The increasing demand for food, the lack of natural resources and arable land, and the recent restrictions on energy consumption require an immediate solution in terms of agricultural activities. The soil loss, the crop/soil contamination, and the greenhouse gas emissions were the criteria for the environmental comparison of conventional agriculture and hydroponics. As for resource consumption, the water consumption rates (L/kg), energy consumption rates (kWh), and energy required (kW) were the criteria for comparing conventional agriculture with hydroponics.
Source | Sector | Advantages of Hydroponics |
---|---|---|
Barbosa et al. [17] | Better land use | Reduction in land use by 10%. |
Barbosa et al. [17] | Higher crop yield | Eleven-times higher lettuce yield with hydroponic cultivation. |
Baddadi et al. [20] | Irrigation water saving/fertilizer saving | Hydroponics allows the controlled and efficient use of water, fertilizers, and chemicals. |
Baddadi et al. [20] | Better land use | Better performance, less land use. |
Baddadi et al. [20] | Lower environmental impact | Lower environmental impact and greenhouse gas emissions. |
Bakhtar et al. [35] | Better land use | Hydroponics is applied in areas with adverse climatic conditions and a lack of arable land, producing food without soil. |
Martinez-Mate et al. [49] | Lower environmental impact | Comparing soil crops and hydroponics crops, the gas emissions were 0.23 kg CO2 equivalent and 0.11 kg CO2 equivalent, respectively. |
Sharma et al. [39] | Clean cultivation | Hydroponics is one of the most popular methods of modern cultivation, with its main characteristics being that it is clean and easy. |
Croft et al. [23] | Better land use | Hydroponics is important for agriculture globally as an opportunity for cultivation in areas with no access to soil. |
Müller et al. [24] | Better land use | Hydroponics as a production method is advanced and promotes large-scale cultivation without soil. |
Link [25] | Higher crop yield/high-quality food | Hydroponics allows the multiplication of the number of crops to obtain higher yields. |
Link [25] | Better land use | Hydroponics allows vertical crop cultivation and saves land use. |
Joshi and Joshi [26] | Higher crop yield | The growth rate is 30–50% faster in hydroponic culture than in soil. |
Borges and Dal’Sotto [28] | Higher crop yield/high-quality food/economic viability | Ever-increasing production allows the upward trend of crop diversification and higher profits for producers. |
Souza, Toesca Gimenes, and Binotto [31] | Economic viability | Hydroponics ensures the financial viability of the investment and is an attractive alternative food production solution. |
Bradley and Marulanda [32] | Better land use | Hydroponics responds to global hunger while using 25% less land than soil cultivation. |
Wada [34] | Clean cultivation/better land use | Hydroponics ensures a clean planting environment and saves space due to vertical multi-layer production. |
Rufí-Salís et al. [36] | Nutrition control/better land use/fertilizer saving | Hydroponics provides better plant nutrition control and more efficient land use and saves on fertilizers. |
Rufí-Salís et al. [36] | Better land use | Hydroponics is a sustainable system of agriculture for urban areas. |
Orellano et al. [37] | Better land use/economic viability | Hydroponics is a solution to the growing of crops on land that could be expropriated, providing investment stability and protecting growers from the high risks involved in this activity. |
NOSB [38] | Clean cultivation | Hydroponics, as a soilless cultivation method, offers greater protection. |
Coolong [41] | Clean cultivation | Hydroponics, as a soilless cultivation method, makes crops exceptionally clean without washing. |
Lopez-Galvez et al. [42] | Clean cultivation | Low risk of soil and crop contamination. |
Hussain et al. [43] | Clean cultivation/fertilizer saving | Hydroponics allows the efficient consumption of fertilizers and the reduced use of chemicals to control pests and diseases. |
Orozco et al. [44] | Lower environmental impact/clean cultivation | Hydroponics is safer than open-field cultivation because it can apply natural barriers against specific bacterial agents and reduce contamination factors. |
Phew et al. [45] | Lower environmental impact/clean cultivation | Hydroponic products are grown without pesticides, prompting consumers to trust them more and be willing to spend more on their acquisition, thus creating food security. |
Russo and Scarascia Mugnozza [46] | Lower environmental impact | In terms of raw materials, using wood instead of zinc-coated steel structures has environmental benefits, but using recycled plastics for pipes, grow benches, and containers also works very well. |
Russo and Scarascia Mugnozza [46] | Lower environmental impact/fertilizer saving | Hydroponic cultivation in a greenhouse greatly reduces the environmental impact compared to greenhouse soil cultivation due to the use of pesticides and fertilizers. |
Li et al. [47] | Lower environmental impact | Hydroponics supports innovative, sustainable, and environmentally friendly crops. |
Grewal et al. [48] | Lower environmental impact | Hydroponics is a beneficial technology with much lower environmental impacts and pollution rates, including effective sewage disposal. |
Grewal et al. [48] | Irrigation water saving | Hydroponic cucumber and tomato crop cultivation could use 33% drainage water. |
Sutar et al. [52] | Irrigation water saving | Hydroponics can apply treated sewage water, using household sewage as a nutrient medium. |
Carmassi et al. [53] | Irrigation water saving | Hydroponics provides water savings and the possibility of reusing water. |
Zou et al. [54]; Love et al. [55] | Better land use/irrigation water saving/nutrition control | Aquaponics is an interesting combined system of hydroponics and aquaculture for the production of vegetables near urban centres with minimal water consumption. |
König et al. [56]; Goddek et al. [57]; Xie and Rosentrater [58]; Tyson et al. [60]; Adler et al. [59] | Lower environmental impact/irrigation water saving/fertilizer saving/nutrition control | Aquaponics combines aquaculture and hydroponics, providing an environmentally and economically sustainable food production system compared to the independent operation of the systems. |
FAO [61] | Higher crop yield | Aquaponics is a promising and rapidly growing food production sector, already producing 50% of the fish and vegetables consumed by humans. |
Suhl et al. [62] | Nutrition control/fertilizer saving | The simultaneous recovery of nutrients makes aquaponics one of the most promising sustainable food production methods for the future. |
Gwynn-Jones et al. [63] | Optimization of natural resource use | Hydroponics is more efficient at optimizing resources than soil cultivation. |
Alshrouf [64] | Lower environmental impact/irrigation water saving | Hydroponics is a self-sustainable and environmentally friendly system, using 10% less water in comparison to conventional agriculture. |
Romeo, Blikra Vea, and Thomsen [65] | Irrigation water saving | Water consumption in hydroponics is seven times lower than in conventional greenhouse production and four times lower than in open-field cultivation. |
Trang and Brix [66] | Irrigation water saving/nutrition control | Hydroponics is characterized by a high efficiency of water use and design plasticity. |
Source | Sector | Disadvantages of Hydroponics |
---|---|---|
Vourdoubas [67] | Higher energy consumption | The annual requirements for energy consumption correspond to 95.3% of the total energy, with 4.7% corresponding to electricity consumption. |
Souza, Toesca Gimenes, and Binotto [31] | High initial investment | Hydroponics requires a high initial investment. |
Muñoz [68] | High initial investment/higher energy consumption/required know-how | Hydroponics requires a high initial investment, high energy expenditure, special technical knowledge, and continuous assistance and monitoring. |
This entry is adapted from the peer-reviewed paper 10.3390/en16041690