The effects of climate change and rapid population growth pose a threat to global food production by increasing water demand on the one hand and water scarcity on the other. The agriculture sector alone accounts for the majority of global water use by 70%. Recognizing the interconnected nature of agricultural systems is essential to find more robust, competitive and environmentally sustainable food systems, particularly in terms of the multiple use and reuse of water for food production.
Soilless systems serve as a potential alternative for meeting food demand. The hydroponic system is one of soilless plant growth, in which plant roots are submerged in a nutrient solution for plant growth, whereas the aquaponic system is another soilless plant cultivation technique, in which the plant gets nutrition from fish waste.
In this project, LFI is responsible for designing and developing different innovative technological solutions by demonstrating at the micro-scale to produce more crops per drop. In lab-scale experiments, the leafy Green Batavia growth was tested under different hydroponic and aquaponic systems. Based on the lab-scale results, the pilot experiments are conducted to test the mass production of lettuce in selected hydroponic and aquaponic systems. Here's an infographic about mass lettuce production in hydroponic and aquaponic with media bed (sandponic) systems on our pilot scale.
