Why more Farmers turn to Hydroponics

What is Hydroponics?

While Hydroponics directly refers to “growing in water”, among the farming community, it more broadly refers to any system that replaces natural soil with a controlled medium. This includes nutrient-rich water (what you might know as hydroponics), aeroponics and substrates like coco peat and perlite.

What unites these systems is their ability to deliver precise amounts of nutrients, oxygen, and moisture directly to the plant. Whether suspended in water or in a fibre-based substrate, the principle is the same: optimise the environment for healthy, efficient, scalable production.

Delivering Greater Precision, Sustainability and Control

When we replace natural soil with a controlled medium, we can control water delivery, nutrient concentration, pH levels, and oxygenation. Fertiliser can be precisely dosed, and conditions can be tailored to the crop’s needs. This has significant advantages:

• Water and nutrients can be captured, recycled, and reused — reducing waste and input costs
• Sensors allow for pH, EC, and nutrient monitoring, enabling accurate adjustments based on what plants are absorbing
• Crops can be grown almost anywhere, no matter the natural environment
• Growers can choose their crop and then the medium and setup to support it. Not the other way around

Hydroponics is Not Without Challenges

While hydroponics offers clear benefits, it also introduces new requirements and risks — particularly if you’re used to traditional soil systems.

Soil naturally provides a buffer: if irrigation is interrupted, the stored moisture inside the soil can keep plants alive for days. In a soilless environment, that buffer doesn’t exist. If a pump fails or power is lost, the environment can deteriorate quickly.

That’s why effective hydroponic systems require four things:

Reliable infrastructure
Pumps, power supplies, and distribution systems must be stable, with backups in place.

Monitoring and automation
Systems need sensors and controls to manage temperature, pH, EC, and flow in real-time.

Agronomic expertise
Growing in soilless media often requires specialists to assist with precise nutrient dosing and irrigation timing.

Contingency planning
Fail-safes, maintenance routines and response protocols are key to protecting your investment.

There’s a higher capital cost to setting up a well-designed hydroponic system, but the return on investment in yield consistency, resource efficiency and reduced input waste can be substantial.

Choosing the Right Hydroponic Medium

Different crops, climates, and business models call for different substrates. Let’s look at three of the most widely used options:

Nutrient-Rich Water Systems (e.g. NFT)

In Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) systems, plant roots are suspended in a shallow stream of oxygenated water containing all essential nutrients. These systems offer rapid growth cycles and excellent efficiency — leafy crops like lettuce can reach harvest in just 19–20 days. They’re highly effective in the right environment but require careful temperature control and have low room for error.

Coco Peat

Coco peat is a lightweight, renewable, fibre-based substrate made from coconut husks. Its water retention and drainage levels can be customised by adjusting the texture and fibre type, making it a flexible choice for fruiting and flowering crops like peppers and tomatoes.

Peat

Peat, harvested from European bogs, offers excellent water-holding capacity and good drainage. It’s ideal for seedlings and propagation phases, where young plants need consistent moisture but are sensitive to over-saturation. Peat can be used alone or blended with other substrates to optimise performance.

Why More Growers Are Making the Switch

For commercial growers aiming to scale, improve margins, or reduce risk, hydroponics is proving to be more than a niche — it’s becoming a strategic advantage.

Sustainability
Closed-loop water and nutrient use dramatically reduce water and resource waste.

Proximity farming
Crops are grown closer to local markets, improving freshness and lowering transport costs.

Year-round reliability
Hydroponic Systems operate independently of rainfall or local soil conditions.

Efficiency and quality
Data-driven decisions allow growers to fine-tune their crop production to boost output, improve consistency and lower operating costs over time.

How to Choose?

There’s no need to choose between soil and hydroponics. If you have access to good soil, it can be a productive, sustainable base for farming. But if your soil is unreliable – or if you’re seeking precision or consistency - hydroponics offers a data-driven alternative with long-term potential.

Either way, it’s worth asking: is your soil helping, or holding you back?

“The smartest farmers aren’t just working the land. They’re rethinking what growing looks like.”