20 Benefits of Hydroponic Farming
It’s a wonder how we’re able to grow food using just water.
As you probably figured out, we’re talking about hydroponics. Hydroponic farming is a method of growing plants in nutrient-rich water without using soil.
Hydroponic farming has many benefits over traditional agriculture. And while these systems aren’t meant to completely replace traditional methods, they offer several advantages over conventional soil-growing, including less water, land, labour, and chemical usage.
Continue reading to understand the top 20 benefits of hydroponic farming:
1.Saves water…A lot of water!
Hydroponic growing uses up to 90% less water than conventional agriculture. Plus, water is routinely recycled in the Growcer farm.
Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society grows fresh produce in their parking lot with a hydroponic modular farm.
2.Space efficient
Hydroponic farming saves limited arable land by growing 4x the number of plants that can be grown in the same space as conventional farming. Conventional farming only has one layer of planting on the ground and requires large acreages for bigger yields. With hydroponics, plants can be grown closer together and even more plants can be grown with a vertical system that stacks plants on top of each other.
3.You can grow year-round
In many climates, growing year-round isn’t possible because vegetables can’t survive in extreme outdoor conditions. For example, in Ottawa, Canada, your frost-free growing season is 152 days. For the other 213 days, temperatures can dip as low as -30’C making it hard to grow vegetables. Hydroponic farming unlocks growing year-round because plants are grown indoors in a controlled environment impervious to the weather outside.
4.Less labour intensive than conventional farming!
No digging, weeding, spreading fertilizer, tiling, etc.