In August 2013, Sergio Gamberini experimented to see if it could plant basil in a plastic balloon underwater. The Italian scuba diver and gardener told Newsweek that he had this idea while on vacation with his wife in the Italian Riviera, Noli, where they discussed with their farmer friends about fishing, underwater life, sailing, and everything related to the ocean.
His experiment was successful, and he decided to dive deeper into underwater agriculture. Today, he is the founder of the startup Nemo's Garden, which uses biospheres off the coast of Italy to grow various plants, like basil, strawberries, lettuce, and other greens.
Italy's Project coordinator of Nemo's Garden, Gianni Fontanesi (R), and General Project coordinator of Nemo's Garden, Luca Gamberini, harvest basil in an immerged Biosphere on September 20, 2015, in Noli.
Nemo's Garden: World's First Underwater Garden
Off the coast of Noli, Italy, six submerged plastic greenhouses glow about 25 feet under the ocean surface. They are part of an experiment on novel aquaculture.
According to Washington Post, scuba divers tend to these biospheres as they grow various plants for human consumption. Analysis showed that the plants from these greenhouses possess higher levels of essential oils and antioxidants, suggesting pharmaceutical benefits and a purer taste when eaten.
Inside the world's first underwater garden, the crops are reared in tightly controlled conditions. They grow without dirt, and most significantly, no bugs can reach the plants, so no pesticides are required. The company notes on its website that the higher pressure underwater helps plants grow quickly.
Luca, Sergio's son, and the project manager of Nemo's Garden, said that farming in biospheres is nothing different from what is taught in school.
The biospheres are irrigated by seawater that underwent condensation onto the dome's interior walls. Each biosphere is equipped with solar panels on the roof to control tower power that creates airflow inside and makes the temperature inside and outside consistent. So there is no need to expend energy on heating or cooling systems like those used in land-based greenhouses.
Moreover, biospheres also have cameras and sensors that allow researchers to monitor carbon dioxide levels, humidity, and temperature. It also has an intercom to communicate with divers.
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Sustainable Food Farming for the Future
Sergio noted that installing biospheres is relatively easy, crediting his team of engineers for their hard work. The domes are made with lightweight, transparent polycarbonates that are flipped upside down for transport, then floated to guide into position, and then flipped right side up.
The dome is filled with water and sinks the biosphere to the ocean floor, chained and pumped with air from a scuba tank to displace the water. Then the air causes the domes to float but held in place with chains so divers can install the platform they use to stand inside the dome and the electronics needed in waterproof boxes.
They intentionally used environmentally sustainable methods and lightweight materials to install and move the biospheres easily. The company believes it is time to transition from the research phase to optimizing the biospheres for industrialization to make the technology more accessible in areas where food production is increasingly difficult, Freethink reports.
Luca added machine learning, and AI will boost the growth and health of the plants. Sergio told Modern Farmer that the system's sustainability will still offer crops with comparable prices to those sold in a supermarket but with a much reduced environmental footprint.
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