Growing Quality Food and Meeting Nutritional Requirements
By Murali | May 23, 2020 | City Today
Can climate-controlled freight containers help in farming or can plants grow without any soil? The answers to these questions can be found in Urban farming. It involves indoor cultivation under controlled conditions with up to eight (8) harvests in a year. It offers an ideal solution for regional or community-specific food needs, for local crops that would not be economically viable for full-scale cultivation. It can also help cities become sufficient in their produce demand while getting fresh food year-round. Vertical urban farming whether with soil or hydroponics-based increases the space utilization by 3-4 fold with lower water and nutrient usage.
Therefore, it allows the farmer to have a 3-4 fold higher area with a 20 percent faster growth rate, leading to 3-4 fold higher harvests. Multiple harvests in a year would lead to higher profits compared to traditional farming. Indoor farms may use drip-irrigated pots, hydroponics, aeroponics, or hydrogel-based polymers for growing vegetables depending on the growth requirements of the plant.
