ISHS Hydroponic Conference In Lima Peru

When I was publishing The Growing Edge as a magazine on paper, one of the major perks of the job was attending international agricultural conferences around the world. The most recent one I attended was in Lima, Peru last August.

Strawberries growing in a NFT hydroponic system

It was organized by the International Society for Horticultural Science (ISHS) Soilless Culture working group.
I gave a general report on the conference in the Jan/Feb 09 issue of The Growing Edge. While in Peru, I took over 2,000 photographs during the 15 days I was there. Over the course of the next few months, I will post some of them here.
This series of photos above and below are of the outdoor hydroponic gardens and classroom where Professor Alfredo Rodriquez Delfin teaches hydroponics or soilless culture to his students at Universidad Nacional Agraria—La Molina.
Since agriculture is important to the national security of Peru, there are armed military police everywhere along with security fencing. Either that or to prevent even higher unemployment than Peru already has, they over employ the military and police. They are everywhere.
There were many different crops growing here and systems ranged from simple floating rafts to NFT and rockwool systems.

Tomatoes growing in rockwool bag system with drip irrigation delivering nutrients

Alfredo Rodriquez Delfin who organized the conference at the university where he is a professor.

Various lettuce varieties growing in Nutrient Film Technique plastic gutters

Lettuce growing in simple floating raft system. The wooden boxes are lined with a plastic liner which holds the nutrient solution and a styrafoam block floats with the lettuce plants with their roots growing down into the nutrient solution. Organic nutrients can be used.

Photo credit: Tom Alexander

Tagged as: sustainable agriculture, sustainable hydroponics, urban gardening, vegetables