Hydroponic Farm in Lebanon

[Maple_leaf]

Hello Everyone !

Me and my father are currently researching hydroponics because we're thinking about starting a Hydroponics business back in Lebanon, since we're from a Lebanese background, but lived all our lives here in Canada. We also think that starting a hydroponics farm in Lebanon would give us an advantage over other farmers since the Middle East isn't exactly farmers heaven in terms of availability of water and soil.
We have around .5 Hectares of Land available and we're thinking to go three levels up, so we have three times that space , 1.5 Hectares.
We're still in the research stage so I'd appreciate any tips, advice and guidelines from you experts, and how does this whole idea 3 story hydroponic farm in Lebanon sound to you?

[fintuckyfarms]

WoW! Sounds very ambitious! My advice would be to start small to get the feel for it. I am very new and some of the things I thought would be hard were pretty easy (maybe because I researched it so much) and things that were supposed to be easy, like growing lettuce, have been harder. I would try many different veggies in different systems to see what you think would be best for that area of the world. I would also research how to get your supplies there (is there Fed Ex?) and what would be the best produce to grow in that climate. Best of luck to ya!

[Maple_leaf]

Originally Posted by fintuckyfarms

WoW! Sounds very ambitious! My advice would be to start small to get the feel for it. I am very new and some of the things I thought would be hard were pretty easy (maybe because I researched it so much) and things that were supposed to be easy, like growing lettuce, have been harder. I would try many different veggies in different systems to see what you think would be best for that area of the world. I would also research how to get your supplies there (is there Fed Ex?) and what would be the best produce to grow in that climate. Best of luck to ya!

Yea there is Fedex and DHL there, delivering supplies shouldn't be a big difficult. Yea, it does seem like a lot to take in at the moment but yea I appreciate your advice to start small and we might consider doing that !! Thanks !

[crad]

I would research your building costs and your operating costs. I would research the value added market crops to find the easiest to grow and best return. I would then learn how to grow them in a controlled environment and see if it is cost effective for the market you would sell them in.

Check out a couple of bigger growers to see what and how they grow there crops. here are a couple of names and there are more to be had. I am not promoting anyone just giving names for research.

Omega Gardens
MucciPac farms
miracle farms

this should help you get started.

[GpsFrontier]

Hello Maple_leaf,
I'm unfamiliar with customs in Lebanon, as well as what crops are the most profitable in that region of the world. But I think your idea to promote hydroponics for food production in that area of the world, especially with such limited resources is a very good solution. However if you don't have any experience with hydroponics yet, I would also agree that you should start small first. Even starting now before you move their, grow a few of the plants you plan to make a profit from in Lebanon. That way you can learn to grow them hydroponically, before you spend a lot of money on the project. There is no substitute for hands on experience. Last thing you want is to spend all that money, just to learn something simple that may become a big problem later. Work out the bugs before going bigger.

I'm not sure what plants you plan to grow, but one of the best benefits of growing hydroponically is the ability to make use of vertical space. Building a multi-level hydroponic system is a great way to make use of vertical space. But here experience with a smaller scale setup is going to allow you to make the best use of the space, as well as teach you the best way to construct it on a larger scale. Again, I don't know what plants you plan to grow, but with a multi-level setup, you'll need to work out some things like getting "even lighting" to all the plants, as well as "even water flow" (both to and from your plants). But probably even more important is how to deal with "maintenance issues" like cleaning the system (without damaging your plants), plant rotation and harvesting issues (again, without damaging your plants) etc. etc. etc.. You don't want to need to redesign your system after you already built it. You will also want to learn how to deal with the climate in that part of the world, before building the large greenhouse/s (assuming you plan to grow year round).