Description

Hydroponics is a technique of cultivation that makes no use of soil; instead, plants are directly and constantly exposed to the appropriate nutrient solution, light and climate conditions; this allows them to be grown in any possible place and time regardless of any external environmental condition.

Potential

In terms of self-sufficiency, hydroponics represent a great advantage over traditional ground-based cultivation systems, for two reasons: first, it has much inferior space requirements, making food production accessible even to people who live in urban environments; second: it removes any dependence from external atmospheric/climatic conditions for its functioning: the ability to indefinitely function at any possible time a stable supply of food all-year round without the need to plan for seasonal variations, and greatly improves efficiency, furtherly reducing the needed space.

Status

Hydroponics has been used since ancient times.