No Cropland? No Problem! Farming On Air

Aeroponic farming, which uses mist to grow plants without soil, is another new technique. Grown indoors with LED lighting, without pesticides, aeroponic produce requires less than 10% of the water consumed by conventional agriculture. And because aeroponic farms are located in urban areas, transportation costs and carbon emissions are vastly reduced. _GreenTechMedia

As the price of fuel rises, the cost of farming rises along with it. Energy-intensive farming practises will be strained if energy costs rise much further. Of course, if energy crops and biomass-to-fuels can be made more economical and efficient, it is likely that more cropland will be devoted to biofuels and bioenergy -- if fuels prices continue to rise.

Where will the food come from, in that case? The concept of aeroponic farming -- farming on air -- is beginning to receive more attention. Aerofarms can be located anywhere, even in the middle of a large city.

Albright said the reason hydroponics and aeroponics have increased in popularity is the whole idea of food safety. If greens are grown and sold locally, there is less of a risk of disease from various outside factors.

“With the ability to control the environment for the plants precisely you get optimized production which increases productivity,” Albright said. “You are doing it in a place that is free of animal manures and pesticides, so it is ready to eat right away, without being rinsed in chlorine three times.”

Bloomgarden said the goal of the company is to rework the way farmers grow food and to transform the agriculture business as a whole. “A high level, lofty goal would be to transform our current system into a more sustainable and efficient food system by enabling commercial scale vertical farming in urban centers,” she said.

Hardwood said his main focus is working on transforming rural, traditional farming into urban high-tech production. He said he expects a warm welcome from the Ithaca community when they move in. _IthacanOnline

There are even companies that are developing small aeroponic "pots" and modules that will be controlled by a person's home computer. Click & Grow aims to penetrate the urban, high tech professional lifestyle, by making the growing of indoor crops and flowers as easy as clicking a mouse button.

One daring entrepreneur is even trying to transform and rejuvenate Detroit -- the poster child of urban blight and decay -- using aeroponic farming.

"It won't be a conventional farm," he promises, but an exhibition of state-of-the-art agriculture using aeroponics -- the science of growing in the air -- and other advanced ways of growing year-round in an urban environment. He's going to start by growing a variety of lettuces, apples and probably trees for timber or Christmas. Trees, he has learned, as a crop also reclaim contaminated land. Hantz said the city is over-valuing land that has no value until someone can pay for it. He points out that the city is paying for vacant land that costs the city in taxes and maintenance. The crisis that spawned his idea to use vacant land for for-profit agriculture has yet to create real momentum. We're still stuck.

"That's the opposite of how it should be," he says, during an interview in his Southfield office._DetNews

Anyone could have told the man that dealing with the city of Detroit tends to be a no-win proposition. Unless you grease the right palms, of course. Organised crime together with labour unions and corrupt officials have made Detroit highly toxic to private enterprise.

But if aeroponic urban farming can work for Detroit, it can potentially work anywhere in the developed world or the third world.