While floating farms are already an indication of what agriculture could look like in the future, underwater farms are just getting started.
The prospects these farms have for increasing food security around the world look very promising.
Just recently, the world's first underwater farm began producing fruits and vegetables after a "run-in" period.
Nemo's garden
The first of the world underwater farms is called Nemo's Garden, “Nemo's Garden” (I imagine in honor of the famous little fish created by Disney). This is a complex that includes 6 mini underwater greenhouses off the coast of Noli, a Ligurian municipality in the province of Savona.
The underwater farm uses solar energy and desalinated sea water to produce various aromatic herbs, lettuce and strawberries, eight meters below the surface of the water.
Underwater farms, a great opportunity
“If we continue to exploit and reduce our forest reserves and our green lung, the process of climate change will accelerate, resulting in sea level rise", He says John Fontanesi, coordinator of the Nemo's Garden project.
We can now look at our oceans as a resource to be protected in a sustainable way. And we can explore them at the same time as an alternative to traditional agriculture.
John Fontanesi
The sea naturally provides ideal temperatures for plant growth, but there's more to growing plants underwater.
According to Fontanesi, the underwater environment, in addition to giving tastier crops, protects the plants. “It's a laboratory and nothing can reach the plant unless it's brought in from outside,” he says.
For now, Nemo's Garden is primarily an underwater research laboratory, but it is expected to increase (with other such farms) food security in coastal areas in the future.
