Kickstarting Hydroponics Efforts In India

Finally, I was able to trek to India once again to revitalize our hydroponics project initiatives! With the pandemic stifling all of our plans and prohibiting our ability to be on the ground since early 2020, I was unsure of what the situation would be upon arrival and how best we could resurrect the project. Would the hydroponics companies we connected with pre pandemic be back in business? How best to create the network and supply chain effort again? Would it even be possible? I am super happy to report that regardless of the long pause, our partner in India, Future Farms, is back in business and has developed breakthrough hydroponics solutions for poor farmers. Future Farms has rolled out its FutureAg platform, which essentially simplifies hydroponics farming down to just the push of a button. The controller unit is designed to properly feed, measure and adjust all environment settings for whatever crop is to be grown, and hence, 100% yields can be achieved! So, no engineering or advanced degree certification necessary.  This will have a huge impact on our foundation’s work. 

The Foundation’s plan is to offer free training to poor farmers, who wish to learn state of the art soilless agriculture and to provide facility leasing opportunities to them for cultivation of their own crops in support of their livelihood. With most of the poorest of the poor illiterate, we face an enormous challenge to try to teach new methodology. Hence, our collaboration with Future Farms can make all the difference in our ability to succeed.  

I was thrilled and elated to see the new rooftop demo hydroponics facility in Chennai! (photo) Growing in this facility were Japanese melons, tomatoes and bell peppers. Oh, don’t the melons look beautiful?! The rooftop could be opened and closed as required adjusting for light sensitivity and temperature control. With the new equipment and especially with FutureAg, we will be able to proceed with the construction of a much larger demo facility, which will house 5 pod units, and each pod unit will grow a different type of produce, i.e, tomatoes, strawberries, peppers, etc, depending on the current demands. We will invite poor farmers to visit and train at the demo facility to learn all about the potential of this game changing hydroponics technology. 

Why hydroponics? Why India? 

The world recently crested 8 billion people and is on target to top 10 billion people by 2050, This growth is unprecedented since the beginning of human life on earth. With the world’s population on a super trajectory, the world will inevitably experience severe pressure on its food supply. 

• Many soils throughout the world are depleted of nutrients from overcultivation. 
• The global agriculture workforce is shrinking as fewer young people around the world choose farming as a vocation. 
• Traditional methods are yielding insufficient harvests and placing an overabundance of negative externalities on the environment. 

Some facts: 

Additionally, increasing population pressures on world resources include more competition for fresh water. Agriculture uses up to 70% of the world’s fresh water supply, often inefficiently. The OECD projects that by 2030 nearly half of the world’s population will live under “water stress” with uncertain water access.

Combine those increased pressures with climate change, rising temperatures, more prevalent and persistent droughts, and reduced water availability in an increasing number of countries, and already stressed communities will most certainly be facing more serious problems ahead. Prospects for growing enough food to sustain our expanding societies is troubling. Hence, taking plants out of soil may hold the key to sustainable food production systems.

India will bear the brunt of the population boom, and it is home to the largest percentage of the poorest of the poor. And unlike many developed nations, 67% of India population are poor farmers. Hence, it is essential to help India satisfy the rising demand for food in a sustainable manner. The C14 Foundation endeavors to change peoples livelihoods and help to improve their chance for survival.