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Soilless Farming- Business Outlook

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Global Market Database

As the population grows, the amount of agricultural land per person is expected to shrink by half the amount of agricultural land per person in 1960. Currently, 95% of vegetables are farmed through traditional farming techniques . About of third of all world’s land is used for farming. The top layer of the soil, the layer suitable for cultivation is eroding fast due to climate change. Any additional claim of natural land reserves will adversely affect the ecological balance. Global soil pollution is on the rise due to the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and modern agricultural practices.

Soilless farming also saves additional carbon emissions, due to logistics. As soilless farms are compact, farms can be operated on rooftops of grocery mart to provide fresh vegetables. Soilless farming uses very less amount of water because water wastage and weed population are zero, soilless farming conserves water resources. Soilless farming environment can be automated to produce yield throughout the year, unlike traditional farming techniques, an automated farm environment would increase operating margins for farms. As the soilless farm environments are isolated, the effect of natural phenomena like storms, is limited, adding predictability to farm lifecycle.

Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and Aquaponics- Market Database

Based on the medium used in cultivation, soilless farming is classified into hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics.

Aeroponics uses no substrate to support the plant, nutrients are directly sprayed to the root systems. In aeroponics, plant roots are suspended in air control chambers where nutrient-rich water is sprayed to the roots directly. As nutrients are sprayed inside air chambers, care should be taken to prevent the growth of harmful bacterial and fungus growth. Sterilization of air chambers is crucial to prevent microbial infection to the plant.

Aeroponic systems are more mobile than hydroponic systems. Aeroponic systems are easy to maintain and are compact systems, tailored for the urban landscape. The plant growth rate is higher in aeroponics systems as compared with hydroponics. The high growth rate is attributed to the high availability of oxygen content to roots and the direct absorption of nutrients by roots.

Low-pressure aeroponics systems are the most commonly used non-commercial systems, they are easy to set up and cost-effective. A low-pressure pump creates a larger droplet while spraying nutrition to roots.

Low-pressure systems can not be deployed at a commercial scale due to operating conditions. Commercial systems require high-pressure pumps to create a very minute nutrition spray droplet. The smaller size of the nutrition droplet accommodates more space for oxygen interaction with roots, and result in faster growth of the plant. High-pressure aeroponics systems are advanced and expensive, requiring specialist equipment to set them. High-pressure aeroponics is also the most efficient type of aeroponic system.

Hydroponic systems use water as the medium for root growth, roots are suspended in water solution. Plants grow in the neutral substrate that provides physical strength for the shoot of the plant, roots grow inside a nutrition-rich aqueous solution.

Reservoir type hydroponic system is one of the basic types of hydroponic system which is convenient for growing leafy greens and herbs. Plants float on Styrofoam with roots suspended in the aqueous solution. A pump is used to oxygenate the solution. Care should be taken to make the container opaque, as light causes algae growth.

In the Nutrient film technique, the nutrient solution is made to flow over plant roots without any intervals. The system is designed such that it uses gravity to facilitate the return of runover nutrient solutions. The nutrient film technique is suited for short-statured plants. But the system is more prone to pump failures and power cuts.

The Wick System is one of the most simple and low-cost hydroponic techniques, suited for households. A wick draws the nutrient solution from the reservoir into the growth media. The system contains no moving parts and has low maintenance costs. The disadvantage of the technique is that plants with greater absorption capacity use all of the nutrient solutions faster than the wick can replenish. The wicking method is inefficient.

Aquaponics is the hybrid between hydroponics and aquaculture. Fish and plants are grown in the same water source. Fish provides nutrition for the plants to grow, and plant roots purify water for fish. Bacteria decompose fish waste into ammonia which is consumed by the plant. Aquaponics takes months for bacteria to significantly induce ammonia content in water.

Soilless farming offers an alternative, eco-friendly method for cultivation, this blog helps in identifying different methods of soilless farming. Users can login to Global Market Database to understand more about this market.

 

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