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| GREENHOUSE FARMING: THE FUTURE OF FARMING | | |
Dr. Parveen Kumar, Dr. Kunzang Lamo
World population is growing which is expected to reach 9.7 billion by 2050 and feeding such a huge population will require the food production to be increased by up to 70 percent of the present by 2050. This has to be achieved at a time when our resources are getting depleted, climate change is adversely affecting our agricultural production particularly in the rainfed dry land regions and when more and more number of farmers is leaving agriculture owing to low profitability in this sector. The rising temperatures and more frequent droughts caused by global warming and many others related obstacles are making traditional farming methods increasingly inefficient and unpredictable. Presently, the agriculture sector has also been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) border closures, quarantines and disruptions to supply chains are limiting some people’s access to food, especially in countries hit hard by the virus or already affected by high levels of food insecurity. An urgent need is thus felt to adopt and promote technologies that are based on efficient use of our natural resources; that can help crop withstand the extremities of temperature and that give us reliable yields. Growing produce in controlled environments, where growing conditions can be better managed can play a vital role in global food production.
An important technology where the indoor environment can be controlled to save the plants from climatic injuries and to ensure food and nutritional security for all is the Green house technology. The green houses made up of poly sheets or glass houses made up of glass are now largely being used in areas where it is not possible to grow crops under open conditions owing to harsh climatic conditions. This type of agriculture may seem like a very modern way of producing food, but the truth is that people have been growing food in controlled environments for thousands of years. The first greenhouse ever built for food production is commonly attributed to the Romans around 30 AD when the royal physicians recommended Emperor Tiberius Caesar a cucumber a day for his health, although the exact crop is debated. To keep their emperor healthy year-round, Roman engineers created a structure for growing plants during cold weather with a translucent roof made out of mica that would allow sunlight in while keeping heat from escaping outwards. The first ‘modern’ greenhouses that used glass outer-structures began popping up during the early days of the Renaissance, specifically in Italy. These first indoor botanic gardens were used to grow exotic crop species brought home by oceanic explorers. Soon these structures caught on all over Europe, and as Italian, French, English and Dutch explorers brought new crops home from their travels, Europe’s wealthy class developed a strong taste for foreign plants and fruits such as orange and pineapple. Over the next few centuries, greenhouse popularity continued to soar to other regions of the world.
Now with some recent advances in technology, the glasshouses can be transformed into a precisely-controlled growing environment that farmers can rely on to achieve improved yields and profits. The greenhouses equipped with automated irrigation systems, pH sensors and climate control software can all be used to solve common problems faced by indoor farmers, such as disease prevention and pest management. By putting an appropriate rain water harvesting system in place it is possible now to make them self sufficient in their water requirements. Green houses with innovative cooling systems achieve optimum air and circulation levels creating the perfect growing environment for the crop inside. Strategic shading is another important component of the hi-tech green houses. Commercial glasshouses can now create the perfect growing environment with a series of strategically-placed flame retardant screens to provide UV and thermal shading. Depending on the crop being grown, this could save up to 60% in energy consumption. The combined Heat & Power (CHP) systems help to convert the heat which is generated onsite into energy to sell off, store or use to power the technology inside the glasshouse through a specially built Combined Heat & Power (CHP) system.
Another major advance to greenhouses technology was the introduction and widespread adoption of hydroponic growing methods, where plants are grown in a soilless environment and receive nutrients via water supplied directly to the root zone. Not only have hydroponic growing methods helped farmers achieve significantly higher yields and greater levels of control, the technology also allows producers to recycle unused water and nutrients, leading to significant water savings on a plant by plant basis compared to conventional farming. By using artificial intelligence (AI) to ensure the environment is optimal for each specific plant, including the day and night temperatures and amount of CO2 needed, yields higher than the conventional methods have been reported. These greenhouses are infact living bio-systems constantly adapting to maintain optimal climates for growing specific crops. This can further help us to understand how changes in the climate can impact yield taste and texture. Not only could green house farming help us to adapt to a warming planet, but it has the potential to help slow down climate change by being more sustainable – using less water and producing fewer emissions.
From the first known greenhouse built by Romans almost 2 millennia ago to the hydroponic greenhouses and the present day hi-tech greenhouses, these have transformed over the centuries from an experimental growing technology into a bonafide method for large scale food production. Things do not stop here. Given the potential of these green houses to produce food when the same is not possible in the open, it is not wrong to say that the future of farming across the world lies in greenhouse farming. |
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