Obliterating Hunger: Groasis Waterboxx Grows Plants in the Desert

Pieter Hoff, a tulip grower from Holland, has developed a spectacularly interesting social innovation called the Groasis Waterboxx, which aims to address the difficulties associated with growing trees and plants in arid areas by capturing condensation and rainwater, and transferring this to the plant over a period of time without requiring any groundwater or electricity.

In a presentation he made at PopTech, Hoff describes how the problems of world hunger and global warming can be mitigated through harnessing stretches of desert. “One of six billion people on earth don’t get enough to eat,” he says. “There is a possibility to feed these people.”

After devising his invention in Holland, over a period of 4 years, Hoff tested it in the Sahara desert -- 88 percent of the trees he tried it on lasted. He then decided to market his invention for commercial use – the beginning of his company AquaPro Holland.

The box has a wide double opening, mimics a plants capillary action, by planting two seeds in a box on top of (rather than in a hole in) the soil. The box captures condensation and rain water, and distributes to this to the plant over a much longer period of time – one day or 4 inches of rain can be distributed over a period of one year. By this time, Hoff says, the plant or tree is far more established and is far more likely to be able to take care of itself thereon.

Are Skyscrapers the Farmlands of the Future?

Design by Olive Foster

Massive skyscrapers are more commonly associated with exacerbating, rather than mitigating, global warming. But if Dr. Dickson Despommier--author of The Vertical Farm, and professor of environmental sciences and microbiology at Columbia University--has any say in the matter, skyscrapers could play a big role in not just helping the environment, but also alleviating hunger. 

The main idea behind vertical farming is that fruit and crops will be grown hydroponically—nutrient rich water replaces the need for soil—in high-rise buildings. Planting, monitoring growth and harvesting would all take place within the building, and the cultivation process would employ what Despommier calls “close-loop agricultural technologies”: all water and nutrients are recycled substantially reducing runoff. 

According to Despommier, the benefits of vertical farming are manifold. Transportation and energy costs would reduce dramatically, since consumers would be located near by. Large tracts of land taken over for cultivation could be returned to their natural state, reducing carbon dioxide levels. Ancillary industries would burgeon around skyscrapers that specialized in one crop. Growing crops in a controlled environment would facilitate healthier, organic produce. Hunger would reduce: a 30-storey tower could feed upto 50,000 people.

“The biggest social benefit is that everybody gets fed healthy, clean food,” says Despommier. “The world would be a much better place if we had vertical farms.”