Former students at the Royal College of Art and the Imperial College, London have created SeaLeaf, a modular hydroponic unit that can grow vegetables while floating like a buoy. The team has demonstrated in at least one test that it can grow seven to eight yields of bok choy a year, while conventional farming only produces two or three. Because 18 of today’s megacities currently sit on coastlines, the team envisions a network of climate-resilient SeaLeaf farms that can feed millions of people. In theory, the farms would only be as far as a kilometer from the nearest pier.
SeaLeaf runs on solar cells and is made of recycled high-density polyethylene (HDPE), but was inspired by traditional means of farming on water in Bangladesh. There, farmers have been constructing floating farms on beds of bamboo and water hyacinth to accommodate floods for hundreds of years. But because SeaLeaf controls for the amount of sunlight plants are exposed to through its "smart lid," the tool could be used in a number of locations, even under harsh exposure to the sun.
Similar to Bangladesh's rows of sturdy plant beds, farmers would collect SeaLeaf's produce trays through a series of specially designed walkways.
"The idea is that the entire farm sits along the coast, within a kilometer or two kilometer radius. You'd reach the farm via your existing infrastructure used for fishing--either boats, or small sized ships--and then once you get on the farm, you launch yourself onto the walkways," Sirohia explains. "In the future we'd like to explore faster ways of accessing the produce, because harvesting individual trays could be time-consuming," he adds.
Most importantly, the designers have yet to test the concept as a network of floating modules, and to see how those units impact existing sea life on a larger scale. "We're looking to start the second duration of the project and take all these elements that were tested and get users to use it," Wolzak says.
"We're working on the size, working on the form, as well as working with fish farmers to bring in their feedback into the Sealeaf," Rasouli adds. "After that, we're looking for funding and opportunities to create a much more developed version."
Source:fastcoexist.com
Announcements
Job Offers
- Head Grower Greenhouse Canada
- Post Entry Quarantine Facility Manager
- Economic Policy Officer Agri-Tech Kentucky
- Licensing Manager North America
- Junior Sales Executive
- Fruit Breeder/Trait Discovery Scientist
- General Manager
- Regional Sales Manager – DACH Region
- Country Manager – Italy
- Country Manager – Spain
"Tweeting Growers"
Top 5 -yesterday
- Fresh produce chain hit by Lakeside Produce’s bankruptcy
- "Affordable organic foods can be produced from commercial aquaponic greenhouse farms"
- "Adhesive tape offers a solution to a common problem in the industry"
- Can cucumbers save a cannabis company?
- UK cucumber growers won't plant until late February or March
Top 5 -last week
- “Black growbags could benefit vegetable crops as well”
- Latvia: First greenhouse to grow cucumbers under LEDs uses landfill waste to produce energy
- "Moisture is the big danger in the next two months"
- US (OH): 80 Acres Farms makes layoffs as tech job crunch continues
- Is ozone effective against ToBRFV?
Top 5 -last month
- How farmers are cutting out supermarkets
- Higher light transmission and lower heat demand with double foil greenhouse
- Combining vertical farming and greenhouse horticulture to decentralize lettuce production
- 30MHz declared bankrupt, curator 'optimistic about restart'
- Fresh produce chain hit by Lakeside Produce’s bankruptcy
Receive the daily newsletter in your email for free | Click here
Other news in this sector:
- 2022-12-23 "In today's inflationary environment, choice of horticultural twine is an investment decision"
- 2022-12-16 Air bubble film to boost yields and protect greenhouses from the elements
- 2022-11-29 Australia: baby cucumbers launch limited edition football pack to promote as a healthy sporting snack
- 2022-11-08 New blackberry and raspberry launching in 2023
- 2022-10-25 ‘Kawaguchi RZ meets Chinese consumers’ requirements for pink tomatoes’
- 2022-10-21 New snack packaging for tomatoes unveiled
- 2022-10-19 "We have launched a reuseable 4G wireless temperature and humidity location recorder with light sensors"
- 2022-10-18 “Company clothing is part of the operation in terms of hygiene, appearance, and comfort”
- 2022-10-12 Dutch bell pepper grower gets new automated crate processing line
- 2022-10-05 Shock-sensing data logger with food shapes replicate movement of fruit and vegetables during handling and transport
- 2022-10-05 “The impact of visibility on global trade flows is rising”
- 2022-10-04 “Good tastes like more”
- 2022-10-04 Narrow strawberry tray saves grower 10% on substrate
- 2022-10-03 "We have been able to contain the cucumber mosaic virus much better"
- 2022-09-30 Laser microperforated packaging prevents fresh produce waste
- 2022-09-26 Royal Brinkman and Kam’s Growers Supply launch Valent truss support clip
- 2022-09-15 Chopped salad line kit gets three new flavors
- 2022-08-25 Drop peppers: A niche product appreciated for their look and taste
- 2022-08-22 AI pest & disease detection platform to be distributed by Cultivatd
- 2022-08-08 BioTherm improves performance of their finned heating products
