What if We Could Grow Food without Soil?

It seems like you are in one of the scenes from your favourite sci-fi movie. You enter an old Philips factory building, take the industrial elevator to the six floor and end up in a big artificially light up room. Pink LED lights, old factory equipment re-used for the new purpose and a lots of fresh greens floating in the long and shallow pools. What is this place?

Wondering around for some time, trying to get a sense of this strange yet fascinating space, I see Jean-Paul's big smile and realise that all of my questions are about to be answered. Jean-Paul Close is running City of Tomorrow (STIR Foundation) - a multidisciplinary cooperative ventures in Eindhoven, Netherlands, with a single mission to address global issues including climate change, pollution, resilience, social inclusion, food, energy, mobility through values driven innovation.

I get to experience a private tour in what appeared to be called Duurzame Kost City Farm, which a part of the STIR Foundation, and is working in the urban farming area. I learn that urban farming is one of the ways to tackle food supply challenges that humanity will face in the next 20-30 years. Industrial Agriculture has failed us, using monocultures, tons of pesticides led to further depletion of our precious soil. It is not sustainable. We need to move food production to the places where it is actually consumed, less transportation needed, less chemicals used, less trees cut to create new fields, and as a result so much more conserved carbon and happy environment.

Duurzame Kost City Farm is experimenting with new ways of growing food and using these learnings to upscale, moving from the realm of experimental to commercial, and with an ambition to provide fresh nutrient dense greens to the whole city of Eindhoven. The farm is a closed system for growing food via #aquaponics technology. It is the combination of #aquaculture (raising fish) and #hydroponics (the soil-less growing of plants) that grows fish and plants together in one integrated circular system.

So how does it work?

Feeding system: the cycle starts with a big tanks for raising and feeding the fish. The feed contains natural elements and minerals to allow the fish to grow naturally.
Fish: Natural fish waste, aka fish-poo, is a perfect "food" for the plants and bacteria. No need to use hormones or harmful pesticides.
Nutrient filter: Feces from the fish and food that has not been eaten are collected in the nutrient filter. In it, the nitrification bacteria grow and convert the waste into nitrates.
Nutrients: The water purified and enriched with nitrates by bacteria is pumped to the big pool, where plants are floating with their roots exposed. This nutrient rich water is the plants' food.
Green vegetables and herbs: Nitrates other nutrients are absorbed by the plants. LED provides necessary light. Thanks to the process the plants grows two to three times faster than in soil.
Water: Filtered by the plants, clean water flows back into the fish tank. This system uses 90% less water than open gardening, as the water keeps circulating in a closed loop and is automatically filtered.

Is aquaponics the #futureoffood? It might be one of the solutions, not sole one though.
There are still a lot of uncertainties and challenges. The scale of the projects is relatively small, the costs are high compared to traditional agriculture. But the opportunities are clear. Ability to provide fresh food to local communities, businesses and households despite the weather conditions, soil depletion and without transportation costs, significantly reducing the footprints - thumps up for that. Let's continue innovating. Who knows what other discoveries are awaiting for us to be revealed?!

See more on Duurzame Kost City Farm at http://www.duurzamekost.nl

If you want to learn more about other circular and sustainable practices across the World, let me know what do you want to know!