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1000 AD

1627

1699

1925

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1997

The History of Alternative Farming

Earliest forms of aquaponics were found to be used by the ancient Aztec who lived in Central Mexico T2,TI1

A British scientist, Sir Francis Bacon, published his research on soilless gardening and sparked the wave of research into hydroponics. T5,TI2

John Woodward, a english scientist, conducted experiments involving growing spearmint in various water solutions and found that plants grew better in less pure water than distilled water. T5,TI3

 Hydroponics began to gain popularity in the US. T4,TI4

Berkeley scientists Dennis Hoagland and Daniel Arnon published the book  "The Water Culture Method for Growing Plants without Soil” which is considered one of the most important text about hydroponics  T5,TI5

The first commercial use of hydroponics to grow beans, tomatoes, and vegetables were used as refuel stop for Pan-Am Airways staff and crew. T5,TI6

Greenhouses with hydroponic systems began to expand significantly in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and parts of the US T6,TI7

Dr. James Rakocy from the University of Virgin Island began research on using plants as a natural filter within aquaponic systems  T6,TI8

Oil prices increases and the cost of controlled environment agriculture increases, leading to many bankruptcies and the decrease in the use of hydroponics. T6,TI9

Professor Doug Sanders and Mark McMurtry created the closed loop aquaponic system which recirculated nutrients back into the fish tanks T8,TI10

NASA funds a project about a small aeroponic operation system growing the aeroponic movement.  T7,TI11

Dr. James Rakocy and his fellow colleagues developed the use of deep water hydroponic growing beds in a large scale aquaponics system. T8,TI12

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