This video story was produced by Nova Charles, Carla Ibanez and Sean Stover. The anchor is Dylan Zuccarello.
Agriculture is very resourceful when it comes to water. In fact, over 80% of America’s fresh water supply is used for agriculture. As a result, an alternative method known as hydroponics has been put in place in order to consume much less water than traditional agriculture.
“Systems like the one that we’re working on at Rosebud are so important, and I think kind of the future of agriculture and where we’re going,” said Jordan Singletary, a USF sustainable tourism graduate student who works at the Rosebud Continuum, a group that works for a more sustainable future.
Hydroponics consists of small amounts of water with added nutrients to grow food without soil. In consequence it takes way less space than traditional fields.
While a basic setup uses a a growing bed and a pump system, hydroponics also opens the doors to more complex systems such as aquaponics.
“You have the dirty, nutrient dense water going into the grow beds with the plants, and then you have clean, fresh water going back into the fish tank, and it’s one big, closed-loop system,” said Singletary.
Another possibility is known as aeroponics. It involves cycling water over the roots of plants in a vertical garden. While this setup requires even less space and resources than the others, it requires more attention on the other hand.
“Vertical gardening can be a solution to all of our food insecurities especially in urban communities,” said Sheila Sullivan, a global sustainability graduate.
With water becoming a scarce resource in the United States, as well as in the rest world, hydroponics could be a solution to this critical problem. Both Singletary and Sullivan believe that the most important step to make these new methods work is a shift of thinking and collective awareness.
Credits
Editor: Sean Stover
Writer: Nova Charles, Carla Ibanez
Reporters: Nova Charles (Found story & gathered content), Carla Ibanez (on camera presence)
Videographers: Sean Stover, Carla Ibanez, Nova Charles
Graphics: Sean Stover
Anchor: Dylan Zuccarello
