Improving the productivity, sustainability and scalability of hydroponic growing systems - reducing agrochemical dependency through UV, electrolysis and organic biofilters

“** 愿景：** Growing Underground是英国领先的水培农场，利用克拉彭一个废弃的防空洞，为当地超市和餐馆种植微绿蔬菜和沙拉。作物被播种到毛毡中，然后使用富含营养的水种植，然后在系统中回收和重复使用。与传统农业相比，水培种植（HG）具有许多优势，需要的水少90%，空间少80%，产量提高50%，并且可以在通常认为不可行的地区进行作物生产（NCBI比较：2016）。然而，由于产量不稳定和对农用化学品的依赖，对HG的投资及其在技术和商业上的采用受到阻碍。优势：** 与诺丁汉特伦特大学可持续农业系合作，我们打算提高水培种植系统的生产力、可持续性和可扩展性，利用紫外线、生物过滤器和其他有机材料，包括微酸性电解水，对水、种子进行消毒，并在种植过程中取代农用化学品的使用。**焦点：** 二氧化氯/氯酸盐（CD）一直是绝大多数水培、垂直和温室种植者的首选灭菌技术，尽管其使用存在环境问题。随着监管和消费者不再使用农用化学品，现在至关重要的是开发一种安全、可持续、环境友好的替代品，以取代闭环系统中的CD使用。创新 **：该项目专注于种植我们的主要作物微草药（茴香，香菜，沙拉火箭，紫萝卜，红芥末，芥末，大蒜韭菜）和豌豆苗，该项目将在三个领域产生创新;1.一个无化学品的系统，在闭环生长过程中净化水-利用紫外线，农杆菌，碳过滤器和多糖（WP 2）的优化组合2。一种用于种子灭菌和消毒的无化学品系统-使用紫外线、膨胀和振动系统来“膨胀”种子表面上的细菌占据裂缝并清除细菌和污染物（WP 3）。为每种作物确定最佳的紫外光配置组合，以提高产量（30%）、生长率（26%）和可靠性（减少与疾病有关的作物损失（与其他无农用化学品技术相比减少30%）** 成果：** 水培、垂直和其他非传统种植系统长期以来一直有望成为传统农业的环保、可持续和资源高效的替代品，并满足预计到2030年60%的作物需求增长。以及监管部门要求农民不使用农用化学品，我们认为这是一个2400万英镑的机会（5年累计收入），对长期粮食安全具有重要的战略意义。"

"**VISION:** Growing Underground are the UK's leading hydroponic farm, utilising an abandoned air raid shelter in Clapham, to grow microgreens and salads for local supermarkets and restaurants.Crops are sown into felt and then grown using nutrient-enriched water, which is then recycled and reused in the system. Hydroponic growing (HG) has a number of advantages over traditional farming, requiring 90% less water, 80% less space, producing yields 50% quicker and enabling crop production in areas typically not considered viable (NCBI comparison:2016). Investment in HG and its adoption, technologically and commercially, is being held back however through inconsistent yields and a reliance on agrochemicals.**OBJECTIVES:** Working with the Department of Sustainable Agriculture at Nottingham Trent University, we intend to improve the productivity, sustainability and scalability of hydroponic growing systems, utilising UV, biofilters and other organic materials including slightly acidic electrolyzed water to sterilize water, seeds and replace agrochemical use in the growing process.**FOCUS:** Chlorine Dioxide/Chlorates (CD) has been the sterilisation technology of choice for the vast majority on hydroponic, vertical and greenhouse growers, despite environmental issues associated with its use. As the regulatory and consumer landscape move away from the use of agrochemicals, it is now vital that a safe, sustainable, environmentally friendly alternative to CD use in closed-loop systems is developed.**INNOVATION**: Focussed on growing our main crops micro herbs (fennel, coriander, salad rocket, purple radish, red mustard, wasabi mustard, garlic chive) and pea shoots, the project will result in innovations in three areas;1. A chemical-free system to purify water in the closed loop growing processes - utilizing an optimised combination of UV, agrobacterium, carbon filters and polysaccharides (WP2)2. A chemical-free system for the sterilization and disinfection of seeds - using UV, swelling and vibration system toto 'swell' the bacteria-occupying crevices on a seed's surface and purge bacteria and contaminates (WP3).3. Determine the optimal UV light configuration combination for each crop to boost yield (30%), growth rate (26%) and reliability (reduction in disease-related crop loss (30% vs other agrochemical-free technologies)**OUTCOME:** Hydroponic, vertical and other non-traditional growing systems have long promised to be an environmentally-friendly, sustainable and resource efficient alternative to traditional agriculture and meet the 60% increase in demand for crops expected by 2030.With latent consumer demand for UK-grown salads, and regulatory demand for farmers to go agrochemical free, we see this as a £24m opportunity (5-year cumulative revenue) that is strategically important long-term food security."