Turkish Growers In Love With Soilless Agriculture
Turkish Growers In Love With Soilless Agriculture
There is an emerging interest towards hydroponic growing in Turkey. Hydroponic growing has become popular globally in recent years and its popularity started to spread around Turkish growers as well. The first attempts for soilless growing started in Antalya around 1995 and nowadays it has been carried out approximately in a 100 million square feet area in total. 55% of this area is located in the Aegean region whereas 43% is located in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.
Hydroponic growing is commonly used in Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, USA, Israel, Colombia, and China but is most used in the Netherlands, with almost 95% of the greenhouses being utilized with this particular method of production. This contributes significantly to the Netherlands being the second biggest food exporter in the world after the US.
Turkey Association of Chambers of Agriculture Chairman Semsi Bayraktar: “The world population is increasing rapidly and is projected to reach 9.6 billion people in 2050. In order to feed this population, you need to utilize all the production methods, including greenhouse production and hydroponic growing in addition to the traditional field growing. The whole global industry is around 55 – 60 billion USD.
In the greenhouses, a lot of growers are experiencing problems with soil which caused a lot of growers to explore the soilless production methods. There are usually a few varieties grown in a greenhouse and they are grown without any break between them thus it causes soil fatigue. That’s why it is suggested you need to replace the top 20 cm of the soil in a greenhouse every 4-5 years.
Turkey has tremendous potential in soilless agriculture and we are located in a very advantageous position to be in close proximity to European, Russian and Middle Eastern markets. If we can use modern technology in soilless production, we can increase the productivity per square feet and contribute significantly to our country’s economy.
As the grower is not dependent on the soil and its characteristics for production, the grower is free to grow products anywhere they like. You can feed the products at the right amounts and at the right times and this way you can achieve total control in production. This method of production enables you to get the products ready earlier and at the right time where the grower can get better prices for their products. As the production area can be sterilized very quickly, you can have continuous production all year round.
Another additional benefit is the elimination of the soil based diseases with the absence of the soil. Moreover as there are no pests in the production, there is no need to use pesticide which makes the fruits and vegetables grown in this method more healthy for consumers. As there is no vaporization, the grower also saves on water expenses. If the grower also sets up his production with proper automation systems, they can also save on labor costs.”
Source: Sozcu
Publication date: 5/3/2018