Sundrop Farms in the South
Australian desert manages to grow 17,000 tonnes of tomatoes every year using
nothing but sunlight and seawater.
The indoor farm is the first
of its kind, and the result of six years of research by an international team
of scientists who wanted to find a way to produce crops without needing fresh
water, soil, or unnecessary energy from the grid – something we’ll need to get
used to when these resources become more scarce.
“A conventional greenhouse
uses groundwater for irrigation, gas for heating, and electricity for cooling,”
the team says on their site.
“A Sundrop greenhouse turns
seawater and sunlight into energy and water. We then use sustainably sourced
carbon dioxide and nutrients to maximise the growth of our crops.”
The general concept of the
farm – which opened its 20-hectare commercial site in Port Augusta back in 2014
– is basically to reduce the amount of energy and fresh water needed to make
profitable produce by using seawater from the Spencer Gulf ,
which lies 2 kilometres (1.24 miles) away.
After the seawater arrives
at the farm, it is desalinated at an on-site, solar-powered plant that turns it
into fresh, plant-ready water by ‘scrubbing’ the salt out of it, reports Alive
Klein at New Scientist.
The roots of the vegetables
are grown in coconut husks, and to keep the plants cool enough in the harsh
summer heat of up to 48 degrees Celsius (118 Fahrenheit), the team uses
seawater-soaked pieces of cardboard at their base. The heat from the Sun is
enough for the plants to survive during the winter months.
The fact that the plants are
grown indoors also negates the need for pesticides, because closely monitored
conditions allow for a controlled, pest-free growing environment.
That’s all well and good, but
the real trick the team has come up with is a way to power this gigantic
facility using only solar energy.
Instead of lining everything
with solar panels, they’ve created a field of 23,000 mirrors that focus the
Sun’s rays onto a fixed tower, where it powers a generator to create
electricity.
Despite the system working
efficiently, so far, the farm is still connected to the power grid as a safety
net, just in case something goes wrong, especially during the winter.
“We use the Sun’s energy to
produce freshwater for irrigation. And we turn it into electricity to power our
greenhouse to heat and cool our crops,” the team says. “Our ventilation also
uses seawater to clean and sterilise the air, so it keeps bugs under control
without the need for pesticides.”
Although it’s still early
days, experts think the Sundrop Farm system could be a solution to the woes
farmers face across the world as fresh water becomes more scarce, land becomes
more arid, and energy costs go up.
“These closed production
systems are very clever,” researcher Robert Park from the University
of New England in Australia
“I believe that systems
using renewable energy sources will become better and better and increase in
the future, contributing even more of some of our foods.”
There are a few downsides
though. Firstly, there’s no word as yet on whether or not this sunlight-collecting
system has had any negative impact on other animals in the desert. Similar
mirror-based solar facilities in the US
The farm also has a pretty
big upfront price tag. Sundrop Farm’s commercial facility, which houses about 180,000
tomato plants, cost roughly US$ 200 million to build. But the team says that
because they can predict their costs more accurately than traditional farms, that
hefty sum will soon pay off.
Only time will tell if
systems like Sundrop Farm’s will become the future of agriculture, but
researchers around the world will be watching them closely. Check out the video
below to see inside the farm (via ScienceAlert)…
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