Orb-Shaped Greenhouses Make A Home Underwater To Harvest Vegetables

Off the coast of Noli, a northwestern village in Italy, approximately 15 feet below the water’s surface, rests an agricultural farm that rethinks how we approach harvesting.
 
Named Nemo’s Garden, the project was brought to life by Sergio Gamberini. Under his vision, giant plastic orbs were set up at the bottom of the ocean, and within them, life emerges.

The orbs hold up to 528 gallons of air, and the plants in them grow along tubes that spiral up to the center of the structure. A bonus feature of these greenhouses is that they only require a small amount of starter water to get them on their feet.

After which, they become self-sustaining as they create a water cycle within themselves. First, the sun’s rays can reach down into the ocean and heat them. Next, humid air in the sphere condenses and trickles down into the soil to hydrate the vegetation.

The sea’s pressure, incidentally, forces the Nemo plants to grow differently from the ones on land. Still, a study in 2020 found that the basil grown by the company had more chlorophyll and antioxidants.
 
This limited use of water will significantly aid arid coastal communities, as they would not need to divert much of their supply to these farms and would still be able to grow their food simultaneously.

National Geographic recently profiled the farm with stunning images of the spheres under the ocean, making them look almost otherworldly and spacelike.

The same report also noted that much marine life has been attracted to these farms, which have been acting as an artificial coral reef.

However, the project is still in its early phases, and it remains to be seen if Nemo’s Garden will dock in coastal communities worldwide.

An Italian project, known as Nemo’s Garden, is testing the viability of underwater greenhouses https://t.co/Y1PQDM4p3Z

— National Geographic (@NatGeo) November 10, 2022

 
 
[via Futurism and National Geographic, images via Nemo’s Garden]