Food problems
As the world's population continues to grow and climate change makes it more difficult to produce food in the traditional way, scientists are developing new ways of growing plants efficiently. One of these ways is growing plants without soil.
Although this may sound like a modern process, it is not a new technology.

In traditional farming, soil protects roots of plants, but scientists have shown that plants do not need soil to grow. As long as they can get food from somewhere, they will grow successfully.
To grow plants without soil, special food is added to water and plants take this in through their roots.
Recently, this technology has developed very quickly. It is common in northern Europe where it is used to grow food crops.
Vegetables have even been grown in submarines and astronauts have produced food in space using this technology.

Many people think that growing plants in water could help to solve the word's food problems. as cities become larger, there is less land for agriculture.
Countries with little land for growing crops could produce more of their food without soil. This way can also be used in areas with poor soil, such as deserts , and in areas near the sea where salt water is damaging the soil.
Perhaps soon there will be no areas of the world where food cannot be produced.