Because of the rising fodder prices in the face of protracted periods of drought throughout Australia, hydroponic farming is receiving growing interest from cattle farmers.

Hydroponics is a high-tech method of growing plants in water, water that is rich in mineral nutrients instead of soil. Hydroponics is an ideal concept for today’s agricultural sector as it struggles to find new fertile lands for crop production. It enables crops to be growing indoors, in greenhouses or in multilevel buildings.

Historically, using hydroponic sprouts as fodder was controversial and considered not economically viable. Also, the whole practice of indoor sprouting enrvironment was deemed to be too costly for most farms.

As indoor farming or greenhouse farming trends in the agricultural sector, such operations are proving to be a feasible solution to many. Indoor farming uses LED lighting instead of the sun, much less land as it is vertical and has optimised temperature, water and nutrient delivery using the latest technology. Fertilisers and soil are replaced by hydroponic and aeroponic (the method of growing plants in a mist or air environment without using any soil( techniques that allow plants to receive nutrients by sitting their roots in water, or misting them with water-rich elements like zinc.

These environments can run 24 hours a day and enable plant growth in a matter of days. These best practices in indoor farming have made it much more affordable an option for those in the sector, as demand for these systems continue to rise over the years with supply growing in response.