Soilless Agricultural System

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Summary The Airponix soilless agricultural system significantly reduces energy compared to traditional farming. Their system can yield 780-820 tonnes of baby potatoes per acre compared to c.11 tonnes using traditional methods. To cultivate this acre requires c.70L of diesel to power farming equipment, plus a further 90L associated with the production of the fertilizers. To cultivate 780 tonnes of potatoes would require over 70 acres of land and 11,200L of fossil fuel, illustrating the potential impact on both the resource intensity of farming, thereby helping to preserve the world’s resources while also limiting CO2 emissions, the key driver of climate change. Project Status We have passed TRL 5 - first prototype tested in a real environment (pilot scale or full scale site). This full-scale prototype demonstration to grow baby potatoes was carried by one of the UK’s leading growers/distributors, Produce World Group (PWG) at their Sutton Bridge site. It was a success in all respects i.e. proved novel/ breakthrough fog generating technology, plant growth rates, yields per plant and formal taste testing - all carried out by PWG supported by their photos, weekly spreadsheets logging growth and status of each individual potato plant (approximately 250 in two separate glasshouses), data recorder information, reports, etc. We are now ready to roll-out the technology at a larger scale in spring 2018 - 1/20 acre then when proven technically and commercially will expand later in 2018 over 19 acres of contaminated land (old Spitfire base) when Airponix will generate income from licensing and royalties on sale price of produce grown with their system. Meanwhile an active R&D programme is being pursued with The James Hutton Institute in Dundee to optimize system and develop growth enhancement technologies expected to give a further 4 fold increase in yields and reduce further the cost of fog generation. Description Aeroponics is a soilless means of growing food crops with the plants receiving optimum levels of nutrients direct to their roots and foliage. It differentiates itself from other aeroponic systems by using a fog as opposed to a mist or spray. The engineered fog has 14 added benefits which can allow the systems to operate in the most extreme environments (from scorching hot arid deserts to below freezing) and 7 growth enhancement technologies that can potentially increase yields by a further 4 fold which are currently being developed and proven. This system is combined with growth chambers that are resilient to weather extremes and climate change effects which take the risk out of farming. They also have, self-harvesting and self-seeding systems (patented) e.g. ability to harvest rice during the monsoon, letting grains slide down the inside of the growth chambers. In addition they do not need skilled or experienced people to operate, any heavy plant or machinery, fossil fuel usage (conventional growing requires 160 litres per acre), no chemical spill-off into rivers and ground water, etc. Major constraints of current aeroponics systems are energy inputs required and the physical properties of the mists or sprays. To date, primarily due to the high energy costs, aeroponic production of major crops has not been commercially viable. A major breakthrough was the development of a fogging system, controlling droplet size as opposed to a mist or spray.  Conventional aeroponics systems that used fog required a high pressure system (c.10-14 bar) to generate it. Airponix has developed an innovative new fogging system which overcomes the challenges of the traditional high pressure systems and reducing energy usage. It employs a well-proven piezoelectric technology which has traditionally been used in inkjet printer heads. This approach uses at least  90% less energy by operating at atmospheric pressure without requiring energy intensive high pressure pumps.   Extrapolating results already achieved at Produce World Group at their Sutton Bridge site demonstrate that we can grow 800 tonnes of baby potatoes per year per acre as opposed to just 11 using traditional methods. This is as the result of using A-frame polythene structures that triple the growing area, higher density plant spacing as roots however close get sufficient nutrients, higher yields per plant, 3 crops per year and use of natural light. Thus there is no comparison to any current aeroponic, hydroponic or vertical farm systems that are only economic for high value crops such as herbs and lettuces on which one cannot survive. Airponix are providing all input with the co-founder John Prewer being the “father/inventor” of aeroponics (conceived under the mentorship of Buckminster Fuller) who has developed the Airponix system over 35 years of pioneering research since his world’s 1st aeroponic commercial application & he developed the system for NASA’s Mars mission in 1983. Also Barry Robertson, Chief Horticulturalist & Operations Manager is the former head of protected agriculture department at John Innes Centre with 40 years experience in this industry. Innovative Aspect Major constraints of hydroponic systems are that they are capital intensive and roots are not oxygenated like current aeroponics systems. These require large energy inputs with ineffective physical properties of the mists or sprays. Airponics Ltd have developed and patented new technology designed to overcome these limitations by using fogs. Fog production incorporates nutrients and growth enhancement technologies and the droplet size in the fog is the key factor in efficient nutrient uptake and foliar feeding. The Airponix system uses a novel fog creation system based on proven inkjet printhead technology producing a defined fog meeting stringent performance specifications but critically requires 90 times less energy than previous aeroponic systems making the production system commercially viable for staple crops for the first time. Main difference between current aeroponic and the Airponix system is that the droplet sizes of mists and sprays are 20-30 microns v’s <20 microns so they have limited travel, lead to large root growth, need a large number of sprays with the associated pumps and plumbing, energy intensive, etc rather than 1 fog generator at one end of the chamber producing fog like a cloud. Potentially the most disruptive innovation since the plough. Benefits Airponix’s innovative technology should help solve world hunger by allowing staple food crops to be grown with no soil/agricultural land, minimum inputs e.g. >85% water savings, no chemicals (organic quality produce), fossil fuel or heavy equipment/plant and yields >10 fold more than conventional and low environmental impact. The breakthrough innovation is the ability to create engineered fogs to feed the roots and foliage as opposed to mists or sprays as with conventional aeroponic systems. The enabling technology is the use of well-proven piezoelectric technology of inkjet print-head to create the fog as it has >90% savings in energy requirements compared to any other fog generating device, low capital and operating cost, highly reliable and a life of approximately 3 years. It should be fully scalable and able to be mass produced with potential to get the unit costs right down. Extrapolating results already achieved at Produce World Group at their Sutton Bridge site demonstrate that we can grow 800 tonnes of baby potatoes per year per acre as opposed to just 11 using traditional methods.