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Approximately 80 percent of the United States water is used for farming. H1

11 percent of the earth’s land surface is used in crop production, about 1.5 billion hectare. H2

The world’s population will increase by 2 billion people by the year of 2050 H3

An average American adult consumes about 56 pounds of corn and 415 pounds of vegetables a year. H4

Wheat is the most grown plant in the world, about 211 million hectare. H5

Did You Know?

Learn More About Alternative Farming!

Alternative Farming's History

Traditional farming has been around for over 12,000 years and is used everywhere. It is the most popular kind of farming technique and is used about everywhere including homes and industries. This type of farming involves using soil and water, and works by the roots of the plants absorbing the nutrients from the soil. H6

People Who Makes this Possible

Issues Regarding Alternative Farming And Traditional Farming

  Types Of Farming  

Benefits of 

Alternative Farming

Hydroponic farming is a farming technique which involves growing plants in nutrient rich water. This type of farming however, does not use soil but instead uses different types of materials such as sponges and specific rocks. This allows the plant root to come in contact with the nutrient rich water as well as allowing the plant to have access to oxygen. H7

Aquaponic farming works by creating its own little ecosystem. It works by recirculating water from a fish tank through a growing bed of vegetables, fruits or other kinds of plants. The fish produces nutrients from its waste, which feeds the plants, and the plants filter the water of the fish tank to keep the water fresh and clean for the fishes. H9

Aeroponic farming is process of farming that allows plant to grow without any soil and uses less water than other types of farming. Aeroponic works by growing plants in a tube like chamber which encloses the roots. Nutrient filled water is then pumped into the chamber which allows the roots to absorbs the nutrients in the water. This technique allows water be be recycled throughout the process. H8

Traditional vs Alternative Farming

Taditional vs Indoor

Traditonal

Farming facilities take up about 230-1,500 acres of land and in total, researchers found that about 11% of the world's land surface is used for crop production.

It is estimated that 5.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used world wide and out of the 5.2 billion pounds,

80% of the used pesticides are used in

US farms.

Traditional farming uses about 2,000 gallons of water a day which is about 730,000 gallons of water

a year.

Indoors

A New Jersey based company with nine indoor farms, AeroFarms, claims to produce 130 times the amount of produce that is produced in a acre of land.  

Pesticides are not used in indoor farms due to the plants being indoors and not exposed to the environment, less soil is being used, and the crops are being monitored frequently.

An Indoor farming company known as AeroFarms saves water by using their indoor facilities and claims they use 95% less water than a typical outdoor farm.

Benefits

benefits

Feeding the Hungry

36 billion people from all across the world die each year due to hunger and malnutrition. 1 in 6 children across the world are unable to have a healthy active life because they are underweight and malnourished. Food being unable to grow in places due to the harsh climates make it nearly impossible for these people receive the nutrition they needed in order to survive and live a healthy life. With the rapidly growing population providing these people with the food they need will become more difficult each year.  

 

But with the alternative farming styles such as Hydroponic, Aeroponic, and Aquaponic we could be able to help this growing problem.

 

With Aeroponics we are able to produce 130 times more than we are able to produce in one acre which could help feeds more people and save more lives. Since Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and Aquaponics are all done indoors we are able to grow crops that could never be grown in some countries due to the harsh environment. With that said we could grow crops that are nourishing and healthy to help these people get the nutrition they need and have a better life.

Places In the World that is Suffering Form Hunger and Its Severity  

Saving Water

United States Soil Moisture Levels

Water is an extremely valuable resource, due to the fact that we can not manufacture more of it. 71% of the world’s surface is made of water but only 3% of that water could be used and consumed. 70% of the world’s limited fresh water is used in agriculture. Due to increasing climate change, places such as Somalia, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and even parts of the United states are suffering from an extreme drought that has been occurring since 2013.

 

With the farming styles of Hydroponics, Aeroponics, and Aquaponics we are able to grow crops using less water. We use almost 90% less water compared to traditional methods and we are able to receive 30% more of a yield when we uses these alternative farming styles. Huge amounts of water is saved because we are able to collect the water that has been evaporated into the air and recycle them back into the system, but with traditional farming, we are unable to collect the water wasting huge amounts of water.

Protecting Our World

It is estimated that in the state of California 43 million acres of land has been taken over and used for agricultural purposes. Stanford researchers found that between the years of 1980 and 2000, more than 80% of farmland was created by destroying forests, that is roughly the size of Alaska. Burning down these forests are a method people use to remove trees for more land. The carbon that is released from burning down these forests harm the atmosphere and is factor to the increasing climate change.

 

But with the alternative farming styles such as Hydroponic, Aeroponic, and Aquaponic we are able to cut down on the carbon emissions that are released and we able to save more land for wildlife and forests.

 

These farming methods do not require a lot of land such as traditional farming methods that take up hundreds of acres of land and they are able produce a much more greater yield with less amount of land. The alternative farming methods also do not require big machineries such as tractors, cutting down on the gas emissions released into the atmosphere. With traditional farming, nutrients from the land are being absorbed killing some of the life in the soil, but with the alternative farming styles, soil is not required leaving the soil nutritious and new life forming.

Deforestation In The Americas

Fresher Produce 

Farm To Table Process

About 35% of the fruits and vegetables consumed in the United States has been imported into the country. It takes an average of 2,000 miles, approximately 2 weeks, of travel to be shipped into stores and onto our plates. During the travel time 45% of the food nutritional values has been lost. About 5.2 billion pounds of pesticides are used worldwide on crops to help the shelf life of the crops, the traveling process, and pests that has invaded the crops. According to the CCOHS consumption of pesticides can lead to blurring of vision, vomiting, weakness or fatigue, insomnia, and many more symptoms. Click on this link for the full list of pestide poisoning symptoms   http://www.ccohs.ca/oshanswers/chemicals/pesticides/health_effects.html

 

Since these alternative farming methods do not require a lot of land, fruits and vegetables can be grown locally shortening the distance it takes to reach the consumers table saving more of the nutritional values in these crops. Pesticides are not used in the production of these alternative farming methods making the food much safer for the consumers. The company Plenty’s goal is to build warehouses with these alternative farming methods in populated cities to reduce the amount of transit time it takes to reach the consumer tables. Rather than taking a couple of days or even weeks, their goal is to reduce it down to a couple of hours after harvesting.

Trending News About Farming

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The first course prepared for the most recent “Dress Dinner” at Caltech wasn’t unusual for the fancy, end-of-term meal for students, but the source of the mixed greens, flowers and other vegetables in the dish is a point of pride for executive chef Zach Chambers. Forget farm-to-table, everything on the plate was grown on the dining hall’s roof...                      

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Hydroponics is the method of growing plants without using soil or soil-less gardening using important nutrients in a mineral rich water solution. A plant only needs sunlight, sufficient amount of water, and selected nutrients to grow. Hydroponics farming allows a plant to grow 50% faster than conventional method. It eliminates the need of pesticides and herbicides...                  

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Hydroponic gardening can change people’s perceptions of what’s needed to grow vibrant plants. Rather than soil, all you may need for a hydroponic garden is water to grow a variety of healthy, strong plants.Although it seems like a futuristic concept, hydroponics – or growing plants without soil – actually dates back many centuries. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Floating Gardens of China are...                   

 

 

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