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  • From: road's end farm <organic101 AT linkny.com>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Are Organic Hydroponic Greenhouses Environmentally Sustainable
  • Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 09:43:38 -0500


On Dec 13, 2005, at 4:54 AM, Marty Kraft wrote:

Our organization is considering investing in a hydroponic greenhouse
for raising vegetables in an urban neighborhood setting. The purpose is
to produce high quality food for residents. It is important that the
energy inputs for construction, operation and removal at the end of its
productive life decrease our neighborhoods ecological foot print. That
is, we will not be taking more than we are giving back.

The backyard garden seems most sustainable. A hoop house or high tunnel
might come next. Where would hydroponics fit in? Would productivity and
low transportation costs make it worth while?

Maybe you have thought about this. I would appreciate your input.

There's been debate in the organic community as to whether there is such a thing as "organic hydroponic". That is, you can probably design a hydroponic system using only materials that are acceptable for use in organic production; but the original heart of organic agriculture, from which it takes its name, is that it's based on keeping a healthy soil through proper organic matter content in the soil. Can a system with no field and no soil anywhere in the process actually be organic? I don't know whether anybody is currently certifying hydroponic systems. You can certainly certify a greenhouse, with either bed or bench systems (soil in ground, or in pots).

Having said that: whether the hydroponic system would be more sustainable than other alternatives for feeding the neighborhood is a different question, which it seems to me needs a case-by-case analysis. If the neighborhood is in any climate with a winter, adding some sort of greenhouse to the system seems likely to do less damage than shipping similar food in from long distances (though this might vary with the crop and with the growing and shipping systems. I think Eliot Coleman may have worked some of this out.) What is the advantage of hydroponic over standard greenhouse in this specific circumstance?

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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