Yes!  And we understand why that might surprise or even unnerve some people, which is why we want to dig into it a bit more.  One of the first questions people ask is how is that more sustainable? Outdoors and sunlight just seem more environmentally-friendly.  We agree that it may seem counterintuitive, but we like to draw a similar comparison between where a person lives.  Most people intuit that living in suburban or rural areas, abundant with land and trees would be more sustainable than living in an apartment in Time Square, which is crowded, treeless, and abundant with massive ad displays.  Not the case!  NYC is, in fact, the greenest place to live in the US, thanks to low auto use, a lot of walking and public transportation, and very small land and energy use per capita.

Compared to conventional growing, AeroFarms systems grow the same yield using:

• 3% of the land
• Less than 20% of the water
• 2% transportation fuel & miles

The remaining question is then, are vegetables grown without soil and sun good for you nutritionally?  The answer is yes, and in fact, some studies have indicated they might even be better for you than conventionally grown vegetables.   In the most detailed study to date on the nutritional value of hydroponic produce, Plant Research Technologies Inc., an independent analytical laboratory in San Jose, California, reported dramatic increases in both the vitamin and mineral content compared to field grown produce.  At AeroFarms, we are looking to further explore enhanced nutritional content through our use of LEDs which allow us to target wavelengths of light that may increase certain antioxidants.

Beyond a possible nutritional advantage, hydroponically grown vegetables may also be safer for you.  Rick Donnan, Vice President of the Australian Hydroponics and Greenhouses Association, believes that hydroponically grown produce has more of a chance of being good for consumers’ health because there is no contact with the ground. This reduces the risk of getting disease organisms from soil and manure in the produce. “In practice, the major health problems from vegetables have been associated with the external contamination of produce, rather than from what’s been inside them,” says Donnan.

Some other resources:

http://www.hydroponics.com.au/php/viewtopic.php?t=58