed on rooftops, balconies, stairs, and any available space that was in the sun.
The people who participated in the project (around 130 families) ended up earning as much as three times more than they would have earned in semi-skilled jobs, and were also able to provide food for their families from overripe or less than perfect crops. They produced 30 types of vegetables in their hydroponic gardens.
The gardens were built out of donated or recycled materials. The costs of setting up each square meter of hydroponic garden was less than $5.00.
Wood pallets were set flat in the space and plastic sheeting rice bran surrounded by plastic sheeting was placed inside of the pallets. The hydroponic nutrients come at a cost of about $9.00 per year.
Surplus produce was sold to a supermarket cooperative for cash.
The Jerusalen project was a successful example of hydroponic farming in a developing country in a urban setting. If it can be achieved in this situation it would be even easier to use this technology on a single family scale or in a indoor farm in any north american metropolis struggling for space.
Hydroponics, can be used inside, or outside, and is productive in small spaces regardless of soil or water. These small barren or indoor spaces, will be the only spaces left for agriculture after the impending mass urbanization and expansion of our cities. Hydroponics works in the scale of a fully functioning farm, yet unlike technologies like vertical farms it is also affordable to the individual person and even becomes possible for poor people living in developing countries to produce quality food and a source of income.
Caelin Schneider
-Jenson, Merle. H. "Hydroponics." October, 1997.http://ag.arizona.edu/PLS/faculty/MERLE.html
-Bradley, Peggy. "Simplified Hydroponics in Urban Agriculture." March 23, 2000.http://www.cityfarmer.org/hydroponicsBradley.html#bradley
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