< Return to Video

Soil-free agriculture | Yuichi Mori | TEDxTokyo

  • 0:10 - 0:11
    Hi, my name is Yuichi Mori.
  • 0:12 - 0:15
    I would like to show you
  • 0:15 - 0:19
    an interesting agricultural technology
    that we have developed.
  • 0:19 - 0:23
    We can use this plastic film
    instead of soil, to grow plants.
  • 0:23 - 0:25
    Mind you, this isn't Saran wrap.
  • 0:25 - 0:27
    (Laughter)
  • 0:27 - 0:32
    This is a special film we have invented.
  • 0:32 - 0:35
    All sorts of plants can be grown on this.
  • 0:36 - 0:42
    You can see an example right here.
  • 0:42 - 0:46
    Because our drive over here
    took so many hours,
  • 0:46 - 0:47
    it may look a little flat.
  • 0:48 - 0:50
    If we hold it at an angle, like this ...
  • 0:50 - 0:54
    You can see the plants
    are not coming off the foil.
  • 0:54 - 0:56
    Let's look at the other side.
  • 0:57 - 1:01
    You can see the roots
    are not digging through the film,
  • 1:01 - 1:04
    but they are spread around
    on the surface, not puncturing it.
  • 1:04 - 1:06
    Let's flip it upside down.
  • 1:08 - 1:09
    (Laughter)
  • 1:09 - 1:10
    (Cheers)
  • 1:11 - 1:17
    (Applause)
  • 1:19 - 1:22
    The film makes it possible
    to transport the plants
  • 1:22 - 1:23
    without damaging their roots.
  • 1:23 - 1:30
    We also made these containers
    out of our film.
  • 1:30 - 1:33
    And they contain liquid fertilizer.
  • 1:33 - 1:38
    This is what grew on one
    after we sprinkled it with lettuce seeds.
  • 1:39 - 1:46
    Last year, Japanese astronaut
    Soichi Noguchi
  • 1:46 - 1:50
    successfully grew herbs
    on the International Space Station
  • 1:50 - 1:52
    using this nutrient bag.
  • 1:52 - 1:56
    Since it was done in zero gravity,
  • 1:56 - 1:58
    they didn't have to hold it
    like this; it floated around.
  • 2:00 - 2:03
    Like a houseplant, I heard
    it made the ISS feel like home.
  • 2:03 - 2:04
    (Laughter)
  • 2:06 - 2:09
    In fact, this technology
    has another important potential use:
  • 2:09 - 2:16
    it could be utilized to replace
    the terribly contaminated soil
  • 2:16 - 2:21
    left after the March 11 disaster.
  • 2:22 - 2:26
    That is what our goal right now,
    and we are working hard toward it.
  • 2:27 - 2:33
    Let me explain how we can use
    this film to grow lettuce.
  • 2:34 - 2:38
    Suppose this is the ground.
  • 2:39 - 2:42
    And we sow lettuce seeds on it.
  • 2:42 - 2:46
    This is an impermeable layer,
  • 2:46 - 2:51
    made of durable plastic
    that won't easily tear.
  • 2:52 - 2:56
    Then, we take this pipe
    with very tiny holes,
  • 2:56 - 3:03
    which slowly let out
    nutrients from the fertilizer.
  • 3:03 - 3:10
    We cover everything with a sheet of felt.
  • 3:11 - 3:16
    Then, we add our film.
  • 3:16 - 3:20
    You can use it to grow
    lettuce, or tomatoes ...
  • 3:20 - 3:23
    You sow your seeds,
    and you get this result.
  • 3:23 - 3:25
    Very simple.
  • 3:25 - 3:31
    The most important part
    of this technology is this film.
  • 3:32 - 3:38
    The film is made of hydrogel.
  • 3:38 - 3:42
    That's the super-absorbent
    stuff in diapers.
  • 3:42 - 3:45
    It absorbs water or nutrients very well.
  • 3:46 - 3:50
    Only one side of it is wet.
  • 3:50 - 3:56
    So the hydrogel absorbs liquid
    only from one side.
  • 3:57 - 4:00
    The other side stays dry,
    no liquid comes out there.
  • 4:00 - 4:06
    Since plants can't survive
    without water, on the dry side,
  • 4:06 - 4:12
    they desperately try to pull in
    water and nutrients from the wet side,
  • 4:12 - 4:16
    attaching their roots to that side
    of the film as much as possible.
  • 4:16 - 4:20
    Just like people get better at something,
    the more effort they put in,
  • 4:20 - 4:22
    the vegetables get much tastier
    through this process
  • 4:22 - 4:24
    and they become very nutritious.
  • 4:25 - 4:28
    When I first ate a tomato grown on this,
  • 4:28 - 4:30
    I couldn't believe how sweet it was.
  • 4:30 - 4:32
    The overachievers
    of the vegetable kingdom,
  • 4:32 - 4:35
    the tomatoes did even better
    than we expected.
  • 4:35 - 4:41
    Another characteristic of the film
    is that you can't see any holes in it,
  • 4:41 - 4:45
    but it actually has numerous
    nano-sized pores.
  • 4:47 - 4:51
    It was very difficult to create
    perforations of this size,
  • 4:51 - 4:54
    but we eventually succeeded.
  • 4:54 - 4:59
    The film can absorb water or nutrients,
  • 4:59 - 5:01
    but viruses and bacteria
    can't pass through it
  • 5:01 - 5:04
    because they are too large
    for the size of the pores,
  • 5:04 - 5:06
    so this way, the plants
    can be kept healthy.
  • 5:07 - 5:08
    So you don't need pesticides.
  • 5:10 - 5:15
    The thing we care about most
    when talking about the vegetables we eat
  • 5:15 - 5:19
    is whether they are safe and nutritious.
  • 5:19 - 5:23
    So by using this technology to grow them,
  • 5:23 - 5:28
    you can make sure
    that the produce is good for you.
  • 5:29 - 5:33
    Now, let me show you a video.
  • 5:34 - 5:37
    Could you pull it up? Good.
  • 5:37 - 5:43
    Around 20 farms in Japan
    are now using the film to grow tomatoes.
  • 5:43 - 5:46
    This is a big one-hectare farm.
  • 5:46 - 5:51
    All of these tomatoes
    are growing on our film.
  • 5:52 - 5:54
    There are about 80,000 tomato plants here.
  • 5:55 - 5:59
    You can see yellow ones and red ones,
    there are growing strong, all over.
  • 6:00 - 6:04
    This is the Tsukuba Market Garden.
  • 6:04 - 6:06
    The vegetables produced here
  • 6:06 - 6:10
    are very popular at grocery stores
    and online shops.
  • 6:10 - 6:17
    We have brought these to show you
    that we can grow tomatoes this big, too.
  • 6:17 - 6:21
    I wish all of you could taste
    our tomatoes; they are very sweet.
  • 6:22 - 6:24
    We can produce big tomatoes like this one.
  • 6:24 - 6:30
    This fresh melon was grown on our film.
  • 6:32 - 6:36
    You can use or film to grow
    tomatoes, strawberries,
  • 6:36 - 6:38
    cucumbers, peppers or lettuce,
  • 6:38 - 6:45
    almost any vegetable you can think of.
  • 6:46 - 6:51
    Another feature of this technology
  • 6:51 - 6:53
    is that since this layer
    lets nothing penetrate through,
  • 6:53 - 6:55
    the film can be used anywhere.
  • 6:56 - 6:58
    You can put it on contaminated soil,
  • 6:58 - 7:03
    or soil that is too salty,
    contains pesticides,
  • 7:03 - 7:09
    or even organic mercury,
    it doesn't matter.
  • 7:10 - 7:15
    So we can always grow
    vegetables safely, with no worries,
  • 7:15 - 7:20
    just anywhere, even on sand,
  • 7:20 - 7:24
    or on the concrete floor
    of a factory that went out of business,
  • 7:24 - 7:28
    or on ice, somewhere in Siberia.
  • 7:29 - 7:35
    We actually tried to prove
    this would work in the desert.
  • 7:36 - 7:39
    Could you roll the video, please?
  • 7:39 - 7:45
    In the middle of the desert of Dubai,
    there are no trees, no grass ...
  • 7:45 - 7:47
    Maybe some wild camels.
  • 7:47 - 7:48
    (Laughter)
  • 7:48 - 7:51
    After spreading our film on the sand,
  • 7:51 - 7:55
    we sowed tomato seeds
    that we brought from Japan.
  • 7:55 - 8:00
    The strong sunlight over there
    made it grow really quickly.
  • 8:02 - 8:04
    These people are from Oman.
  • 8:04 - 8:07
    We had a lot of visitors
    from the neighboring countries.
  • 8:07 - 8:09
    They all found it very interesting.
  • 8:09 - 8:12
    We believe that using this technology,
  • 8:12 - 8:18
    we could transform the barren desert
    into a productive agricultural land.
  • 8:18 - 8:22
    However, our main interests lie
  • 8:22 - 8:28
    in the ground contaminated
    by the March 11 tsunami.
  • 8:28 - 8:32
    This technology will solve the problems
  • 8:32 - 8:36
    of contaminated sludge,
    oil or radioactive materials in the soil.
  • 8:36 - 8:42
    We hope that we will be able to rejuvenate
    agriculture in those regions
  • 8:42 - 8:44
    by using this technology.
  • 8:44 - 8:46
    Thank you very much.
  • 8:46 - 8:48
    (Applause)
Title:
Soil-free agriculture | Yuichi Mori | TEDxTokyo
Description:

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Yuichi Mori talks about the world’s first agricultural technology based on a hydrogel film, created to address some of the serious issues that many communities in the world are struggling with, regarding food shortage, water scarcity and soil contamination.

more » « less
Video Language:
Japanese
Team:
closed TED
Project:
TEDxTalks
Duration:
08:51
  • To the next reviewer: Please change "film" to "Film" except the first one at 0:15 - 0:18. http://www.mebiol.co.jp/en/product/

English subtitles

Revisions