Chapter 2 - Good for the planet: Are Microgreens sustainable?
IN THIS LESSON
In this chapter, you'll learn why Microgreens are sustainable, as part of the breakthrough solutions on how we grow food to avoid a climate disaster.
So if you want to know whether growing Microgreens is good for our planet, this chapter is for you.
Are Microgreens Sustainable? Good for the Earth?
Before we share how to grow Microgreens at home most effectively, we need to step back and consider the “whole system” with the environmental impact of Microgreens and various solutions we can use to not only reduce but reverse our footprint:
Growing Microgreens at home reduces food waste
In the latest report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), global hunger could be alleviated if just 25 percent of the food wasted each year was saved instead, not to mention the power savings (which itself impact our climate) related to producing food that goes to waste, but also from remaining recyling food waste to energy. By growing Microgreens at home, you will contribute to hyper local produced food, no foodmiles, no packaging and available for consumption just on time without waste and without refrigeration power costs!
Reducing our impact by eating a plant-rich diet:
First, favouring plant-based foods reduces demand, thereby reducing land clearing, fertiliser use, cattle gases, and greenhouse gas emissions. So Microgreens certainly contribute to the solution rather than contributing to the problems.
What about Microgreens seeds' sustainability
To start with, make sure to buy only organic seeds and certainly no GMO seeds (which will have been farmed by large companies with maximum soil damage and much man-made fertilisers – also produced by the same companies in most cases by the way…).
Then, as for concerns about the volume of seeds used in Microgreens, consider that we currently waste about 1/3rd of all food (and more research from Drawdown project on the impact of that food waste) we produce. Whereas with Microgreens you'll have very little waste (if you have failures for example), and you'll compost the spent growing media.
See the list of Recommended Seeds Suppliers.
Less input
100% Pure, No fertilisers,
No Food Miles
Less water
<1L per tray to your plate
More output
up to 40x more Nutrients
No food waste
How effective is growing Microgreens in terms of input/output?
It requires much less input than fully grown Vegs for masses of nutrients (up to 40 times more than fully grown Vegs), much less water consumption for the nutrients volume produced (you'll use less than 1L of water per tray during its growing cycle), no soil. And it also leaves your garden ready to grow in other ways a healthy mix of other larger Vegs.
What about electricity consumption for Microgreens?
Any activity requires some energy. Here some is required to produce the equipment but also to power the growth of Microgreens and their photosynthesis in particular.
If you are using grow lights (we recommend you do at least during winter months), make sure to use a 100% renewable green energy supplier to start with. And use LED grow lights for maximum efficiency.
What’s the running costs for Microgreens electricity
I live in England which has shorter days and low light for about half of the year.
So during that period I use lights that consume 24W each so 24Wx3=0.096 kW/h consumption.
Our local electricity cost is £0.165/kWh so if you use the light for 18h/day, costs will be 0.096 x 0.165 x 18 = £0.2851/day or £8.55/month or £51.3/6 months of the year.
That's a similar consumption to that of a large fridge per day, making growing Microgreens a cost effective solution to grow your Vegs.