Last week I attended the Rose Cafe about Cornell-grown hydroponic lettuce. Overall, I wasn’t really looking forward to the lecture, given that agriculture is not really my field of interest, but I ended up finding it quite interesting. I found the semi-interactive portion of this cafe to be quite cool, as we got to eat the lettuce at dinner prior to learning about the agricultural process behind it. The lettuce itself was very tasty, and, as the lecturer briefly mentioned, I found it to be somewhat sweeter and more tender than conventionally farmed greens. The lecturer did a good job of explaining the process in an approachable way, and the imagery she provided did a great job of making the science clearer and more visible.
One thing that the lecturer did not touch on as much was the potential economic or environmental impact of this kind of farming. I would really like to know more about how hydroponics fits in with our current needs as a society in terms of food production and climate change.
I am always pleasantly surprised by the variety of research taking place on Cornell campus, and the hydroponics mentioned in this cafe was no exception.
I also went to this talk and thought it was super interesting. I am also very interested in learning about the economic impacts of hydroponics.
Although, I did not get to attend the this talk, I would also like to learn more about the environmental impacts of aquaponics. Especially because it would not have the same consequences associated with traditional farming, in terms of excessive fertiliser use and degradation of the soil