Future of Food

When I was a kid, my parents sometimes took me to this town in Haryana. The road was rather narrow, and you could only see farms on either side of the road as far as the eye could see. That’s when I realised that most of land outside cities is basically farmland, converted from what would have been forest at some point of time. So I though that if we can grow food crops without the need for fertile land, then all of farmland in North India could be converted back to forests full of elephants and tigers.

I was successful in growing basic food crops in lab i.e. ground floor of my house, but found that this method would cost 40X more than traditional farmland. I asked my dad if he or anyone he knew would pay 40X more if the vegetable quality was far superior, and he said no. So I abandoned the idea.

The plants are first sprouted in normal soil, and then transplanted to this setup at seedling stage. The blue tubes contain nutrient rich water, which is being circuited by a pump. The roots of the plant are directly dipped in the water, from which they absorb nutrients. The LED lights are artificial sunlight.