Is Hydroponic better for you than Organic ?

The world population is growing more concerned with what we consume and what is actually going into the food that makes it to our plates. the debate of food safety and crop growing practices is growing. People are inclined to eat healthier produce, even when they are dining out, giving rise to a host of restaurants and grocery stores that promise 'organically grown' and ‘hyper-local’ food ingredients.

Organic farming methods have gained immense popularity. The obvious comparison to Hydroponics raises the question which is the more viable and healthy form of agriculture.

The internet provides more and more information and opinion at your fingertips. The debate of Organic farming vs. Hydroponics, holds a host of misinformation. We aren’t going provide all of the answers but hope to uncover some of the myths and provide a clearer picture of why Hydroponics might be a superior option to organic farming.

To begin with, it's imperative to understand the process behind what organic farming and Hydroponics is. Hydroponics is described as the process of growing plants or crops in water without the use of soil, while organic farming involves soil (in most cases) and choosing not to use inorganic fertilizers in the growing process.

In order to be considered certified organic, a plant can be grown using only unrefined minerals and under current Certified Organic. The issue however is that a number of these unrefined minerals, although natural, can be toxic in nature. For example, mined phosphate contains excessive amounts of fluoride and radioactive radium, both of which can be extremely harmful to humans. Even the use of organic fertilizers such as manure, poses the risk of E-coli and salmonella outbreaks.

On the other hand, Hydroponics plants are grown in nutrient solutions usually indoors, completely free from chemicals and pesticides making them much safer. Plants also grow quicker in Hydroponic farming thanks to the controlled environment, in turn the crop yield is significantly increased leading to more production from same amount of space. But simply growing more faster isn’t a significant advantage to Hydroponics.

There is a growing body of evidence that seems to indicate that closed-loop water re-circulation systems like hydroponics may in fact offer an advantage over soil-based organic growing since the water chemistry can be manipulated to boost natural plant bio-actives for health benefits. Thus plants grown through Hydroponics have better nutritional value. It has been proven that vitamin content is 50% more in hydroponically grown plants as compared to soil grown plants.

The similarities between organic farming and Hydroponics boil down to the fact that both farming practices aim to protect the earth's fragile environment. There are some ways in which Hydroponics manages to triumph over organic agriculture in environmental protection endeavors. It uses 90% less water than traditional agriculture hence conserving the world's most important resource from depletion. It also manages to prevent soil from degradation, preserving valuable topsoil for plants that cannot be hydroponically grown.

It can be argued that given the added benefits of Hydroponics, when it comes to the organic farming and Hydroponics debate is the fact Hydroponics is more sustainable, provides greater production in a smaller space and provides a nutrient rich and better tasting product than organic method of growing plants.