Technology has addressed the waste and energy use concerns in the way the world grows, packages, ships, and wastes fresh produce. At this point, agriculture is not sustainable, and the inequities in world-wide farming systems are causing concern and changes in consumer behavior. The local food movement, urban agriculture, farmer’s markets, CSA’s, and other direct-to-consumer models of food sales have been blooming. Now we have kitchen appliances that are mini-grow stations, sized to fit on the kitchen cabinets.
Using hydroponics and LED lights for growth, the systems use little electricity and water, both major concerns in traditional agriculture. Sized for family or single person use, they also eliminate much fresh produce waste by allowing a person to pick leaves, for example, from a living lettuce plant, rather than buying an entire harvested head at the grocery store. The systems currently in development or on the market are scalable, from single units to mini-farms to feed a large family.
Replantable has the Nanofarm in pre-production testing. This system is the ultimate in plug-and-play gardening, with seeds imbedded in paper and fiber mats. The seeded mat is soaked in the water reservoir, then the reservoir with mat is placed inside the nanofarm and a start button is pushed. You can watch your plants grow through the glass door and the system will let you know when it’s time to harvest. After harvest, you can pop the pieces into the dishwasher and then plant a new crop. They are testing mainly leafy greens, lettuce, and herbs.
IKEA has developed kitchen-sized hydroponics called KRYDDA-VAXER for both the kitchen-farmer and restaurants that want to grow their own in-house. Using LED lights and hydroponics again, the home units are inexpensive and are sized to fit into any number of small nooks and crannies. The Space 10 system is the restaurant sized system, and has been successfully trialed.
Panasonic’s Smart Home programs have included hydroponic kitchen gardens that are managed by the cloud with the rest of the home systems. These smart homes are being trialed in Singapore, and the units are the size and shape of the average microwave.
Most of these hydroponic systems are designed for rapidly growing and shallow rooted plants, such as leafy greens. We all need more leafy greens! But for those with stirring farm-ambitions, and a porch or balcony, there is a new apartment farmer in town called the Garden Tower. Developed with a successful Kickstarter campaign, the system is made with care toward sustainability, and has a unique feature that anyone who gardens or eats fresh produce will appreciate. It has an integral vermiculture composting tube in the center of the tower, so the peels and ends can go straight back into the compost pile, which will feed the growing plants. The unit is sized for larger plants such as squash as well, and can be easily turned to take advantage of sun requirements.
There is a saying about kids and veggies, that if they grow it, they’ll eat it. Maybe that’s a good way forward for all of us! A Nanofarm!
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