Modern technology goes hand in hand with traditional solutions. Cultivation in a sea container brings benefits: providing fresh healthy food throughout the year and minimizing the consumption of natural resources. Vertical farming allows to create a green perspective for future generations.
Discover the hydroponic cultivation in the container: how to use it best and what you can gain.
Provide healthy and fresh food to schools, universities, hotels, restaurants, grocery shops or other institutions. By conducting cultivation close to the city, you shorten your product delivery time to the local community. The container has a relatively small size, so it can stand almost anywhere:
• City center
• Forest
• Parking
• Subway
• Next to your home!
Our cultivation, which is carried out as part of the research, is only 5 km from the city center of Cracow. This is an exact distance from the company to the monument of Adam Mickiewicz.
About 65% less fertilizers are used in hydroponic agriculture than in conventional crops. There is no need to use plant protection products such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Compared to traditional agriculture the value of the product’s nutrients is the same or even higher, and the plants grow up to 5 times faster. As a result, a farmer offers clients higher quality products.
The report conducted by the Polish Promotional Emblem Foundation indicates that Poles are making conscious purchases more and more often. Almost 80% of respondents in the survey: Shopping Behaviors to the question: What is the most important thing for you during everyday shopping? answered that they put quality first. Survey participants were also more likely to spend more money for a higher-quality product[1].
So what plants will grow best in a sea container? Below you will find our subjective list.
1. Lettuce: butterhead, romaine, curly, corn
2. Herbs: basil (bonazza, citrus, thai), coriander, mint, thyme
3. Microgreens / sprouts
The cultivation of the above plant species in sea containers is the most effective, which means that you can produce more, e.g. lettuce in a shorter time. The average growth time of Lactuca Sativa (lettuce) from transplantation from the seedlings (which we called called nursery) to cultivation channels, where the destination process takes place, is 22 days. Harvest crops take place according to the assumed schedule. We can prepare an algorithm for divided sets, e.g. one cultivation shelf or “wholesale”. It all depends on the individual needs of the client.
Most plants need a warm and sunny climate for growth. We live in Poland (Central Europe), where we have such weather only a few months a year.
Plants planted in a sea container in a hydroponic system can grow throughout the year – in spring, summer, autumn and winter. The cultivation works regardless of the season and the weather that is outside. Controlled-environment agriculture (CEA) combined with cultivation management software (Grow Wizard) is ensures that the container conditions are best for growth.
Agriculture 4.0 based on Data-Driven is not the future. It is a necessity in the face of a changing environment. This is one of the components, building a friendly place to live for future generations. In Poland, 1 in 10 children is exposed to high pollution with pesticides. Already, 40% of young people in highly developed countries are hesitating whether they will become a parent because of the climate crisis. Colonization of another planet in the coming years will not be possible. Research on the development of food on Mars is conducted. Hydroponics also participates in this.
However, we don’t know whether it will succeed and if so, when full-fledged cultivation was created there. Staying on Earth, we are looking for solutions that will allow us to use available resources in the best way. We know that the cosmos will still wait for us and we want to use what Earth currently offers us.
[1] Fundacja Polskiego Godła Promocyjnego, Raport: 2022 Zachowania Zakupowe, Warszawa 2022
