OCTOBER 20224siliconindia | | April 202031 | |SEPTEMBER 201940Consultants Review | |JUL-AUG 201940Consultants ReviewRNI.REG.NO.KARENG04591In the early 1700s, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to George Washington, "Agriculture is our wisest pursuit because it will, in the end, contribute most to real wealth, good morals, and happiness".Over time, farming has altered the history of human civilization, and as a result, we now place a high value on land as a vital component of agricultural output. Over the course of millennia, the importance of soil quality, fertility, care, and value has been a central topic of social and political discourse.Mechanization, irrigation, and fertilisers have all been used to increase the quality of the land and soil throughout history. But current developments are calling into question the importance of land itself. Yes, I'm referring to farming techniques that don't even use any land. We have come across hydroponics, where plants are grown in inert medium like rocks or coir and are fed with nutrient rich water is probably the most well researched method. And there is aquaponics, where fish are reared in water along with plants. This method of agriculture was conceived in order to find a way of growing food in space. While the term was coined by Dutch biologist Frits Warmolt in 1957, it only saw some traction in the mid-eighties when patents were filed and aeroponically food was sold in European markets. Today Asian countries like Vietnam are adopting aeroponics in a big way for a low cost certified disease-free organic produce.In a predominantly agrarian country like India, aeroponics holds the potential to contribute to the development of the sector and boost production. The technique requires only 10 percent of the area traditional farming needs. According to NASA, aeroponically grown plants can be harvested three times faster and the yields are more consistent. As nutrients are sprayed onto the plants and roots, and there's plenty of oxygen and other gases in the growing chamber for roots to absorb.In a country like India, space is always an issue. There is a constant pressure on agricultural land and its conversion to other uses and we are losing about 3,000 acres of farmland to real estate or industrial development every day. With Aeroponics the discussions around farming can move away from land constraints to focussing more on sustainable farming techniques.Sustainability will be a key factor in India's farming future.Emanuel Christi DasManaging EditorIndia's Key to Sustainable Farming EDITOR'S NOTEsiliconindia Vol 7 · Issue 8 - 1 · OCTOBER- 2022 Publisher Alok Chaturvedi Managing Editor Emanuel Christi Das Assistant Editor Heena Kousar Editorial Team Shivani Pradhan Honey Kumari Akankha Chak Sales & Marketing Roshini Kumari B Editorial Queries startupcity@siliconindia.com To subscribe Visit: www.siliconindia.com/subscribe/ Magazine Price is Rs. 150 per issuePrinted and Published By Alok Chaturvedi on behalf of SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd. and Printed at Precision Fototype Services at Sri Sabari Shopping Complex, 24 Residency Road Bangalore-560025 and Published At No. 124, 2nd Floor, Surya Chambers, Old Airport Road, Murugeshpalya, Bangalore-560017. Editor Alok ChaturvediCopyright © 2022 SiliconMedia Technologies Pvt Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustrations without written permission from the publisher is prohibited. The publisher assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or illustrations. Views and opinions expressed in this publication are not necessarily those of the magazine and accordingly, no liability is assumed by the publisher.sales@startupcity.comArt Manager Suanya Chakraborty Circulation Manager Magendran PerumalGM Sales & Marketing Shashi Ranjan Senior DesignersSouvik Acharya Visualisers Mrigank Sharma Anusree Bhowmik Muhammed RafikDesign - Manager Prabhu Dutta
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