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Students Learn High-tech Gardening
Students at an Oceanside school in San Diego are getting a taste of high-tech
agriculture through a school farm that includes plants grown without soil, or
fertilized by fish. At Palmquist Elementary School, kids are learning how to
germinate plants, manage irrigation, and use state-of-the-art farming systems.
And they’re producing food for their own cafeteria and local restaurants in
the process. In the school greenhouse, Swiss chard, cilantro, strawberries,
and watercress grow in hydroponic systems, using less water and space than
conventional farming methods. Tearing off a leaf of watercress, student Keilah
Goodwin noted that it tasted peppery. “I think it’s a pretty interesting
way of planting,” says fifth-grader Devin Stadyx, 11, while working
on a row of hydroponically grown chard. “You might want to know
that none of this is dirt. It’s rocks or water.”
—sandiegouniontribune.com
Hydroponics Could Feed Moon Settlers
New data from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
(JAXA) has uncovered a 30-mile-long tunnel under the moon’s
surface, likely the relic of long-ago lava flows. This latest
find appears to be both mostly intact and sufficiently large
enough to potentially serve as a habitat for future lunar settlers.
There are still a few challenges to be worked out though,
most pressing of which is the question of supplies. Constantly
shuttling food and water to the moon would be difficult, so
settlers would need their own sources of sustenance. The moon
likely contains water ice, which could be converted into drinking
water and even fuel, but food production would require off-world
agriculture. There are a few models for this, based largely on
hydroponics, but it’s a task that hasn’t been seriously attempted yet.
—discovermagazine.com
Patent Filed on First Hurricane-resistant Greenhouse
Alquimi Renewables, LLC and its EPC division, Clarusys, announced recently that it has filed for US and international patents
on the first hurricane-resistant commercial-scale greenhouse structures. The system was engineered specifically to address
the challenges in agricultural production in high-risk climate areas such as the Caribbean and Pacific Islands, which are
threatened each year by hurricanes and typhoons. The system will withstand up to Category 4 hurricane
strength (Saffir-Simpson scale) with sustained winds up to 156 miles per hour. The greenhouse structure
utilizes galvanized steel frames, double-walled polycarbonate panels, and the patented ground
screw anchoring system. Additionally, a wind-deflection system and hurricane-resistant racking and
tracking systems for the solar panels are integrated into the overall design. “For the
first time in history, new technologies in greenhouse structural engineering… will
allow us to develop commercial scale fresh food production in regions that have
been limited to relatively small-scale outdoor farming,” says
Ralph Birkhoff, one of Alquimi’s principal partners.
—freshplaza.com
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