Sustainably >>> Organically

Over 10 million hectares of arable land are “lost” every year due to agricultural use and food production. We are reaching the point where the amount of arable land left is scarce and alternative growing methods must be used. Growing plants without soil, known as hydroponics, is increasingly becoming a popular method to grow plants. It is sustainable in the sense that no soil is being used, meaning less land is being used to produce food. The land that would’ve been used to grow the crops can be used in other ways, including leaving the ecosystem undisturbed by man or building a park. Hydroponics has many advantages over growing crops in soil. The growth rate of plants in hydroponic systems has been found to be 30 to 50% higher than plants grown in soil. Not only this, but the yield of a hydroponic plant is typically greater than the yield of a plant grown in soil and more plants can be grown in a smaller area, using only about ⅕ of the space required to grow in a soil system. Hydroponic systems also use up to ⅔ ‘s less water to produce a crop yield than soil systems require. 

In hydroponic systems, plants are grown in a medium, such as clay pebbles, inside a netted pot and nutrients are applied directly to the roots. Clay pebbles have the ability to hold onto water and cations which benefits the plant’s growth tremendously. The nutrients in a hydroponics system don’t have the ability to leach as they can in a soil system. In soil systems, plants expend a lot of energy to grow their roots to find nutrients and water in the soil. In a hydroponic system, the plant isn’t required to do this and can therefore put more of its energy toward new growth and maintaining itself. Hydroponic systems can be set up to recycle water and nutrients, reducing the amount of resources required for growing plants in a soil system. Another major benefit of hydroponic systems is that they are indoors where the climate can be controlled and the growing season never ends. There are never issues with drought or natural disasters that could wipe out an entire crop with hydroponic systems. Hydroponics is just one of the many alternatives to growing crops in a soil system that needs to be utilized for the longevity of the human population. Hydroponics can be done practically anywhere, by anyone. Kits for a small, home set up are available on Amazon and other gardening websites, or you can create your own pretty cheaply. 

Start growing hydroponically today!

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Next time you reach for that steak at the grocery store, organic or conventional, reflect upon all the resources that are consumed in the production of beef compared to another creature that could be your next meal. It requires 51 gallons of water to produce one pound of cow and only 1 gallon of water to produce one pound of crickets. Not only this, but crickets only require 2 pounds of feed per pound of meat produced, while cows require 25 pounds of feed per pound of meat produced. Pound for pound, crickets contain more protein than cows, pigs, or chickens. Not only this, but crickets contain essential amino acids, are high in iron, calcium, B vitamins, and of course fiber.  Crickets also leave a much smaller carbon footprint than any other domestic livestock. Agriculture accounts for roughly one third of all greenhouse gas emissions globally, mostly from grazing livestock. By comparison, cow emit 80 times more methane than crickets. Crickets also take up much less space than any other animal we raise on farms. Crickets are truly astonishing, in my opinion. Why haven’t bugs become part of the American diet yet if it is such a sustainable source of protein? I’ve personally eaten crickets, maggots, and mealworms. I didn’t eat them raw or plain, but cooked with either orzo or on top of a cracker with cheese. I even tried a mango cricket smoothie made with cricket protein powder which wasn’t the tastiest, probably because I’m not the biggest mango fan.

 I’ve also tried something that I hope makes the big screen here soon in America- cricket flour. I’ve eaten a cookie made with cricket flour before, and to be honest, it was pretty tasty. It wasn’t as chewy as a cookie made with wheat flour, but had all the flavor I’d want in a cookie. Cricket flour is a good way to begin integrating bugs into our regular diets. 

Just as with other meats we eat, we don’t look them in the eyes at the grocery store, but rather pick up a couple breast, some ribs, or a cut of meat which doesn’t allow us to see the full picture of what we’re consuming. We tend to pick the items we do based on our preference for them, as well as nutritional value. Crickets, contrary to what many would expect, are tasty! They are no sirloin but, if prepared well, are rather tasty and exceptionally nutritious. Cricket flour most likely isn’t sold at your local grocery store but can be purchased online on Amazon if you are willing to give it a shot. Eating crickets definitely do not fit in with the societal norm...but why fit the norm? Branch out! Give Crickets a chance!

Everyone seems so hard headed on the switch to organic production of food these days, but why? I truly believe that producing organically is more sustainable than producing conventionally and has many benefits to the environment but, in a many ways, producing organically isn’t sustainable. In northern latitude regions, where growing seasons are short, a lot of food is grown in greenhouses. In greenhouses, most of the time a soil medium is used rather than the soil from the earth. Many organic farmers make their own soils, adding different amendments to create the perfect concoction for what they’re growing. One amendment that is a favorite of many organic farmers is greensand. Greensand is a mineral called glauconite and is found on ocean floors as well as one mine in New Jersey. It is very high in potassium, iron, and magnesium, as well as many trace minerals plants love. The mine in New Jersey, the only place greensand is harvested from for agricultural use, has been shut down because the source has been practically depleted. This soil amendment containing macronutrients as well as many trace minerals required for optimal growth by plants is no longer able to be harvested from the earth. Greensand slowly releases minerals for plants, which protects plants from classic root burn that many fertilizers can cause, making it a favorite amendment of many farmers. Perhaps synthetic greensand or a synthetic product that slowly releases minerals instead of all at once would be a more sustainable way to go about this dilemma farmers now face. Simply adding the nutrients greensand contains could easily burn the plants and cause quite a bit of leaching into groundwater since the plants wouldn’t be able to uptake all the nutrients applied to the soil. However, organic farmers can’t use anything synthetic if they want to have their “USDA Organic” certification. I think the main focus farmers should have at this day and age is to produce in the most sustainable way possible, meaning synthetics may need to be implemented as certain finite sources are being depleted, like greensand. Perhaps a certification for “Sustainably Produced” should be implemented into the world of farming as these issues begin to arise. While some people are working on developing synthetic greensand, organic farmers are looking to other amendments they can use containing trace minerals to replace greensand in their soil concoction. I sincerely hope the hype for going “organic” soon switches to going “sustainable”. Behold, greensand.