Safe and sustainable agricultural models of the future

According to UN estimates, the world population will reach 9 billion by 2050 . Along with population growth, the world still faces climate change, rising fossil fuels, degraded ecosystems, as well as scarcity of land and water - all of which are making the way. Current food production practices are no longer sustainable. Facing these challenges, the improvement in agricultural production technology is very important.

Urban agricultural model on the terrace of a building.(Photo: TechNewsWorld)

The TechNewsWorld technology page has just introduced the modern and sustainable agricultural models that have been applied with high efficiency, promising to contribute to ensuring food security in the future. The new production models focus on two trends: urban agriculture and indoor cultivation, which are considered both to ensure safety for people and the environment, and to meet consumer demand in the context of people. The number of urban areas is increasing.

Urban agriculture and CEA model

Urban agriculture is a model of cultivation and livestock within and around the city. It means food production in densely populated areas, with a variety of types such as a natural vegetable garden, a net vegetable garden (invasion of pests) and agricultural farming in the environment. Controlled school (CEA).

CEA is an advanced farming technology that combines engineering, crop science and computer-based management technologies to optimize farming systems, crop quality and production efficiency. . Accordingly, it allows farmers to adjust the environmental factors as they wish, including temperature, moisture content, pH and nutrient content in the soil. This farming model allows the conversion of abandoned factories and warehouses into abandoned farms.

With CEA, farmers combine aquaculture models with hydroponics (hydroponics) to create a bio-integrated hydroponic system. This is a sustainable food production system, harmoniously combining fruit and vegetable cultivation with aquaculture in a symbiotic, recirculating and closed environment. Not only applied to indoor cultivation, CEA is also used by universities or companies to study environmental changes for plants, such as studying photosynthesis when comparing a plant. grown under induction lighting and a tree planted with LED lights.

Photo: proaqua.com

Currently, CEA systems are used to produce four common types of vegetables during meals, including tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and coleslaw. For example, Houweling's Tomatoes - California's first urban farm - is producing and distributing large quantities of tomatoes and cucumbers grown under bio-integrated hydroponics, with a total area of ​​over 50 hectares.

According to Rebecca Nelson, co-owner of Nelson & Pade, a company that supplies equipment for bio-integrated hydroponics systems in the US, CEA is the future of agriculture. It helps protect plants from harsh climatic conditions, and allows growers to implement biosafety measures to ensure food safety. Dr. Gene A.Giacomelli of the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering at the University of Arizona (USA), also commented that CEA is a science and technology based cultivation method to create unique environments that help lift High productivity crops, while optimizing resources such as water, energy, space, costs and labor.

However, the limitation of CEA is that it only complements and cannot completely replace the traditional agricultural production model, because the urban space is not large enough to cultivate essential crops such as rice, wheat, corn . Another obstacle is that once the application of this model in urban areas, " urban farmers" must strictly adhere to the requirements regarding the treatment of wastewater and noise. , the light…