Trivially, even a common potted plant that we keep on the balcony of our house is a soilless crop . It should therefore be noted that the term hydroponic cultivation is used to indicate crops without substrate or on liquid medium: soilless crops can be divided into crops on substrate and crops without substrate or on liquid medium. In the former, the roots sink into a substrate of a different type (organic, inorganic or artificial) which is constantly moistened with the nutrient solution, in the latter the root system is immersed directly in the nutrient solution. Hydroponic crops fall into this second category indoor growing equipment in canada.
The seed is moistened with a nutrient outcome composed of moisture and mixes (mostly inorganic) essential to furnish all the important ingredients for ordinary mineral nutrition. The technique is otherwise known as hydroculture. Hydroponic cultivation allows controlled productions both from a qualitative and hygienic-sanitary point of view throughout the year.
In the scenario of agriculture 4.0, hydroponic cultivation is a highly innovative system destined to make agricultural cultivation possible even in extreme habitats such as that of a desert, a spaceship or a habitat such as the Moon or Mars.
This technique is increasingly gaining ground in plant cultivation. In this particular type of cultivation, the growth of the plant and its root system takes place outside the earth, which is replaced by an inert substrate, usually composed of expanded clay, perlite, vermiculite, rock wool, zeolite, coconut fiber, and other natural fibers. At the same time, the irrigation and growth of the plant is entrusted to a nutrient solution composed of water and inorganic compounds, necessary to provide all the substances necessary for the growth of the plants themselves. This particular production technique allows to bring considerable benefits, from a qualitative and hygienic-sanitary point of view, during the whole process.
Among other things, with traditional cultivation, today, we can barely feed the world population. At present, each of us has an average of about 2,000 square meters of agricultural land available (in the 1970s it was more than double). Let alone in 2050, when the population will reach 9.7 billion. Not to mention that the availability of agricultural land is gradually decreasing because it is converted into building land.
In the future there will be a contraction of available land. It is therefore necessary to find new methods of cultivation.
Low Tech systems are an example of this: easy to implement and inexpensive. Without looking to the future, these systems are still important because they are capable of increasing the production and consumption of fresh vegetables in the poor villages and suburbs of the cities of the global South. They are therefore essential for the food security of many poor or disadvantaged populations.