Farming of the Future?

In this video sent to me by a friend, a man (whose name is never mentioned) explains how his urban hydroponics farm feeds him daily. Based in Oakland, California, uses a water recycling system where water moves from fish tank to plant bed, bringing essential nutrients for each with it along the way. He does not use any soil, but rather gardens in gravel and pure water, depending on the plant species. The man in the video says repeatedly that he is not a farmer, although he sure seems like one to me - perhaps just not a farmer as we envision it. He says this because his hydroponic system is completely self-sustaining. Once the system is put in place, all he has to do is pick the food when it's ready, eat it and enjoy. He receives digital updates from a computer system that is an integral part of hydroponics. When the water is low, he gets a tweet. When something isn't working properly, he receives a tweet. The man's background is in computer programming, which is very fitting for this type of gardening. He essentially programmed the system so that the exports and imports of various interconnected species all feed into one another. Additionally, he comments that this type of gardening is much more efficient because the plants need not work as hard as in conventional gardening. All nutrients and water and oxygen are provided for the plants in excess, so everything grows very quickly and the plants are able to grow quite close to one another since they do not need to actively search for nutrients.

As the man reported, he is not a farmer. He is a programmer who is just trying to feed himself. Although there is a pretty high start-up cost for this kind of system, he said that he gets it all back very quickly in the value of the food that he's producing. While watching the video, I wondered if this is what gardening will look like in the future, especially in cities. Since there is no soil, he can set up the system anywhere, even without sunlight. I could not help but wonder if the vegetables he grows are as nutritious and tasty as conventionally grown ones, although since they are getting nutrients in abundance, it follows that they very well may be. If gardens like this one were established in urban areas, it could help alleviate certain issues of food deserts in urban areas. Unlike a community garden, this hydroponic garden is self-sufficient and requires very little maintenance once the system is put in place. While watching the video, I thought of this "new" kind of farming as a reoccurrence of Changing Works. With so many technologies available now that never before were in history, it occurs to me how our technologies of Web 2.0 and smart phones will contribute to more efficient farming in the future.