Farm of the Future Comes to Stuyvesant

Over the years, humans have developed many methods of growing food, ranging from traditional soil farming to Inca terrace farming to Aztec chinampa farming. Now, many people are beginning to adopt a new method—hydroponics.

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using a water solvent containing a mineral nutrient solution instead of soil. Often referred to as the “future of farming,” hydroponics provides a way to grow food indoors and in urban settings with little space, rather than in soil, the traditional method of growing food.

Hydroculture is increasing in popularity as people are becoming aware of the importance of sustainable urban agriculture. The biology department at Stuyvesant has embraced this innovative method and is now developing a hydroponics lab at Stuyvesant.

A few schools in New York City, like P.S. 122, I.S. 126, and Bedford Stuyvesant New Beginnings Charter School, have already developed hydroponics science labs and are teaching students about agriculture, technology, and nutrition. “We are hopeful that the lab will help our students become more environmentally conscious and put them on the path to becoming energy-conserving citizens,” I.S. 126 Principal Alexander Angueira said.

While the biology department hopes to create a similar program at Stuyvesant, they are still in the process of working out the logistics around the development of a hydroponics lab. “It’s more of a concept right now,” Assistant Principal of Biology Elizabeth Fong said.

One of Fong’s main concerns is funding. A hydroponics system requires expensive pipes, equipment the biology department does not have the funds to pay for. “It is a complicated feat of engineering,” Fong said. “There is a very precise water delivery system.”

Additionally, the biology department has not found an ideal location to build a hydroponics lab. The remodeling of a barely-used tech room has been suggested as a potential option, but a final location has yet to be decided upon.

Though the hydroponics lab is only a concept as of now, the biology department hopes the lab will be a reality by 2020. They also plan to develop a hydroponics elective as well, in which students will learn how to grow food using new and innovative technology.

Many Stuyvesant students are interested in taking a hydroponics elective and are excited about the opportunity to put concepts they learn in biology into action. The elective will be unique in its ability to teach students scientific concepts through a hands-on experience. Students will plant the seeds and watch them grow into herbs and vegetables. “We’ve always been taught that we should be environmentally conscious,” junior Flora Fu said. “Hydroponics would allow us to reduce our water use and soil runoff, which is amazing.”

Junior Yifan Wang is the secretary of the Environmental Club and thinks the hydroponics lab will provide a great opportunity to the Stuyvesant community. “I certainly believe that it is a way for our school to be more environmentally friendly [...], which is what our club tries to advocate for,” Wang said. “Also, students [will be] introduced to more technology-related alternatives to a lot of conventional ways of living, which I think can also influence them to be creative and can open their minds up to possibly creating these in the future.”

While Stuyvesant already offers a handful of geoscience-related electives, such as Oceanography, Urban Ecology, and Geology, Fong thinks Hydrology will be a substantial addition to the biology department’s course list. She sees hydroculture as an important subject for Stuyvesant students, especially because it is an alternate way of supporting the nutritional needs of the exponentially growing world population. “We want to have students make use of it with the goal of learning,” Fong said.