I know it sounds weird, how can we think of plants without soil but its true we can grow plants without soil. Larry Ellison who is the co-founder of ORACLE Corporation, has launched a startup called SENSEI working on this technique. This science of soilless farming is known as HYDROPONICS. It may sound like something designed in a modern laboratory, but you will be amazed to know that it’s been around for thousands of years. The system of hydroponics has been practiced in ancient India, Greece, China and Egypt, in Myanmar it is still in use. SENSEI is to develop hydroponic farms, the first one powered by Tesla solar where plants will be grown in minimal amount of water rather than in soil. Some scholars are of the view that the ancient Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, was a hydroponic system.

Weird Hydroponics

The Sensei used hydroponics is a subset of hydro culture, the method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrients solutions in a water solvent. These nutrients in hydroponics can come from an array of different sources such as byproduct from fish waste, duck manure etc. This process of hydroponics was first introduced in the 1627 book Sylva Sylvarum or A Natural History by Francis Bacon, later on in the year 1929; William Frederick Gericke began publicly promoting that this kind of nutrient culture be used for agricultural crop production.

One of the earliest successes of hydroponics occurred on Wake Island, (in the Pacific Ocean) a refueling stop for Pan American Airlines. In 1930s hydroponics was used over here to grow vegetables for the passengers as there was no soil and it was extremely expensive to airlift in fresh vegetables.

When it comes to the types of hydroponic farming there are two main variations:

Static Solution Culture:

Plants are grown in containers of nutrient solution, like glass mason jars,
plastic buckets, tubs or tanks.
The solution is gently aerated or else the roots are kept in a manner that they get oxygen naturally.
A hole is cut in the lid of the reservoir for each plant.
Containers should be properly covered to keep sunlight from entering in order to prevent formation of algae.
The nutrient solution is changed per week, or when the concentration drops below the desired level (determined using an electrical conductivity meter).
The plants are placed in a sheet of buoyant plastic that is floated on the surface of nutrient solution.

Continuos-Flow Solution Culture:

Nutrient solution constantly flows past the roots.
Easier to automate than the static as sampling and adjustments to the temperature and nutrient concentrations can be made in a large storage tank.
The dissolved nutrients are re-circulated past the bare roots of the plants in a water tight thick root mat.
Abundant supply of oxygen is provided to the roots of the plants.

Sensei plans to use these two techniques in order to achieve its target of growing food from “original seeds”, suggesting they’ll eschew genetically modified plants in favor of heirloom varieties. They at Sensei aim to grow high-quality food using software automation, and sell it locally relieving people of the expensive products being imported daily.

Impacts:

Eliminates the role of soil completely, hydroponics has proven to be economic, yielding, environment friendly and a healthy alternative for traditional farming methods.
It maximizes space by allowing vertical farming.
Conserves water and allows recycling of the same.
Ensures a hygienic environment for plant growth, it eliminates the use of harmful chemical pesticides and insecticides.
The nutrient solution directly provides nutrition to the plants, thus the need for a medium is nullified.
Higher yields at a faster rate.
Produces better quality crops (showing magnified biofortification).
Helps to overcome spatial, agro climatic and seasonal problems.
Reduces risk of crop failures drastically.

Hydroponics however requires utmost management and supervision, but in Sensei which is using automated software environment, this is but a child’s play. The issues of high maintenance and high-expenditure are nothing but a matter of time. With more advances in technology Sensei will become even more profitable than it is now.

The company’s day to day operations manager Daniel Gruneberg told that the company will soon begin selling food crops to restaurants and stores under the Sensei Farms brand.

Hydroponics has been proposed to be practiced in Mars for ex-situ studies, if Man needs to settle in the Red Planet.

CONCLUSION

Sensei believes in the saying that “You deserve to know what you’re eating”. That’s why it considers itself as a healthcare startup rather than a food business. So, instead of focusing on a traditional metric of success like yield per acre, the company is interested in optimizing nutrition per acre.

Hydroponics is expected to grow exponentially also in future, as conditions of traditional soil growing are becoming difficult. As population increases and arable land declines due to poor land management, people will turn to new technologies like hydroponics and aeroponics to create additional channels of crop production.

Especially in a country like India, where urban concrete conglomerate is growing each day, there is no option but to adopt soil-less culture to help improve the yield and quality of the produce so that we can ensure food security of our country.

Government intervention and research institutes’ interest can propel the use of this technology. Like Sensei we need Start ups in India too to generate public awareness and interest in this wonderful agricultural technique.

Click here to checkout our fashion store for widest range of products at an affordable price