Skip to Content.
Sympa Menu

market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Are Organic Hydroponic Greenhouses Environmentally Sustainable

market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org

Subject: Market Farming

List archive

Chronological Thread  
  • From: Brigette Leach <avalonfarmshomegrown AT earthlink.net>
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Are Organic Hydroponic Greenhouses Environmentally Sustainable
  • Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 19:18:43 -0500

Marty,
My advice to you, after starting a commercial hydroponic greenhouse enterprise 6 years ago, is to _do your homework_. If you are not familiar with greenhouse production, there is _a lot_ to learn. Even though we are located in the heart of greenhouse production in SW Michigan (Kalamazoo County is a national leader in the production of bedding plants, hanging baskets, lilies, etc.) none of the growers are using hydroponic technology. We made visits to growers in Michigan, Ohio and Lemington, Ontario. Advice we got was very helpful and many of these guys had been in business more than 20 years, so had seen it all. In addition, we attended several of Crop King's grower conferences, and while they are not geared toward organic production, we were able to talk to a wide variety of growers using many different practices, including one who was doing all in/all out commercial basil production utilizing waste water from Tilapia production. Deciding who's advice to take was a challenge to say the least.

The best advice we got from local bedding plant growers was to determine who you were going to sell your product to, and to have things lined up before starting production, but sounds like you've got that under control.

My understanding is that hydroponic production as we practice it, cannot be certified organic because the inputs are or cannot be certified. Now I say that without having investigated the issue since we started production. Inputs for production are based on a recipe that is developed after having your water source analyzed. Having access to good water is akin to having good soil. That could be a challenge with a municipal water system but that isn't something we've dealt with. We found life much less stressful after we found a good consultant to work with. He was based in East Lansing and I would be happy to pass on contact information if you would like it.

We began heating our greenhouses with natural gas and we all know what has happened with those prices. We put in a wood burning unit that has cut natural gas costs by about 40%, but we have fence rows to keep clean and wood lots to be managed. A lot of attention has been paid to corn burning stoves in our area since shelled corn prices are so low, but I don't have any first hand knowledge.

Remind me where you are located.

Brigette
Avalon Farms Homegrown
Zone 5

road's end farm wrote:



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

------------------------------------------------------------------------

_______________________________________________
Market-farming mailing list
Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming

Get the list FAQ at: http://www.marketfarming.net/mflistfaq.htm






Archive powered by MHonArc 2.6.24.

Top of Page