When you look at fruits and vegetables and think about how it is grown, do you picture acres of open fields, rows of tilled soil, and seedlings lining the tops of the mounds? While much of the world’s produce is grown this way, there are other ways to grow produce without large amounts of land — and even without soil!

Hydroponics is the cultivation of plants without using soil. Flowers, fruits, and vegetables are planted in inert growing media and supplied with nutrient-rich solutions, oxygen, and water. This system fosters rapid growth, stronger yields, and superior quality. When a plant is grown in soil, its roots are perpetually searching for the necessary nutrition to support the plant. If a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy in sustaining itself. The energy the roots would have expended acquiring food and water can be redirected into the plant’s maturation. As a result, leaf growth flourishes as does the blooming of fruits and flowers.