From Babylon’s Hanging Garden to Modern Day Homes: Hydroponics Help Grow Crops Where Land is a Constraint

Land being a finite resource and the global food demand always being on an ascending curve, agri-technologists have always kept looking for ways to cultivate that would not require soil. 

Hydroponics is one such way of growing plants using a water-based nutrient solution instead of soil. The soil substitute might include an aggregate substrate or a range of growing media, such as:

• Vermiculite
• Coconut coir
• Perlite

This versatile cultivation method has become popular among hobbyists, small farmers, and commercial enterprises. This demand is what drives its market size to grow from nearly US$7 billion to an estimated mark of more than US$12 billion by 2025. 

How Do Hydroponics Differ from Aeroponics?

Aeroponics leverages air against the water-based nutrient solution used in Hydroponics. Before delving deeper into how it works, it is crucial to establish the difference between these two methods in greater detail. 

In Aeroponics, plants never draw nutrients from water. It does so from a nutrient-rich mist sprayed onto the plants’ roots. Hydroponics – on the other hand – makes full use of water. Here, growers suspend the plants in water full-time or feed them with an intermittent water flow. 

Aeroponics farming techniques use weather-controlled enclosed environments where plants grow in containers of nutrient solutions in Hydroponics. 

In terms of their impact, both aeroponics and hydroponics are safe for the environment with zero use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. However, when it comes to cultivating in water-scarce regions, aeroponics has the advantage of using much less water to operate than hydroponics. 

With their differences and similarities, both hydroponics and aeroponics are gaining traction. And today, we look at ways in which hydroponics has won momentum over the years. 

Click here to learn all about aeroponics.

The Science of Hydroponics

We can look at hydroponic systems from the prism of their construction. Broadly, there are two categories: Open systems and Closed systems. 

We can also look at hydroponics in terms of their usage of supporting mediums. Here, the categories would be Aggregate or Non-Aggregate systems. 

Finally, depending on the use of electrical components, hydroponics could have passive or active systems. Now, let’s have a look at what these distinctions mean.

Open & Closed Systems

An open hydroponic system involves a reservoir, grow chamber, and tubes. Examples of an Open System include Nutrient Film Technique, Ebb and Flow, etc. 

The core working architecture of an open system requires the nutrient solution to flow from the reservoir to the grow chamber and back into the reservoir through the tubes. 

Closed hydroponic systems, which work on methods like Deep Water Culture or Kratky Method, use the nutrient reservoir as both the reservoir and grow chamber. Dangling plant roots get into the nutrient solution without requiring pumps, as the solution does not leave the reservoir. 

Aggregate & Non-Aggregate Systems

Aggregate systems use an aggregate, instead of soil, as the supporting medium, while non-aggregate systems use rock wool or pool noodles as their supporting medium. Ebb & flow and wick systems are examples of the aggregate variety, while non-aggregate systems follow the Nutrient Film Technique or Kratky methods. 

Passive and Active Systems

Passive and active hydroponics systems differ in that the first variety does not involve any moving or motorized parts and, therefore, are independent of electrical components. 

On the other hand, the active system depends on electrical components, which could be pumps, aerators, and timers. These components ensure the timely delivery of nutrition to plants. 

The Role of Technology in Hydroponics

Agriculture methods have been successfully leveraging cutting-edge technologies for decades now. Hydroponics is no exception. 

AI-Based Technologies

For instance, hydroponics uses Artificial Intelligence to precisely monitor existing environmental conditions, including light levels, humidity, and nutrient levels. AI also helps optimize investment and bring down costs by creating personalized growth plans for each plant type. 

LED Lighting

LED lights are another crucial technology intervention in hydroponics. These lights consume far less energy, emit less heat, and last longer than other light sources. 

LED lights are also conducive to requirement-based designing. They prove effective in offering the right type of light, both in terms of intensity and area-based focus, resulting in healthy root development and improved plant health. 

Sensor-Based Automated Growing Systems

However, the most significant technological development so far in hydroponics has been the automated growing systems.

One can set up these systems indoors or outdoors. It is possible to control them remotely, even through one’s smartphone. The objective of these sensor-based systems is to track and adjust – if required – environmental parameters such as temperature, humidity, light, pH levels, and nutrient volume. 

Apart from assisted optimization of these factors, they also help the nutrient supply to maintain the right mix of minerals and organic compounds. But like any emerging field of application, which is expanding with each passing day, hydroponics also follows the trail of rich academic and applied research. 

Hydroponics: How it Came to be? 

Researchers have identified early soilless farming techniques resembling hydroponics in various forms from ancient times. For instance, one could locate resemblances or remnants of it in the hanging gardens of Babylon (600 B.C.), the Aztec Floating Gardens (10th century), and the Chinese Rice Fields (13th Century). 

However, Dr. William F. Gericke, a California professor, is credited with the use of the term hydroponics for the first time. Developed as a laboratory technique, it slowly took the commercial shape that it is today. 

Much of the credit for commercially scaling it up goes to the United States military, which used hydroponics to grow fresh food for troops stationed on infertile Pacific islands during World War II. 

Since then, hydroponics has been commercially carried out by many firms in the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Commercial Firms With Transformative Hydroponics Solutions

1. Grow Generation

Grow Generation is one of the leading providers of hydroponics product solutions. It offers complete hydroponic systems as well as separate components, including air and water pumps, water chillers and heaters, fittings, grow trays and stands, net pots and cups, reservoir and tanks, drip systems, and solutions for water filtration and treatment. 

For the financial year ended on December 31st, 2022, GrowGeneration registered a revenue of more than US$278 million. Gross profit was over US$70 million. This sales revenue, however, was significantly lower than Grow Generation’s 2021 numbers, when it recorded a revenue of US$422 million, with a gross profit of more than US$118 million.  

2. ScottsMiracle-Gro

ScottsMiracle-Gro is another public player in this field that offers at least twelve brands in the field of hydroponics. Some of its brands include General Hydroponics, Botanicare, Vermicorp Organics, AeroGarden, Agrolux, MotherEarth, and more. General Hydroponics offers nutrients, supplements, control, and maintenance products. It also offers feed charts for commercial growers and hobbyists to precisely decide on what to feed plants. The presence of Scotts Miracle-Gro in hydroponics spans more than four decades. 

Scotts Miracle-Gro registered net sales of more than US$3.9 billion in 2022, US$4.9 billion in 2021, and US$4.1 billion in 2020. Gross margin of the public firm as a percentage of the net sales was 22.2%, 29.8%, and 32.6% in these three years. 

3. Hydrofarm Holdings

Hydrofarm Holdings is another global brand known for its vast range of hydroponics products. Its product range includes pumps, programmable timers, pH solutions, organic soilless mixes, and more. Over the past 45 years, the brand has emerged as a one-stop shop for all sorts of indoor agriculture needs. 

Hydrofarm sells to a fragmented customer base through speciality hydroponic retailers, such as Greencoast and Growers House; garden centres/retail, such as Nurseryland and Ace Hardware; e-commerce partners, such as Amazon and Hydrobuilder; and greenhouse/channel partners, such as BFG Supply Co., and Griffin.

In 2022, Hydrofarm registered net sales of over US$344 million, with a gross profit of over US$29 million. In 2021, it had sales of more than US$479 million with a gross profit of more than US$101 million. 

All these large-scale public companies generating handsome revenue by selling hydroponics solutions over the years stand testimony to the worth of the farming technique and its viability. Undeniably, it has multiple advantages. Let us have a look at some of them.

Hydroponics: Opportunities and Challenges to Overcome

Any farming technique that helps save finite resources like land and water is beneficial for the health of the planet. Hydroponics, with its many advantages, embodies this approach. 

For instance, with hydroponics, growers can produce between three to ten times more food than conventional agriculture. The plant also takes far less time to grow. It does not require herbicides or pesticides, as hydroponics-cultivated crops enjoy significant safeguards from weeds and insects. 

Studies show that the firm consumes 20 times less water than traditional agriculture. Moreover, since it happens in a closed and controlled system, there is too little chance of contamination. However, for hydroponics to achieve its full potential, it must overcome quite a few challenges. 

First, the initial set-up cost would have to be lower, which is higher than what it takes to start farming on land. And since there is no soil involved, which acts as a natural barrier in traditional farming, there are chances of diseases spreading rapidly to the entire system through the water. 

One would also have to constantly inspect the soil for microorganisms, such as bacteria and mold, which can contaminate the water. 

Apart from physical monitoring, hydroponics also requires resource-intensive interventions to maintain nutrient levels, which requires training and education on proper irrigation and lighting technologies. 

Hydroponics: The Road Ahead

Over the years, hydroponics has truly emerged as a viable solution for sustainable farming, and its expanding scope makes the future look promising. Many of the nutrient solution components, for instance, are obtained from salts. 

However, in cases where these components are not available, growers have ample opportunity to replace them with more commonly found organic fertilizers, such as cattle manure or bird guano. Nutrients could also include fish-meal, wood or grain scraps, or seaweed. 

Similarly, there are many substrate options available, including perlite, pumice, vermiculite, rice husk, wood fiber, wool, and rock wool, providing growers with a variety of choices. 

Most importantly, hydroponics can help produce various crops and plants, making it suitable for both home farming and larger-scale agriculture, including greens, vegetables, fruits, and aromatic plants. 

In the coming years, with proper knowledge of irrigation, plant biology, genetics, and light and air control technology, we can advance hydroponics as a viable complement to land-based farming.

Click here to learn all about vertical farming and its global impact.