US: American Hydroponics to celebrate 30 years of NFT expertise

There are so many fruit and vegetable options available for the average, American consumer. Mainstream grocery stores now offer organic produce, co-ops and natural food stores offer a plethora of non-GMO fruits and veggies and many communities are home to community sponsored farms and farmer’s markets. A vast majority of these options have one thing in common: they were all grown in soil, their roots drawing water from the dirt. As the earth’s population skyrockets and the competition for resources becomes fiercer, it becomes evident that it is time for a more sustainable agricultural model. American Hydroponics is proud to be part of this new era of agriculture.

In 2014, Sun Circle, Inc. dba American Hydroponics, will celebrate 30 years of producing high quality, high efficiency, hydroponic agriculture systems. What started in 1984 as two friends developing systems in a garage has now grown into a company that employs 16 people and produces hydroponic growing systems for hobby and commercial growers all over the world.

Tucked away in a bucolic, temperate rainforest in the coastal redwoods of Northern California, American Hydroponics designs, manufactures and distributes large-scale NFT systems as well as smaller, hobby/home systems. From Dutch bucket-grown tomatoes and peppers grown in a sunroom, to large-scale crops of lettuce and herbs grown in NFT channels, American Hydroponics has all the bases covered. Sticking to their motto of sustainability, all of their hydroponic systems are made from rugged, high-density polyethylene and require one-tenth of the water resources as conventional agriculture. Each system is designed with an emphasis on making assembly and maintenance as easy as possible without sacrificing the quality and endurance of the systems.

Company president, Michael Christian, gained a lot of inspiration from his time spent working with commercial growers in New Zealand and Australia. Michael saw NFT systems being used to increase yields of lettuce and herbs, sometimes doubling the number of crops the farmer could get during one growing season. “The NFT systems were so simple and productive, long flat bottomed tubes running very small volumes of nutrient solution, super efficient. Once it caught on, competing soil growers who were only getting 5 crop turns a year, switched to hydroponics and within the first year, were enjoying 10-20 crop turns,” Michael noted after his return from New Zealand. American Hydroponics acquired the licensing for these systems in the ‘90s and they’ve been improving on them ever since.

Beyond the design and manufacturing of systems, American Hydroponics also makes their own line of liquid nutrient additives for both hobby and commercial growers. In addition, American Hydroponics has teamed up with some of the world’s best agricultural companies, allowing them to offer a quality selection of greenhouses, greenhouse controllers and automatic nutrient dosers.

American Hydroponics has been changing the face of agriculture for 30 years and we can only imagine what sort of ingenuity and innovation will come out of the next 30.

For more information:
American Hydroponics
Michael Christian
michaelc@amhydro.com or scott@amhydro.com
American Hydroponics
 286 South G Street Arcata, CA
95521-6670 USA
www.amhydro.com