Is Hydroponic Farming Commercially Viable?
Is Hydroponic farming viable in 2021? The economy of Botswana is dependent on a number of contributing industries such as mining, tourism and trade as well as Agriculture. The latter is seeing a significant growth with more young farmers taking the lead in setting up farms for commercial use. Recently, a number of farms have started using technology in growing their product and one popular method is the the use of Hydroponics to grow produce. However is hydroponic commercially viable in 2021?
Hydroponics farming has been growing rapidly in the recent past and the trend doesn’t seem to be bucking at any stage. According to recent projections, the global hydroponics market is expected to hit a CAGR of 8.5% between the period 2021 and 2027. This points to the enormous potential currently being discovered within the hydroponic space. This definitely points to the fact that hydroponic farming is the future especially because;
- The volume of water that goes into irrigating conventional vegetable farms and fruit orchards is staggering
- One of the biggest advantages of growing your own food is that you know what it contains
- Hydroponic farming is especially important in times of crisis
Why Should Hydroponics Be The Future Of Farming?
We are standing at a crucial point in time where we have to question how much fossil fuel goes into transporting the food we eat. How much carbon and water footprints are you contributing by consuming your protein smoothie? You might be trying to eat healthy and organic, but is your food also eco-friendly? Water footprint: (and not carbon.) The volume of water that goes into irrigating conventional vegetable farms and fruit orchards is staggering. Many farmers still prefer chemical fertilizers and growth stimulants that flow into the water bodies nearby. It is a vicious cycle that you can stop right now! Hydroponic farming utilizes 95% less water than traditional farming.
Due to the high supply of pure water at pH 5.5 and the close monitoring of the closed growth environment, the plants grow faster than in the typical agricultural farms. Their growth cycle is much shorter and you can expect a higher frequency of harvesting than traditional farming. Hydroponic farming is especially important in times of crisis such as these. With the scare of COVID-19 infection and mass lockdowns, your home soilless growth system set up can continue to provide healthy and nutrient-rich food to you and your loved ones.
There is More
Hydroponic farming provides improved quality characteristics of the plant, in particular, nutrition. People want to eat vegetables because it is the healthier option. People also want to see increases in their health from changing to more a plant-based diet. But, the change can be slow and requires serving sizes of vegetables that are unreasonable for a single meal. Improving the nutritional value of the plants is possible through hydroponic growing and controlled environment agriculture. Increase in pH, fertilizer or changing of light quality can increase and decrease nutritional compounds in the plants, allowing farmers to pick what nutritional aspect to increase.
Hydroponic farming is undergoing rapid changes. In the future, it will enable consumers to eat healthier and be closer to their food. It can help take the uncertainty out of what to buy at the grocery store with year-round availability of clean, safe, heathy food.
