Alternative growing against lack of water
Irrigated crops consume water that is not always available or of quality. The use of drip irrigation and humidity sensors have made irrigation more efficient.
To mitigate the environmental impact of transportation and food logistics, it is important to promote the consumption of local products.
However, the farms of local producers do not always have the necessary water to cultivate the existing local demand.
Therefore, there are different problems to solve and where water is the key factor to develop sustainable and quality agriculture.
In a recent conversation with a bio farmer on the island of Formentera, he informed us that he is using well water with a very high concentration of salt, and that in order for the plants to absorb the necessary water he had to increase irrigation even more. He explained that the salt poured onto the land through irrigation is not washed away by the rains, because these are increasingly scarce.
Consequently, in this case the widespread lack of water is causing increased water consumption and soil salinization. “If it doesn’t rain enough to wash the salt off the land, in a few years I won’t be able to farm here”
Atmospheric water generation as an alternative
This conversation is real and has occurred when we called a farmer to ask him if atmospheric water generation could be an interesting solution in coastal areas where we know that both problems occur: lack of rain and salinization of aquifers.
Their response has been affirmative, and especially in those farming areas where agriculture no longer has access to water, either due to the lack of rain or because drilling wells is unfeasible.
Cost per liter of water to zero with photovoltaics
Atmospheric water generation is a new technology to consider in terms of quality, autonomy and sustainability.
The equipment is very easy to install since it only needs air and electricity to operate. The water produced with atmospheric generators has excellent quality for consumption and agriculture, and does not generate plastic waste or brines.
Furthermore, with a photovoltaic source, once all the equipment has been amortized, the cost of generating a liter of water is practically zero.