Hydroponic Farming vs Soil Farming: A Comparative Guide
Hydroponics is a method of growing plants without soil, using mineral nutrient solutions for plant growth
What is Hydroponics?
- High water & space efficiency
- Faster growth
- Higher yields
- Controlled environment
- Reduced pesticide use
Advantages of Hydroponics
- High initial cost
- Technical knowledge is required
Challenges of hydroponics
Soil farming or traditional farming, involves growing plants in the ground, where they absorb nutrients from the soil
What is soil farming?
- Low initial cost
- Diverse crop production
- Maintains natural ecosystem
Advantages of soil farming
- High water usage
- Land degradation
- Climate dependence
- Susceptible to pests and diseases
Challenges of soil farming
1. Space requirements
Hydroponics require less space due to vertical farming but soil farming requires more land area
Key differences
Hydroponics is limited to certain crops whereas soil framing can grow a wider variety of crops
2. Crop Variety
In hydroponics high investment, low maintenance costs and in soil farming low investment, high maintenance costs
3. Investment & maintenance costs
Download Now