Now that I am developing flux, a space-age gadget for making hydroponics simple and efficient I can’t help but promote hydroponics everywhere — even and especially hydroponics from space!
This week NASA scientists harvested their first space-grown food, grown on water with nutrients using hydroponics.
This site is becoming a bit of an address for hydroponics, and we’re getting tonnes of inquiries on how it can be done. Locals in the Middle East tuned into sustainability issues know that hydroponics is a great solution for farming in desert locales.
So how do you get your urban farm on? So you say you want to grow food like an astronaut? Food that’s local, super-charged with vitamins and pest-free? You can always contact our friend Henry over in New York to custom-build you a hydroponics workshop or farm.
Or head over to New Jersey for a professional workshop put on by the experts and hydroponics suppliers of American Hydroponics.
Fall is a great time to visit New York City, and New Jersey is a short train or bus ride away. New Jersey is also making headlines since Aerofarms has started growing greens at a $30 million installation. The company first installed its systems in Jedda in 2011.
Study Hydroponics in the Garden State
Next month in September from the 20 to 22 hydroponics supply store American Hydroponics (click here for details) is offering a two-day course to show how it’s done. Included in the workshop is instruction by American Hydroponics founder Michael Christian and Lorraine Gibbons, from Garden State Urban Farms.
With businesses cropping up from Boston (see Freight Farms) to schools in Harlem using hydroponics to grow food and teach kids (see NY urban farmers story) now is a great time to get into the business and practice.
Testimonial on the American Hydroponics course here:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sC75xUCXfQc[/youtube]
The course, which costs $995 and limited to 20 people, will give people the experience to start a small hydroponics farm in the city –– whether you live in Jeddah or with Jedis.
Yes, it’s not easy to fly into to New York if you aren’t in the region. And it’s not great for carbon emissions, but a good thing to do if you were planning on being in the New York area.
Over in Israel one of our friends Moti Cohen from LivinGreen puts on Friday hydroponics and aquaponics courses. He’s written the manual for aquaponics for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. He’s also got a large urban farm growing on the roof of Dizengoff Center.
Poke around on your local meetups to see who’s growing hydroponic food. Chances are there is a local course on how to do it in the making. Feel free to contact us ([email protected]) if you want to get into the urban farming and hydroponics business. We have loads of contacts and inspiration that we’d love to share.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist and publisher that founded Green Prophet to unite a prosperous Middle East. She shows through her work that positive, inspiring dialogue creates action that impacts people, business and planet. She has published in thought-leading newspapers and magazines globally, owns an IoT tech chip patent, and is part of teams that build world-changing products to make agriculture and our planet more sustainable. Reach out directly to [email protected]
