Harvesting pumps for aquatic food production
In our latest project we were involved in the innovative world of aquatic food production where we supplied pumps to assist with automated aquatic mechanical harvesting .
It ’ s an innovative method of growing crops which could change the way our food , animal food and fertilisers are grown , and have incredibly positive effects on sustainability and decarbonisation in the global environment .
What is aquatic mechanical harvesting ?
It ’ s a way of cultivating floating crops or plants that grow on the surface of a body of water .
Our client - a dynamic agricultural start-up business was looking for a way to automate the harvesting of water-grown crops , and were developing a machine to gently skim the surface and collect the plants growing on the water .
A key part of this operation would be the pumps which would help by automating harvesting at a rate of between 5,000 to 20,000 litres per hour – much quicker than the manual harvesting of crops grown in the ground .
The six aquatic harvesting pumps we were asked to supply would be connected to a weir and would skim the aquatic plants from the water surface , before sending them to large collection hoppers .
Why grow plants in water ?
Around the world , farmers are facing big challenges in growing the food we all eat .
The fertiliser , the seed , and the feed ingredients for livestock operations are all becoming increasingly expensive and hard to come by .
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These factors are all linked to the problems farmers are having around changing climate conditions , land and water availability and shortages of labour .
In short , it ’ s becoming more difficult for farmers to run a profitable operation . Aquatic plants could help farmers around the world make more food using less energy , water and land .
What are aquatic plants ?
These are plants which are grown in engineered ponds and then harvested automatically by robotics in a way that ’ s quite different to what farmers have done for centuries .
Our client calls them super plants and they are a radically different solution for the global agricultural industry .
In fact , they are unlocking cleaner and more sustainable agriculture that ’ s both more profitable and has considerably lower carbon emissions .
Super plants
They ’ re called super plants because the right varieties can produce large amounts of protein , vitamins , minerals and amino acids .
This means they can be grown to produce feed for animals , potentially for humans too , as a bio-fertiliser to grow other crops and as a soil enhancement to maintain soil health .
What ’ s more , these are some of the fastest-growing plants on Earth , so they need to be constantly harvested in large quantities .
This is why our client is working with North Ridge Pumps to develop an automated harvesting solution . They ’ re combining plant science with automation and engineering , to make the operation work profitably at scale , with no need for a huge workforce .
Our specification for this project
Here at North Ridge Pumps , we ’ re not restricted to a single pump technology .