Circular growing concepts for operational efficiency

Joining the circular economy is the most important thing you can do to make your farming business more sustainable. Not only will it reduce your impact on the environment, but it will also make your business more resource-efficient, allowing you to lower costs and improve your crop quality.

Read on for a round-up of circular growing concepts that will improve your operational efficiency and protect the environment for generations to come.

Harvest the sun with your greenhouse

The sun is a powerful and free resource you can use to warm and heat your greenhouse. In optimal conditions, the sun provides about 1,000 watts of light at the peak of the day. This heat can be harvested and stored for the cooler months.

The heat you can collect from 1 hectare of your greenhouse will be 1.5 times as much as you will need to heat the greenhouse all year round. You’ll be able to use this heat to warm the greenhouse air and warm water up to 40 degrees Celsius.

Don’t worry about needing expensive equipment to harvest the sun. Your greenhouse is already working as a solar panel. All you need is a way to store this heat. Use heat exchangers like radiators that will collect the heat and store it to warm wells for water. In the cold season you can use this warm water by treating it with a heat pump and blowing it as warm air into the greenhouse to keep your plants warm and comfortable.

For many greenhouses, heating can be one of the most expensive activities, especially as the prices of oil and gas are increasing. If you harvest the sun’s heat, you’ll be saving money and reducing your reliance on these highly polluting materials.

Repurpose substrates

Substrate use is on the rise in greenhouses because they provide an optimal and disease-free growth medium. However, to maintain this optimal environment, new substrates must be used each season. The question then arises, what should be done with substrates after crops are harvested and greenhouses need to be prepared for new crops?

Don’t waste your used substrates. Many organic substrates such as peat and cocopeat can be reused as fertilizer in open fields. Inorganic substrates can also be repurposed. For example, if you use stone wool, this can be recycled and melted for making bricks.

As you adopt more circular growing methods, consider which substrates you use based on their sustainability. For example, peat is made of oak trees and grasses. While it is a great growing medium, it takes a very long time to produce, and extracting it from its environment can disrupt its natural ecosystem.

Sawdust, wood-based substrates, or cocopeat are all environmentally friendly substrates that are easy to produce and easy to recycle.

Avoid chemical fertilizers

Many of today’s fertilizers come from the chemical industry. While they may lead to bright and beautiful fruit, they actually harm the quality of production. Organic fertilizers made of manure, compost, and other natural matter lead to the highest quality crops. They can also be used on substrates to ensure that crops receive all the minerals and nutrients they need to be healthy.

Using organic fertilizers not only frees crops from chemicals, but it also allows you to recycle waste created by your farming operations.

Manage pests naturally

Your integrated pest management (IPM) system is an important one for circular growing. Instead of using chemicals that harm growth, biological control is an environmentally friendly and cost-effective way to protect plants from pests such as aphids and other insects.

Import natural predators into your greenhouse to attack pests. They will minimize the number of pests in your greenhouse without contaminating crops. This requires proper scouting and management to ensure your ecosystem is constantly balanced.

Other pests such as mildew, fungi, and bacteria can also be eliminated without chemicals. You could use UV lights and natural medicines, ensuring a clean and healthy growing environment

Reduce tools for successful management

Maintaining a circular and optimal environment requires significant work for the farmer. However, with the right tools and systems in place, it doesn’t have to get in the way of efficiency. In fact, the opposite is true.

Scouting and monitoring are the two most important things for maintaining balance in your greenhouse. Cameras can be your eyes so you don’t have to spend all your time walking through each row. You can also create a system to ensure you are monitoring and watching out so you can catch any potential issues early on and fix them before they become problems.

Using a closed system in your greenhouse will also help you better manage and reduce your resource use with irrigation, fertilization, and energy. This will save you significant time and money.

Join the circular economy for cleaner products

The amount of food that needs to be produced to feed the world is increasing, as is the concern about pollution and contaminated products. Farmers must increase their yield while ensuring they are providing the cleanest and healthiest products for consumers.

Today’s consumers spend about 10% of their income on food and most people are willing to spend more on higher quality products. Circular growing concepts prioritize safe and healthy food while cultivating a sustainable future where people and the planet thrive in harmony. By adopting these practices in your greenhouse, you can sow the seeds for generations to come.