The science behind hydroponic food systems

Without realizing it, you may have eaten a tomato or strawberry grown in a hydroponic food system, where plants are raised outside the ground. In an alien world of pipes, troughs and drip systems, fruits and vegetables flourish in lush greenhouses that are expertly tailored to their needs. 

Although it may seem futuristic, people have been growing plants in water for at least several hundred years, and perhaps even longer. Here’s the science behind the spectacle of hydroponic food systems. 

The Basics of Hydroponic Systems

A hydroponic setup looks a lot like an ordinary greenhouse, but you won’t smell the signature aroma of soil or manure. Instead, rows or racks of plants thrive in tubs, pipes or trays of water, often in a strikingly uniform grid that hints at the tight laboratory conditions of the farm. The crops may even grow vertically around a tube that pipes water to their roots, resembling a sort of prehistoric tree with leaves projecting from the trunk.

Most hydroponic food systems are built indoors. They have numerous advantages over traditional farms, including:

• Not having to pull weeds, which saves time and labour costs
• Saving water by eliminating evaporation and reusing it for multiple harvests
• Producing food year-round in stable conditions
• Being able to plant crops very closely together
• Not needing to spray pesticides since few insects get indoors
• Growing crops in urban environments

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Image by jcomp on Freepik

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