A successful example of Australian eco-agriculture, a "greenhouse farm" in the desert.

www.xplus.com january 8, 2013 Western Times

sunny Drop members display their produce.

■ Wen/Shen Min

inspired by the ideas of British engineer Charlie Peyton, former German banker Philip Schomwebel led a young team to build a high-tech greenhouse in the coastal desert of southern Australia, using the rich local free resources-sunlight and sea water., Plant a variety of pollution-free fruit and vegetable crops. Today, the crop products of "Desert Greenhouse" have been mass-produced and sold on the market, which is regarded as a successful model of ecological agriculture and the gospel of saving the world food crisis.

The Desert Miracle

there is a sandy wasteland on the outskirts of Port Augusta in southern Australia, dotted with coal-fired power plants and lead smelters. Occasionally, poisonous pythons, red-backed spiders, kangaroos and emus can be seen, and salty water overflows the shore from time to time. The only abundant natural resource here is sunlight.

German Philip Schomwebel led a group of young people from Europe, Asia and North America to this barren land, bought a large piece of land, and built a "desert greenhouse" called Sunshine Drop Farm (hereinafter referred to as Sunshine Drop). As a result, the land began to come to life.

The computerized planting system at Sunspot Farm looks simple, but the design is actually quite complex.

The core technology of this system is solar power generation and seawater desalination. A 75-meter-long large parabolic cylindrical mirror rotates in the direction of the sun around the clock, concentrating the absorbed solar heat on an oil pipeline. After the oil is heated, it can heat the nearby water storage tank. Water is extracted from the depths of the sea, the greenhouse is only about 100 meters from the coast, the extraction of sea water is not only convenient and free.

The sea water can be heated to a maximum of 160 degrees Celsius, and the steam generated turns the turbine to provide electricity. Part of the hot sea water is used to heat the greenhouse, and the rest is used for desalination and purification. The daily supply of treated fresh water amounts to 10000 litres, which is sufficient for irrigation needs and is pure enough to add various nutrients.

In the greenhouse, a honeycomb fan system is installed on one wall to ventilate and spray water to keep the greenhouse cool and humid. The planting process can be controlled remotely. When Dave Pratt, a 27-year-old Canadian who is in charge of cultivation, has something to go to town or return to Canada, he can master the growth status of all plants in the greenhouse through a smart phone software.

Creating it all was 33-year-old Schom Webel, founder and CEO of Sunny Drops. Schom Webel is a German, wealthy family, educated in Gordonstown, England, has a master's degree in business administration from Harvard University, began his career in hedge fund management, worked for Goldman Sachs Bank, and later joined a Munich-based family business engaged in agricultural investment.

After starting an agricultural business, Schom Weber realized that no matter how "environmentally friendly" modern agriculture is, the core is only "turning diesel into food and then watering water". He began to look for ways to change, and "saline agriculture" aroused his interest. Because the earth's freshwater resources are so scarce, agriculture uses 60% to 80% of them, and "the sea is so much that it almost drowns us".

Schom Webel went to the library and found the British engineer Charlie Peyton and his experiments.

"Seawater Greenhouse"

the use of pure natural resources such as sunlight and seawater to cultivate crops is Peyton's invention. Peyton, 62, a former London theater lighting engineer, founded Seawater Greenhouse 21 years ago.

In the 1980 s, Payton went on a honeymoon trip to Morocco. When traveling by bus on a rainy day, Payton saw that the clothes of the people on the bus were drenched and the rainwater turned into steam in the warm carriages. Therefore, he thought that heat energy could be used to make water in an arid and hot country like Morocco, and then he thought of using rich seawater resources.

"But seawater is usually harmful to plants, and even if it is distilled, it still does not provide enough water to irrigate the plants. The key is not only how to make water, but also how to create an environment where plants can grow better without as much water. The answer is to use seawater to humidify and cool down." Payton thinks.

In 1995, Peyton worked with some scientists to create an experimental greenhouse on Tenerife, which worked well and aroused interest. The EU agreed to partially finance the project. In 1999, Payton's project won the Rational Design Award, and the £ 40000 prize allowed his team to build greenhouses in Abu Dhabi and Oman in the Middle East.

The main mode of operation of the "seawater greenhouse" is to extract seawater in arid areas. On the one hand, seawater is used to humidify and cool the air, and on the other hand, solar heating equipment is used to volatilize salt in the evaporation process to produce fresh water suitable for watering plants. Finally, the remaining moist gas is released out of the greenhouse to improve the growth environment of the plants outside the greenhouse. The salt and other components left by the distillation of seawater can be processed for reuse or dumped directly into the sea.

In Peyton's words: "In theory, our simple technology can turn the Sahara Desert back into a forest, just as it was 6000 years ago. The question is whether countries are willing to make it a political issue."

peyton's experiment inspired Schom Weber. "Although his methods were clearly thought of behind closed doors, and none of his experimental projects were really put into operation, in fact all of them were abandoned halfway, his ideas still have development potential that can not be ignored," Schom said."

the future is boundless

neil Palmer, the head of the Australian government-funded Desalination Research Institute, praised the sunshine and said: "These people actually believe that they can do all this, which in itself is brave enough and adventurous. To grow food in their way, there is no need to worry about any risks. Not only can problems such as floods, frost, and hail not affect production, but also the problem of water shortage. From an economic point of view, this is feasible and can be upgraded indefinitely, because Australia will not have the problem of lack of sunlight or sea water. It's all very attractive."

the Sunshine Team is confident that their career is "promising".

"First of all, we are both young and ambitious, and we select new people by that standard. We have proved to old-fashioned gardeners, economists and supermarket buyers that our approach works and is commercially viable, and that it is now possible to grow protein food in these closed, controlled greenhouse environments. That means being able to feed the world, without exaggeration." Yangguan drip project manager, from the Netherlands water conservancy engineer Reinier Walbeck said.

Today, Sunny Drip has crossed the experimental stage. The successfully cultivated vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers are produced in tons and have entered the Port Augusta Vegetable and Fruit Grocery to be sold as high-end environmentally friendly products. According to Australian regulations, because it does not grow in natural soil, sunny agricultural products cannot be classified as organic food, but it does not use pesticides and fertilizers in the cultivation process, and it sells well, which is quite attractive to consumers.

Man of Feeding