Research & reports

Aashna Sinha, Kailash Bisht, Digvijay Singh · · Global

This article explores vertical hydroponic farming, noting its benefits like reduced space and water use, and enhanced robustness with Plant Growth-Promoting Microorganisms (PGPMs). However, it also demonstrated that the system's ecological impact is significantly affected by growing media, pots, electricity use, and transportation. The study suggests potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and abiotic resource decline by using fiber as growing medium and paper containers.

Ionat; id_orcid 0000-0001-9080-2282 Zurr, Oron; id_orcid 0000-0002-2893-5364 Catts · UWA Profiles and Research Repository (University of Western Australia) · Australia

The "Sunlight, Soil & Shit (De)Cycle" project, presented by SymbioticA in February 2022, is a performative experiment exploring agricultural technology (AgTech) and its aim to remove natural elements like sunlight, soil, and organic waste from food production. This project considers whether the precursor to sustainable food systems will be the creation of a metabolic rift, where the means of production grow ever distant from nature. It highlights a critical environmental tradeoff by questioning the separation of humans from nature in technological farming.

F. Feldmann, Ute Vogler · Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection · Global

Ten key challenges for plant protection in cities were identified, each belonging to a specific field of action of Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in urban horticulture, according to Directive 2009/128/EC. These challenges include appropriate plant selection, microbiome engineering, nutrient recycling, smart digital solutions, diversification of vegetation, avoidance of pesticide side effects on beneficials, biorational efficacy assessment, effective pest diagnosis, efficient outbreak control, and holistic approaches.

Michael Martin, Elvira Molin · Sustainability · Sweden

This study assessed the environmental impacts of urban vertical hydroponic farming through a life-cycle perspective, applied to a case-study vertical hydroponic farm in Stockholm, Sweden, comparing current performance with potential improvement scenarios. Results showed that growing medium, pots, electricity demand, and transportation of raw materials and product deliveries were the important contributors to environmental impact in this system. Replacing plastic pots with paper pots was found capable of producing large reductions in GHG emissions, acidification impacts, and abiotic resource depletion, and replacing conventional gardening soil with coir as the growing medium also led to large impact reductions. However, the study states that further reducing the system's impacts will require more resource-efficient steps specifically to address impacts from electricity demand, an issue not resolved by the pot and growing-medium substitutions, and identifies potential for more symbiotic exchanges using urban wastes and by-products.