In 1982, two years before American Hydroponics was founded, Disney’s EPCOT Center opened “The Land” pavilion. It was a sight to behold. 2.5 million square feet dedicated to showcasing the ways humanity interacts with the earth itself. There were “edutaining” exhibits, mildly thrilling rides and wholesome restaurants put together with the assistance of their corporate sponsor.
In one corner of “The Land”, in a space amounting to less than 2% of the total square footage, there was an area dedicated to actual horticultural research and advancement. This was the agriculture of the future. In an even smaller corner of that exhibit, attendees could see demonstrated a curious technology: plants being fed without soil; just sunlight and nutrients in water.
This was how hydroponics fit into the world. It was an interesting but niche science that had little practical application; certainly not for multinational food manufacturers like the aforementioned sponsor.
Fast forward more than 30 years and hydroponics is tackling topics like global food scarcity, food deserts, over-reliance on water, depletion of nutrients from the land, community self-sufficiency, agricultural profitability and entrepreneurial ventures.
It turns out that hydroponics isn’t just a wacky sci-fi method of growing but a viable option to grow food – lots and lots of food! – for your local community.
Our founder, Michael Christian, has been developing this passion since 1984 and now I and the AmHydro team are dedicated to fulfilling this passion for growers around the world. Our goal and mission is to enable communities to provide for themselves through a sustainable and productive method of growing.
Let me throw some numbers at you… did you know that growing hydroponically (compared with traditional farming in soil) uses:
- 90% less water
- ⅙ the amount of fertilizer
- 10x the amount of produce can be grown in the same space compared with soil farming
- 1 acre grown hydroponically can produce 30,000-35,000 heads of lettuce every week while an acre of soil can produce 20,000-26,000 every 8-10 weeks (*)
- You can get 20-26 harvests per year hydroponically while you can only get 4-6 harvests per year in soil (*)
- Hydroponic lettuce can be grown in 6 weeks while it takes 8-10 weeks to grow in soil (*)
Growing produce hydroponically can help communities become self-sufficient. Not relying on produce grown in California (where AmHydro main offices are) and shipped thousands of miles across the country to arrive “fresh” on consumers’ plates 5-7 days later.
Hydroponic growing can also be a profitable business. A 30’x96’ greenhouse setup can produce up to 2500 plants per week and be run by 1 – 1.5 hardworking individuals.
You can see why we are passionate about bringing this technology to the world in a big way. Hydroponics can make a difference! Check out our website, Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn – all the photos you will see there are from our real customers growing in their AmHydro systems.
Interested in finding out more, give us a call or chat with us on our website. We really love to talk hydroponics!
