hydroponics a solution to drought?

So for the last few years (despite recent weather patterns) there has been an an ongoing drought out west in places like California, Texas, etc. Its projected to increase food prices, reduce our amount of available livestock, and in general make thing rather crappy for the human race.

Now that said there are long term things we can do to reduce this sort of thing in the future, but in the short term I think hydroponic gardening makes sense. This method uses less water, no soil, and the vegetation is kept in controlled climates.

Now the downside is it's a bit pricy to start up (I wonder if you could make that argument about anything), but seeing as how people are unwilling to go vegetarian for the sake of food prices we could use a separate solution. So what do you think? Should we allocate money for an upgrade for our farming infrastructure in the form of hydroponic gardens to combat drought?

look at israel, having constant droughts for years now, hydroponic gardens is expensive and would only postpone the problem,

drip irrigation would be better and cheape.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7G9v6JdYwc if you want to know more about water and israel

Aquaponics would be much nicer.
The right setup provides more nutrients than even organic farming, and you get fish as well as veggies.

The bigger question is should farming subsidies be put to good use. And to that, sure; but realistically it's not going to happen. You can own a farm and not produce anything and still get free money from the government, many politicians do it, and since they're the ones that make the rules that ain't gonna happen. Plus, most subsidies were designed to help small farms not go into poverty, instead that money goes to big business, who end up getting more federal funds than NASA each year.

But yeah, a hydroponic approach would definitely be a way to go.

Who is we?

The question you should be asking is why are you subsidizing industries that should be located elsewhere e.g. Mexico. Instead you subsidize the rich, deny Mexico what should be a comparative advantage, then complain about illegal immigrants many who work those farms in the US when they should be earning a living doing the same thing south of the border creating wealth in that country.

Desalination is the only answer to the long-term water needs of humanity.

@Master_Live: We as in the social structure put in place by the people to run the country.

Sure, you can rearrange existing budgeting, no new money.

we need to figure out how to put all food into pill form like on The Jetsons

i think so too, with drip irrigation for the short term and Desalination for the long run, plus there are certain crops that grow best in desert like places ( would be good for a place with a drought)

I just googled this and its really a remarkable ecological and food production technique.

I concur. To my knowledge, the practice of subsidizing is quite counterproductive. Its supposed to help the sustainment of a particular noncompetitive and originally unsustainable sector or economic activity. Yet it only manages to do so by leeching off of other competitive economical activities, rendering them less competitive and viable than they originally are. Artificial economical activities are inimical to growth and the economy on the long run. Every time I hear something about agricultural subsidies in France and how it was involved in the engineering of the European single market treaty I cringe.

Meh, it's just 'murica. Who cares about that dump?

@GazaAli: I agree that aquaponics is also a viable way to obtain a lot more crops (and seafood) than traditional farming, however given that you would need water to store the fish in I have to wonder if its an effective strategy during times of drought.

Now don't misunderstand me, I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable n the subject of aquaponics as I am on hydroponics, so this is largely speculation. That being said hydroponics recollects any water/nutrients not absorbed by the plants, and distributes them to more plants. Aquaponics requires large aquariums for fish with the plants growing on top. This setup makes perfect sense when you consider his sort of thing happens naturally all the time in lakes and swamps, but its use (at least from a common sense perspective) is sort of antithetical to dealing with the issues that are caused by drought.

And again I'm far less knowledgeable on this subject, and I'm fully aware that common sense can easily bring someone to incorrect assumptions.

You're 100% right that more water would be needed, because the fish need somewhere to swim/grow/live until you decide to harvest them.

However, unlike normal farming where excess water is simply absorbed into the ground, it's enclosed in a "cycle", the plants only use what they need while filtering the nitrates out, while the fish swim happily below.

It might seem like a waste to have a tank of water for your freshwater fish, while sitting in a desert, but it actually uses 90% less water than traditional farming on a field.

EDIT: Oh, it seems you've got to change the water in a hydroponics system. Where as with Aquaponics the fish and plants manage to clean the water for each other, and the same 40gallons or so can be used for well over a year.

Hydroponics is part of the solution, but it's not going to solve a lot of underlying issues. Part of the issue with the west is overutilization of water resources, most notably the Ogallala Aquifer. Most small farms are being driven out of business, and the ones that remain are under constant pressure to up their yields or lose their farm. While it's true that hydroponics will increase efficiency it will still put a strain on water resources if the demand continues to increase.

Further, hydroponics can help to combat drought in more ways than one, but it requires going against typical economic logic. It can help to combat climate change by reducing emissions in the form of transportation, but this requires many hydroponic farms located in areas in close proximity to their markets. More than likely hydroponic farms, if left to conventional economic logic, would be mass-producing farms located in close proximity to a freshwater source that would ship around the country. Not only does this not help to combat climate change, this also puts more of a strain on conventional farmers whose carbon footprints are smaller due to selling to local vendors.

Furthermore, you have to question how viable it will be to maintain a living in some of these regions and if it becomes unfeasible what will happen to them? Gas exploration? Urban development? Will we start to lose even more of our ecological resources in this country? And what about the way of living that exists on farms right now? Farming is one of the last bastions of producers owning their own means of production, if we charge ahead into hydroponics I could see that changing. Hydroponics on an industrial scale also probably signals the end of farmers and the beginning interchangeable workers.

Hydroponics could be a great resource in the fight against climate change and in combating drought, but it has to be implemented in the right way. Small hydroponic farms supporting communities in a short range are an excellent resource that cuts emissions and keeps small groups of growers in charge of their own production. Just slapping hydroponics onto our existing agricultural system, though? I don't see it as anything more than a stopgap measure.