Since the great wonder, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, hydroponics have been utilized for growing crops, and in some rare cases, spectacles. The Aztecs fashioned farms on top of rafts using the silt from nearby lakes to provide the soil with nutrients. Fast forward to today; we utilize hydroponic farming as an alternative to other modern farming practices. In areas with limited farmable land many turn to hydroponics out of necessity, which is what led to commercial scale growth in the more arid regions of the United States. Hydroponic agriculture has proven itself concurrent, and shall continue to, so long as farmable land keeps receding and the human race keeps its taste for veggies.
Effective hydroponic systems use approximately 70%-90% less water than conventional methods of farming. This is mainly due to water being filtered and reused ad nauseam. Availability of clean water does play its role in the difficulty of hydroponic farming, this includes attaining and sustaining the constantly circulating water. Roughly 10 million hectares of arable land are lost every year, causing more and more farmers to turn to other methods. Hydroponic farming is therefore slowly becoming a more reliable option and is developing into a steady farming technique.
Rock fiber is the key to hydroponic farming; it’s what makes it more convenient that conventional farming. Rock fiber is a square lattice of microscopic fibers fashioned into pods in which seedlings are planted, and once they’ve taken root the pods are torn away and grown individually in a crop row. The initial startup cost is the main deterrent for most modern farmers, although the general maintenance costs for the greenhouse are affordable. The actual physical maintenance on the greenhouse also requires relatively little labor. Most hydroponic farmers will set up their rows at around waist level, so they’ll never have to bend over to care after their crops. The water recycling systems can get quite complex, ranging from standard continuous filters to open waterfalls that double as air conditioners. Most Hydroponic water systems draw water from one well and dump the filtered disposal in another; this poses a potential threat to underground sources of drinking water. As per regulation by the Environmental Protection Agency, revisions are in order for the policy on dealing with waste disposal wells, but further study is required to accurately deduce whether or not water supplies are being affected.
Other than water circulation, the larger outstanding issue is temperature regulation. In a greenhouse, one usually relies on the sun’s rays to trap heat and contain it, but hydroponics require a specific climate; although the plants will never dry out. Keeping plants cool during the summer and warm during the winter is the eternal struggle of a greenhouse farmer. Two particular insects, aphids and whiteflies as cute as they are, are known sap-sucking destroyers of cultivated plants in temperate regions. Their development can be stunted through the strategic placing of ladybird eggs among the contaminated area, another common practice is to simply sweep every plant, placing eggs on each individual sprout.
By definition, an organic farm is one that incorporates soil into the growth of crops, which invalidates hydroponic farming as an “organic” alternative. This bars most from certifying their hydroponic farms. In Europe, this is not the case, as there is no such policy. The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) restricts the runoff from hydroponic farms, so that farmers are required to obtain a permit before they’re allowed to dump their waste water into larger natural bodies of water. This is the same reason Dave Hartshorn, the owner of Hartshorn farm, was not able to get his hydroponic farm certified.
The ethics of hydroponic farming remain moot while modern farming practices are continually employed for efficiency and convenience. Efficiency and convenience being defined, of course, by the EPA as the process that makes the most of everything. Growing plants in water-based mineral solutions under fluorescent lighting in a controlled climate tends to attract the attention of naturalistic types. Many of them ask if it’s okay to raise plants in these environments, no matter how “green” or “natural” they get. Is it okay to mimic the growth cycles we see in naturally occurring corn rows? Hydroponic farming is no more ethically irresponsible than any other modern farming practice. Looking at the fertilizers used in soil and deciding it’s automatically a better way to manipulate the environment isn’t an ethical argument, it’s a preference. Ishmael would point out that any farming process is simply manipulation of the environment; an inherent “taker” ideology.
I realized when I started writing this paper that I had started studying hydroponic farming this past summer. At the time I was quite intrigued by hydroponics as a writer, I was looking to incorporate the concept into a story i was writing. The overlying theme of the story was nature becoming unnatural, so any idea of alternative agriculture sounded too ironic not to use. My group struggled in its fledgling stages, our original mindset was aimed towards recycling, but we eventually landed on hydroponics. Compiling all our info on the subject at the beginning was nothing short of amusing, as none of us had any formal education on the science or history of hydroponics. We broke up the responsibilities, but even still that wasn’t enough. Speaking from experience, it’s not easy to find information on ethics or policies regarding hydroponic farming. My own disadvantages were not aided by the fact that I wasn’t able to attend the trip to the farm my group had decided to visit, Hartshorn.
If anything, the concept of farming in agriculture has become more deterrent due to my studies of hydroponics. Earlier on in the year, it occurred to me that farming is essentially manipulating the environment, no matter how innocent the cause. I grew up aiding my father in the garden around our house; it was my favorite thing about our stuffy little apartment in Boston. You’re helping something grow, yes, but we take it to extremes with this mentality like it’s our right, “this is something we’re supposed to be doing,” more often than not the thought never even comes to mind. Just the same as most react to the idea of an alchemist’s or philosopher’s stone, something that has the power to change the properties of tangible objects instantaneously and without negative consequence; it should not exist. Biological loopholes do not exist, and farming certainly isn’t one itself, farming comes at a price and we determine the ever-rising cost.
Bibliography
- "History of Hydroponics | « Boswyck Farms." Boswyck Farms RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
- "Aquaculture - Laws, Regulations, Policies, and Guidance." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2013.
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