Growing food with seawater and solar power
In a desert region of southern Australia is a farm that grows and supplies 15 percent of the entire country's tomatoes without using soil, fresh water or fossil fuels.
Earlier this month Sundrop Farms marked the launch of what it called the "first commercial-scale facility of this calibre in the world", which uses solar power to de-salinate seawater and operate greenhouses in order to grow more than 15,000 tonnes of the red fruit each year.
In an email to Al Jazeera, Sundrop Farms explained its sustainable growing methods. "Tomatoes are grown hydroponically in coconut coir, eliminating the need for soil.
"Our concentrated solar tower produces both heat and electricity to maintain the perfect conditions inside the greenhouses to help the plants grow. This heat is also used to de-salinate one million litres of seawater a day; the fresh water produced is used to water the plants and cool the greenhouses."
In a desert region of southern Australia is a farm that grows and supplies 15 percent of the entire country's tomatoes without using soil, fresh water or fossil fuels.
Earlier this month Sundrop Farms marked the launch of what it called the "first commercial-scale facility of this calibre in the world", which uses solar power to de-salinate seawater and operate greenhouses in order to grow more than 15,000 tonnes of the red fruit each year.
In an email to Al Jazeera, Sundrop Farms explained its sustainable growing methods. "Tomatoes are grown hydroponically in coconut coir, eliminating the need for soil.
"Our concentrated solar tower produces both heat and electricity to maintain the perfect conditions inside the greenhouses to help the plants grow. This heat is also used to de-salinate one million litres of seawater a day; the fresh water produced is used to water the plants and cool the greenhouses."