While it is essential to our future food supply - and thus, our survival - to defeat the Monsanto juggernaut in our midst, I’d like to introduce a ray of hope that may contain at least a partial solution to safeguarding our food supply from unwanted infiltration by Monsanto’s “Roundup Ready” GMO seeds.
That solution comes in the form of an ancient farming technique known as hydroponics. While Nebuchadnezzar II built the hanging gardens of Babylon as early as 600 B.C., the science of hydroponic farming and gardening has, since the 1970s, become increasingly sophisticated and today, most of the world’s fruits and vegetables are grown in highly controlled hydroponic greenhouses.
Hydroponics is the practice of growing plants without soil by supplying them with all the necessary nutrients they require, directly at the root system, which is suspended in tanks of temperature-controlled water. This method of growing produce is actually superior in many ways to traditional soil-based farming, in that, it removes the possibility of soil-borne pests and diseases that can damage crops, it allows far greater yields because more can be grown in a smaller space than can be in a field, it is perfectly suited to organic gardening, it is better for food safety, and the resulting produce usually tastes better and is superior in nutritional value to its field-grown counterpart.
But, the main thing about hydroponic farming and gardening is that it can not only be carried out almost anywhere (including apartments, where small gardens can be grown indoors in very little floor space, supplementing one’s grocery shopping), but, since it is usually done in climate-controlled greenhouses, commercially, it avoids the possibility of contamination by wind-blown GMO seeds.
The big question, though, is will hydroponic gardens be outlawed? At present, there is a move on to do just that to regular soil-based home gardens, both here in America and in Europe, as well. Police helicopters equipped with thermal imaging equipment are increasingly being used to locate private homes and apartments in which people are using grow lights to nourish their hydroponic produce. Unfortunately, these grow lights are also used by marijuana growers, so the police are attempting to shut down hydroponic gardens by raiding and arresting hydroponic gardeners under the pretense of fighting the “drug war.” There are some tricks for avoiding this scenario, though. One of these is the use of LED grow lights, which have a lower temperature than conventional Metal Halide or halogen lights, as well as a longer life span (up to 18 hours a day for 7 ½ years) and lower operating costs.
Neverthless, hydroponics presents a way for many people to ensure their survival in the event of famine, whatever may cause it.
Some Hydroponics resources:
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