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High-tech farmers sow seeds of revolution in Dubai desert:
An ultra-modern vertical farm in the middle of the desert stands as a testament to Dubai's determination to spark a "green revolution" to overcome its dependence on food imports.
Al-Badia market garden farm produces an array of vegetable crops in multi-storey format, carefully controlling light and irrigation as well as recycling 90 percent of the water it uses.
"It's a green revolution in the middle of the desert," the farm's director Basel Jammal [says].
[...] That was not an issue decades ago when the area was sparsely inhabited by Bedouins.
But the wealth generated by oil discoveries since the 1970s sent expatriates flocking to the UAE.
Dubai now has more than 3.3 million inhabitants of 200 nationalities, relies largely on expensive desalinated water, and its food needs have grown and diversified.
Will hydroponics be cheaper than importing food?
(Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday August 20 2020, @03:25PM (1 child)
Hydro is like driving a car or cooking. Takes a college educated engineer to DESIGN all the processes and parts, but 99% of the associated labor is ultra low education required.
It was fun but don't get confused and think cleaning roots out of circulation pumps is the same mental experience as solving differential equations or writing compilers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2020, @12:10PM
Running a simple setup in your shed doesn't require you to be any smarter than a brick, as long as you're reasonable diligent. There's a ton of science involved in commercial agriculture though.