Hydroponic Food Production

This open access book, written by world experts in aquaponics and related technologies, provides the authoritative and comprehensive overview of the key aquaculture and hydroponic and other integrated systems, socio-economic and environmental aspects. Aquaponic systems, which combine aquaculture and vegetable food production offer alternative technology solutions for a world that is increasingly under stress through population growth, urbanisation, water shortages, land and soil degradation, environmental pollution, world hunger and climate change.

Interestingly, some relief from today's woes may come from ancient human practices. While current agri-food production models rely on abundant supplies of water, energy, and arable land and generate significant greenhouse gas emissions in addition to forest and biodiversity loss, past practices point toward more affordable and sustainable paths. Different forms of insect farming and soilless crop farming, or hydroponics, have existed for centuries. In this report the authors make a persuasive case that frontier agriculture, particularly insect and hydroponic farming, can complement conventional agriculture. Both technologies reuse society's agricultural and organic industrial waste to produce nutritious food and animal feed without continuing to deplete the planet's land and water resources, thereby converting the world's wasteful linear food economy into a sustainable, circular food economy. As the report shows, insect and hydroponic farming can create jobs, diversify livelihoods, improve nutrition, and provide many other benefits in African and fragile, conflict-affected countries. Together with other investments in climate-smart agriculture, such as trees on farms, alternate wetting and drying rice systems, conservation agriculture, and sustainable livestock, these technologies are part of a promising menu of solutions that can help countries move their land, food, water, and agriculture systems toward greater sustainability and reduced emissions. This is a key consideration as the World Bank renews its commitment to support countries' climate action plans. This book is the Bank's first attempt to look at insect and hydroponic farming as possible solutions to the world's climate and food and nutrition security crisis and may represent a new chapter in the Bank's evolving efforts to help feed and sustain the planet.

Comprehensive guide to soilless plant culture.

Plant Production in Closed Ecosystems provides overviews of the current trends and concepts in plant production in closed or semi-closed environments. The overviews reflect both the present and future challenges that face the agricultural industry and the methods and tools which will meet these challenges. Plant Production in Closed Ecosystems contains the full texts of the Special Lectures from the International Symposium on Plant Production in Closed Ecosystems, plus several contributed papers. The challenges which await the agricultural industry are diverse. This diversity is reflected in the topics that were covered in the special lectures given by experts in the field. These topics included: greenhouse horticulture, hydroponics, micropropagation, food production in space, environmental control, co-generation, controlled ecological life support systems (CELSS), and resource conservation.

With the continued implementation of new equipment and new concepts and methods, such as hydroponics and soilless practices, crop growth has improved and become more efficient. Focusing on the basic principles and practical growth requirements, the Complete Guide for Growing Plants Hydroponically offers valuable information for the commercial grower, the researcher, the hobbyist, and the student interested in hydroponics. It provides details on methods of growing that are applicable to a range of environmental growing systems. The author begins with an introduction that covers the past, present, and future of hydroponics. He also describes the basic concepts behind how plants grow, followed by several chapters that present in-depth practical details for hydroponic growing systems: The essential plant nutrient elements The nutrient solution Rooting media Systems of hydroponic culture Hydroponic application factors These chapters cover the nutritional requirements of plants and how to best prepare and use nutrient solutions to satisfy plant requirements, with different growing systems and rooting media, under a variety of conditions. The book gives many nutrient solution formulas and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of various hydroponic systems. It also contains a chapter that describes a school project, which students can follow to generate nutrient element deficiency symptoms and monitor their effects on plant growth.

The eighth edition of Hydroponic Food Production: A Definitive Guidebook for the Advanced Home Gardener and the Commercial Hydroponic Grower serves as a comprehensive guide to soilless culture (hydroponics) for hobby and commercial growers. Extensively updated from the seventh edition published in 2013, this bestseller is a "methods" book to show the reader how to set up a hydroponic operation with the options of using any of many hydroponic cultures presently used in the industry to grow vegetable crops. Written by Dr Howard M. Resh, a recognized authority worldwide on hydroponics, the book presents detailed information on hydroponic growing systems and features more than 600 photographs (200 in full color), drawings, and tables. New to this edition: Presents greenhouse environmental control systems and examples of sustainable greenhouse technology, and demonstrates uses of automation and robotics in harvesting, grading, and packing. Introduces indoor vertical farming, and vertical growing systems, as well as the expansion of tropical hydroponics and rooftop greenhouses. Provides information on automation in large-scale raft culture and nutrient film technique (NFT) operations in the growing of lettuce, leafy greens, and herbs. A new chapter 12 discusses control of environmental factors in greenhouses. It covers information on systems to regulate temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide enrichment, lighting, and fertigation with examples of sustainable greenhouse technology. This chapter demonstrates automation in the regulation of the greenhouse environment to crop production methods with emphasis on robotics in harvesting to transporting, grading, and packing equipment. The use of retractable roof structures in tropical, humid climates is an alternative for growing greenhouse crops. A new chapter 14 describes vertical indoor farming. It presents background information on early vertical greenhouses and sack culture systems to present vertical systems used by greenhouses and existing vertical greenhouses and future concepts. Vertical indoor farming reviews systems of vertical tiers of shelving growing lettuce, leafy greens, and herbs under LED lighting in large warehouses. The chapter exemplifies automation in these vertical farms with each specific system and it contains information on vertical growing in containers and/or modular units. Chapter 15 contains new information on tropical hydroponics describing hydroponics in Peru. Expansions of rooftop greenhouses with new locations in New York, Chicago, and Montreal display updated facilities and crops.

Our reliance on industrial agriculture has resulted in a food supply riddled with hidden environmental, economic and health care costs and beset by rising food prices. With only a handful of corporations responsible for the lion's share of the food on our supermarket shelves, we are incredibly vulnerable to supply chain disruption. The Urban Food Revolution provides a recipe for community food security based on leading innovations across North America. The author draws on his political and business experience to show that we have all the necessary ingredients to ensure that local, fresh sustainable food is affordable and widely available. He describes how cities are bringing food production home by: Growing community through neighborhood gardening, cooking and composting programs Rebuilding local food processing, storage and distribution systems Investing in farmers markets and community supported agriculture Reducing obesity through local fresh food initiatives in schools, colleges and universities. Ending inner-city food deserts Producing food locally makes people healthier, alleviates poverty, creates jobs, and makes cities safer and more beautiful. The Urban Food Revolution is an essential resource for anyone who has lost confidence in the global industrial food system and wants practical advice on how to join the local food revolution.