For now, it’s justan experimental project. But this unique and surreal “underwater garden”, baptized the Nemo’s Garden may be the farming method of the future.
Indeed, for conserve water and energy, Ocean Reefan Italian-American company that mainly manufactures diving equipment, has decided toexperimenting with growing plants in what they called underwater “biospheres”.
Lately we have been working side by side with a lot of media…and to be honest it’s kind of fun. This collaboration was denitely one of our favorite from the last season.
— Nemo’s Garden (@NemosGarden) November 21, 2018
This experiment is done in the waters ofItaly. One hour drive from Genoa, in the northwest of the country. This is off the town of noli than nine transparent plastic bubbles float under water. These bubbles contain plants and air.
This installation of underwater structures form Nemo’s Garden. The goal is to tester how plants grow in greenhouses under water. These “biospheres” are not just plastic bubbles.
They are made up of domes equipped with hydroponic equipment (defined by the Larousse as what qualifies the cultivation of plants with renewed nutrient solutions, without natural soil). They are also equipped with plant seeds as well as fans to circulate the air.
“Each dome is like a miniature space station“, explains Sergio Gamberini, the inventor of Nemo’s Garden and also CEO of the company Ocean Reef. not only to create a new agriculture.
Extreme gardening: Basil grown underwater is specialjust ask Luca Locatelli who photographed below in Nemos Garden, an herb farm with nine biosphere gardens anchored to the bottom of the sea. ~NatGeo pic.twitter.com/Vnr9p48Pwt
— Cat, Reigning Typo Queen (@typo_cat) November 11, 2022
Sergio Gamberini’s idea is tohelp arid coastal countries produce more food without having to desalinate seawater (too expensive solution) for crops. This project, which is off the beaten track, has caught the eye of photographer Luca Locatelli.
He had the chance to visited the site last year to explore these underwater greenhouses and even taste a pesto dish whose basil has been grown under water.
“We need someone who thinks crazy things (not just to ordinary inventions) which come from a real passion“, explains Luca Locatelli. “Maybe it’s something, maybe not, I like that someone is brave enough to invest money in something like that.“
Italy: they create an underwater agricultural farm, the Garden of Nemo!