Although growing crops in greenhouses results in high-quality food, it is generally considered to be very energy-intensive. However, greenhouses are often the only way to grow plants with high yields, especially under increasingly extreme climatic conditions. This is where the researchers want to come in with their START project and make greenhouse production more sustainable and resource efficient - START stands for “Sustainable greenhouse production types and resource efficient technologies for future cultivation”.
The goals: Water and nutrients are to be recovered and recirculated, and energy is to be obtained via sustainable processes. In addition, the project is hoped to result in the complete elimination of cost- and energy-intensive substrates. This is to be achieved using modern greenhouse technology, in which the plants are cultivated directly in water basins (“deep water cultivation”). Through small holes in so-called floats, the roots hang in a nutrient solution designed to meet the needs of the plants. This allows them to develop optimally - and produce high-quality food.
Expansion of the infrastructure at the university of excellence
The innovative greenhouse is being built at the University of Bonn's Klein-Altendorf sustainability campus, where the entire greenhouse control and its management are under one roof. Project leader Prof. Dr. Ralf Pude from the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES) and his team will be researching there what the plants really need to produce good quality on a sustainable basis. “From temperature to lighting, there are a number of parameters that can be changed in the greenhouse to achieve this goal,” emphasizes Ralf Pude, a member of the Transdisciplinary Research Unit “Sustainable Futures” at the University of Bonn.
To put the interdisciplinary approach into practice, the team collaborates with renowned institutions. The corresponding analysis of the culture management is carried out by the Bonn-based company HGoTECH GmbH and its managing director Christian Heck. This would allow nutrient management to be sustainably optimized and the quality of the food to be quantified. “Building on many years of expertise, this will shed light on all sub-areas of plant production in deep water culture - both below and above the water surface,” says Pude.
Sustainable construction
Another goal of the project is to determine and monitor the environmental impact resulting from the construction and operation of the greenhouse. The Institute for Sustainability in Construction at RWTH Aachen University, headed by Prof. Dr. Marzia Traverso, is conducting extensive research in this area covering all aspects of sustainability.
Researchers led by Prof. Dr. Matin Qaim from the Center for Development Research (ZEF) at the University of Bonn are focusing on another aspect of research: Micronutrient deficiency is a serious problem, especially in the global South. For this reason, they are investigating in the START project whether such a greenhouse concept could help to mitigate micronutrient deficiencies. To this end, the group around Matin Qaim will conduct a wide variety of studies, including on site, using Ghana as a case study.
Furthermore, bio innovation park Rheinland e.V., which is based at the Klein-Altendorf campus, is participating as a partner. It serves as a link between science and business. The association deals with questions of market and acceptance research. Another goal: to inform the community about the progress of the project, thereby raising awareness about the core issues of sustainable crop production, energy self-sufficiency and food supply.
The researchers believe that joining forces to form cross-disciplinary teams with a targeted transfer of knowledge to society is the only way to successfully handle such a large-scale project.
