Is The Future of Foods Grown Indoors?

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            If you are interested in where your food comes from (like me!) you may be seeing a new trend popping up in your grocery store: aquaponic grown vegetables!  They are usually the vegetables that are still sitting in water—and in my experience they usually look pretty dang fresh!  In this blog I hope to explain why this new up-and-coming method of growing food is and how it could be the future of food!

            Typically—we need lots of land, water, and sunlight to grow plant.  Not really rocket science, but new technology has allowed us to grow food in small, urban locations INDOORS! How is this possible?  Well there are multiple ways to do it, but the most common is aquaponics --  a system where nutrient enriched water flows to the roots of vegetables to grow. 

The traditional method of aquaponics is combined with aquaculture, a fancy word for breeding, raising and harvesting fish in a controlled environment.  These freshwater fish, after feeding, produce nitrogen rich waste products that fill the water.  Rather than wasting this water, aquaponic systems send it to batches of young vegetables to be nourished and grow, feeding these plants with the nutrients that is usually provided by soil.  This is also done with the help of specialized UV lights and aid in growth and kill pathogens. These plants are simultaneously filtering the water, returning it to fish nice and clean. It’s basically a unique way of harnessing the power of the aquatic ecosystem to produce food for human consumption!

Why are we starting to use this technology to grow our foods?  Well, there are a few reasons:

1. With concerns about climate variations and its impact on traditional agriculture, indoor growing of food is a controlled and sustainable way to produce foods without the constraints of seasons, extreme weather events, and pest.  This provides a unique solution to the anticipated challenges we may face.
2. In many cases, aquaponics is a way that requires less resources and produced higher and more consistent yields of a variety of foods.  Not only is this energy saving and environmentally friendly, it can also be cost-saving in the long run.
3. This is a way to decrease transportation concerns around the food system, aquaponics bringing food production into densely populated areas that wouldn’t normally have the resources for traditional farming. 

In my neck of the woods, lettuce is the most common local hydroponic vegetable sold, but it’s worth investigating if your local grocery store carries this uniquely produced produce!  What do you think of this new way of producing food? Would you support “farms” that produce food this way? Tell us in the comment section.

TB

Pattillo, A. (2017). An Overview of Aquaponic Systems: Aquaculture Components. Iowa State University Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Retrieved from: https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=ncrac_techbulletins

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