PLP Paper

Stratton Jelley

Michael DelVecchio

PLP 7B

June 6, 2022

When people think of farms, they usually think of fields of soil with vegetables growing, but what they don’t think of is rows upon rows of hydroponic beds. Hydroponic farming is used around the world, from growing lettuce to tomatoes. You can find hydroponically grown food in just about every food store, especially in the winter. Hydroponic farming is very useful, plus it is sustainable and better for the environment.

There are many different types of hydroponic systems such as the Nutrient Film Technique (NFT), Deep Water Culture (DWC), and Aeroponics. These are just a few of the many methods that have been developed. Different techniques are suited for different purposes. The Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) is often used in large-scale production because of how expandable it is. Deep Water Culture, referred to as DWC, is a commonly used method especially for short-term crops like lettuce. It is easier to use as all it really requires is a bucket of nutrient water, an air pump, and a plant so this method can be used by hobby growers. Aeroponics is low maintenance, but susceptible to power outages. In Aeroponics plants have better access to air causing faster growth. A downside though is that it is more expensive and for this reason commercial aeroponic systems are used to grow high value crops.

Compared to conventional farming, hydroponic systems are more expensive to set up. However, in the long run, it makes much more money. “[A]n average acre of traditionally farmed land will earn a farmer between $20,000 and $30,000 per year. An average acre of hydroponically grown crops will earn between $200,000 and $250,000 per year. ”^[1]. That’s 6-12x more! This is because hydroponic farms can run all year round and hydroponics accelerate growth as a result of the nutrient solution used in it. Additionally, hydroponically grown crops are commonly used in the winter making local fresh greens available year-round.

Conventional farming is not very sustainable. One year I did an entire PLP on cows and farms and I figured out just how bad for the environment conventional farming is. It is very wasteful and it turns perfectly good soil into literal deserts. Hydroponics on the other hand does not waste as much water because the water is reused and does not ruin soil. Hydroponic systems use “as much as 10 times less water than traditional field crop watering methods”^[2] due to the closed system reusing the same water. For example my hydroponics system uses 6 gallons of water per week as opposed to the hundreds of gallons that my family's garden uses with a sprinkler. Not to mention the fact that if we were to expand that system it would not have much of an effect on the water usage. Additionally it can be set up in buildings, dramatically reducing the need for pesticides and herbicides. Therefore, “hydroponics is in fact good for the environment because it offers a higher-yield alternative to soil food production, saves water, and limits the usage of pesticides and herbicides”^[3]. But not everything in hydroponics is sustainable, for example rock wool, often used for seed starting, is harmful to the environment. Also, depending on where you get and dump your water it can harm the environment.

For my hydroponics system, I made an NFT system with a 4 inch PVC pipe placed on a wooden frame. In hindsight I would have used something smaller or flat tubing. NFT has the tube set up in a slant so I used trigonometry to find accurate angles and lengths for the tubes as seen in the documentation here: [Hydroponics Pipe Measurements]. To move the water through the tubes I used a 400 gallon per hour pump. My water contained a store bought mixture of nutrients and an air pump was oxygenating it to prevent the growth of algae. After some time, though, I could smell algae growing so I had to cover every place the water was exposed to light, such as unused plant openings and the open reservoir. As my plants grew, I put up a scrog net to keep the plants from falling over. It wasn’t long before I needed two of them. This link is to a spreadsheet of measurements of my hydroponics plants [Hydroponics Plant Measurements].

Hydroponics can be sustainable under the right conditions, and is better for the environment. Farmers can make 6-12x more revenue per year because of the increased harvest. There are many types of hydroponic systems making it ideal for many situations. It is used in everyday farming and you have most likely eaten hydroponically grown plants before. I think you should do hydroponics because it can provide food for you to eat and you do not need to make an entire monstrosity of a beast like my system. In fact, you can buy a prebuilt hydroponics system off of Amazon!

Sources:

Podolsky, Michael. RGP-Explore, https://www.research.ufl.edu/publications/explore/v05n2/hydroponics.html. ^[1]

“Hydroponics: A Better Way to Grow Food (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, https://www.nps.gov/articles/hydroponics.htm. ^[2]

Stephens, Oscar. “Is Hydroponic Farming Sustainable? [Definitive Answer] - the Hydroponics Planet.” TheHydroponicsPlanet, 24 Mar. 2022, https://thehydroponicsplanet.com/is-hydroponics-really-good-for-the-environment/. ^[3]