Growing in the sea

A self-sufficient marine turtle

When we talk about turtle, we all think of that animal that walks slowly with its shell on its back. Yet another definition may enter the vocabulary in the near future: above-ground market garden place. This short report from Brut shows how a team managed to build a self-sufficient facility to grow vegetables locally and on salt water.

So, the infrastructure needs at most 4 cubic meters of fresh water in which fish live. These take advantage of the water oxygenated by the plants and their excrements provide essential nutrients to the plants. All this is done by pumps that are activated every half hour with electricity created by solar energy. Other pipes ensure a constant supply of water to some. The approach requires fresh water produced by desalinating seawater through a condensation process that removes the salt and keeps the liquid.

The method requires 90% less water than conventional farming. So this turtle is not only a garden but also a place to learn these soilless techniques. The idea is that the concept will be shared with young people who will in turn develop small market gardening installations. Eventually, they would like a cooperative of elected officials and growers to work together to ensure the future of this type of farming.

Time: 6min47