Agriculture is a leading economic force on a worldwide scale. The different techniques used in the sector can produce different results, quality, and products every single day. The Aquaponics technique is certainly one that adds innovation in agriculture and can help increase the production of plants that are not sufficient anymore.
Medicinal plants and their importance
A family of plants that can thrive again through aquaponics is plants used for medical purposes. In other words, medical drugs that can be found across the Mediterranean but are not currently produced at good rates. Plants such as daisies, adders-tongue, hibiscus, gentian, mint, and thymus, are generally located on mountains, pasture areas stream beds, or lakeshores.
Unfortunately, due to the reduction of agricultural areas and pollution market prices for the quality products have gone up. Not being able to afford medical plants means a decrease in sales which can lead to a decrease in the production of some very important products.
Aquaponics in medicinal farming
Through aquaponics, farmers can introduce new farms and start massively producing medical plants again. That way, the quality will remain the same, the products will increase in numbers and the prices will drop at an affordable level.
Now starting such a farm is not easy. Farms focused on medical plants tent to fail. One of the main reasons is that farmers do not know which plants they should start growing. Medical plants cannot thrive under specific conditions and in some locations. Therefore by trying to create farms and grow plants that don’t belong there will lead to disaster.
Find the right plants
At the same time, farmers do not know which plants are the ones with the most potential, the ones that are easier to start, and the ones that lack the most from the labor market. Luckily there are ways for them to learn all that important information.
By doing some online research on medicinal plants and their use, one can easily separate the plant in categories. Those that are the most requested. Those that are the easiest to produce and the hardest. After that farmers can choose the ones they want to work with and create an appropriate environment to grow them.
Useful material for you
Using helpful material that categorizes the plants with medicinal purposes is another great way for farmers to start production. These lists provide information regarding the plants based on location, use, the difficulty of producing, and so on. A great and very useful tool for every new farmer.
As the European Green Deal grows more and more important, the European Union fully supports actions focusing on promoting agriculture. Through projects like the YEAH – Young Entrepreneurs in Aquaponics – High Five! farmers can learn all about aquaponics, their importance to the current agricultural ecosystem, and how they can use the technique to grow their farms.
As a young farmer, you need to remember that staying up to date with all the latest technologies evolving aroung the agricultural sector, can help you take your business to the next level. Stay tuned with the YEAH project’s latest updates for more helpful ideas, suggestions, advice, and tools!
