Table of Contents
ToggleWhat is E-Soil?
Swedish scientists have devised a method for electrically stimulating a plant’s roots, which can help it grow quicker. All you need is water, nutrients, and a substance known as a substrate. Consider it a surface to which roots can cling. The electric current is then passed through the substrate, and the plant flowers. Indeed, these researchers discovered that barley seedlings grew 50% quicker after 15 days.
They’re calling it eSoil because there’s no actual dirt involved.
The History of E-Soil
It predates the common era by at least 600 years. Despite the dry weather along the Euphrates River, lush green gardens grew up the walls of an ancient city named Babylon, according to some wise people. We’re talking about Babylon’s Hanging Gardens. The vegetation in this area lacked soil. However, their roots drew nutrients from a nearby river, comparable to a pulley system extracting water from a well.
And many years later, in 1937, an American scientist named Dr. William Frederick Gericke discovered that this water-based farming approach worked like a charm. It only required the addition of a few chemicals to get it going. Plant roots could use nutrients more efficiently this manner than when grown in dirt.
And he developed the term hydroponics for this type of agriculture, combining the words hydro (Greek for water) and ponos (labor).
You’d think that after all these years, the field of hydronics was due for some innovation, wouldn’t you? This is most likely accomplished by sending an electric current via a suitable substrate material.
But why is this such a big deal?
Every year, we add approximately 83 million individuals to the world’s population. That indicates the world will have 10 billion people by 2050. There must be a way to feed this expanding population.
How Does E-Soil Help the Current Ecosystem?
Yes, we are attempting to enhance food production and improve global distribution by pooling resources so that farmers worldwide have better access to fertilizers and new farming practices. But here’s the catch. All of this necessitates large areas of agricultural land.
Agriculture now covers over 40% of the total land surface. And we use one-third of the land for agriculture (1.5 billion hectares). To put it another way, that’s over 3 billion football fields. Yes, there is a lot to imagine. But even that is dwindling as the population grows.
More population implies more food and greater infrastructural development. As a result, cropland is naturally consumed. As a result, cropland is naturally consumed. To put this in context, between 1961 and 2016, worldwide farmland acreage fell from approximately 0.45 hectares to 0.21 hectares per capita. We can’t suddenly wake up one day and change everything.
Food production, distribution, and feeding people all became more expensive. It entails that over 828 million people worldwide go to bed hungry every night.
While scientists are continuously developing new crop kinds that are resistant to changes in the climate, increasing food production remains a challenge.
That’s where hydroponics may shine – no agricultural areas, no fertilizer, no dirt. The much-discussed vertical farming could get a boost. Vertical farms are structures that house a large number of hydroponic systems that grow crops in an indoor, temperature-controlled environment. And it’s already in use in Dubai, which imports 85% of its food.
Conclusion
E-Soil is made of cellulose and another conductive material that does not absorb a lot of energy. The researchers’ study was titled “A low-power bioelectronic growth scaffold that enhances crop seedling growth.” The essential word here is “low power.”
The only issue is that it is still only one piece of paper. We don’t know if this will be replicated by other scientists or if it will scale. It is still very early days. Also, even if it does scale, how will the globe pool resources to expand its use? Because low-income countries, such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa, require this type of assistance.