AEROPONIC CULTIVATION – what in the world is it?

Soil and hoe nowhere in sight included. The flaxen-coloured root systems float in mid-air, awakening a sense of fascination and wonder. The crop displays perfectly clean, plump potatoes with a silky-smooth appearance. This is how you can imagine your first look at aeroponic cultivation. The aeroponic method was developed, primarily for research purposes, during the 20th century – and even NASA has funded its research for the benefit of space travel.

Aeroponic cultivation is practised on a larger scale at the Finnish Seed Po tato Centre in Tyrnävä. SPK's website states the following:

“The SPK has brought into use a new aeroponic method for the production of seed potato... The number of tubers per plant is increased up to tenfold compared to before. The idea behind the aeroponic method is that potato roots grow hanging in the air in a dark, enclosed chamber. There is no need for peat or other growth medium. The roots are sprayed at strictly defined intervals with a feed that has been tailored, among other things, according to the variety and growth phase. The potato stem stands in light above the chamber. The method requires its own equipment that enables strict control and automation of the feed spraying as well as changes to the lighting... Thanks to the new method, new and promising potato varieties are introduced faster on the Finnish market from domestic seeds and dependency on foreign registered seeds is reduced.”

Some consumers may have also come across hydroponics. With a quick online search, you'll find a wealth of information about hydroponic cultivation. This makes for a wide range of home gardening alternatives that avoid uprooting plants from the soil. What will all these methods offer for the future?

Finnish Seed Potato Centre (SPK)

In its first twenty years, SPK was a government institution and operated in co-operation with MTT Agrifood Research. SPK became an independent government institution in 1996, and then a limited liability company – its current form – in 2002. The largest shareholder is H.G., a company founded by contract farmers. Vilper Oy owns 51 percent. The government's share is 22%, the Finnish potato industry owns 17%, and MTK owns 10%.

Sources: https://www.spk.fi/en/aeroponic-production/ https://www.spk.fi/en/enterprise/