Earth

Food from Sun and Sea

Addressing the increasing human population alongside the increasing shortages of food, water and energy, this company is growing food with only sunlight and sea water–even in the desert. Their off-grid farming solution, negates the effects of droughts, floods, and other weather challenges, without using soil, fossil fuels, groundwater, pesticides, or GMOs.

Sundrop Farms chose to focus on what resources were abundant, to come up with food growing solutions. Starting in the coastal Australian desert, they’ve utilized the abundance of sunshine and sea water. Their hi-tech greenhouses integrate solar power, electricity generation, fresh water production and hydroponics that can produce 37,000 pounds of food a year on just 49 acres.

The entire operation is powered by a solar tower that creates 39 megawatts of electricity on a sunny day, enough to run the entire farm. The crops are grown hydroponically with a million gallons of sea water that is pumped in daily, desalinated, and enriched with coconut husks and sustainably-sourced nutrients.

Sea water is also a natural disinfectant and pest control, eliminating the need for pesticides. Leftover water is returned to the sea, further reducing the farm’s environmental impact.

The success of Sundrop Farms in Australia has allowed them to expand to other countries, where they’re building farms to meet the needs of local supermarkets. Their unique eco-friendly process doesn’t compete with, but rather compliments other local food production.

Using smart innovation while caring for the health of our planet, they are breaking farming’s dependence on chemicals and finite resources and that equals a long term, win-win solution for all.