Maximum Yield USA January 2018 | Page 52

the future is now I| Domestically, in a short market fore- cast with a long title (The Emerging Hydroponics Industry: Hydroponics Systems, Issues, Crop Values, and Global Markets), sustainability researchers at Manifest Mind LLC in Colorado predict “the hydroponic food production industry is expand- ing at a rate set to outpace the esti- mate of global growth through 2018. While agriculture is traditionally a conservative market sector, the benefits of hydroponics’ higher yields with lower inputs, improved soil and water quality, and food safety are compelling forces for change.” Creative experimentation has already begun. In Florence, Italy, think-tank developers at Plant Nature and Technology (PNAT) have unveiled what they believe is a game-changing innovation. The designers and biologists affiliated with the University of Florence built a self-sustainable floating hydroponic greenhouse called the Jellyfish Barge. On the barge, plastic drums support a glass greenhouse in a canal, a structure equipped with an automated system for remote control and monitoring. The Jellyfish Barge is powered entirely by renewable energy generated by on-board solar panels and miniature wind turbines. Plant Nature and technology’s CEO, Camilla Pandolfi, says the big raft is “going to change the way we cultivate fruits and vegetables.” Expect some of the new twists on how things are done, particularly for the hydroponic production of tomatoes, to come directly from current growers. The 2017 International Conference on Soilless Culture noted that “consumer acceptance of greenhouse-grown produce, specifically hydroponic tomatoes, has been phenomenal, with a projected 50 per cent of the fresh tomato market expected to be supplied by greenhouse grown within five years.” In discussion of hydroponic advantages over soil culture, Resh references several facts including higher planting densities and higher yields. Field tomato density is about 5,000 plants per acre, while greenhouse hydroponic tomatoes can be up to 11,000 plants per acre. Field yield runs between 10-40 tons per acre versus 300 tons per acre or more for tomatoes grown using greenhouse hydroponics. Another industry pioneer, Merle Jensen, professor emeritus of Plant Life Sciences and founder of the University of Arizona’s CEAC, advises we look to further automation. 50 feature I| I I I I| III ROLL OUT THE ROBOTS II I| I HIGH YIELDS, LOW INPUTS “This does not presume hydroponics will begin to subsume open-field agriculture, but may complement it in most locations or possibly replace it in special circumstances.” “More and more, we’re headed to robotics, where you’ll seed lettuce at one end of the line, which will move hydroponically on floating systems, then be harvested at the other end by a mowing machine. In between, an overhead camera will monitor the moving belt with small pinholes and blow off the leaves that are not the proper quality. At the end of the transport belt, the mowed produce will be machine-sorted and bagged into shelf-ready packages. All of this will be computer-controlled under artificial lighting systems.” Gene Giacomelli, a director at CEAC, predicts a positive year for hydroponics in controlled environments “because there is a market demand for specialty food. This does not presume hydroponics will begin to subsume open-field agriculture, but may complement it in most locations or possibly replace it in special circumstanc- es where resources are unavailable.” Where there is a thriving market that offers even more growth potential, like the field of hydroponics, expect innova- tive changes in what is done and how it’s done that will make the process faster, cheaper, and more productive.