10 weird farms you didn't even know existed - Listverse

Food in the Australian desert using sunlight and seawater - Sundrop Farms project

Farming vegetables in the desert using seawater is a bad idea. Unless you're at Sundrop Farms in Australia. This closed facility came into being in 2014 when researchers wanted to create a farm capable of producing crops without resources that may become increasingly rare in the future. Among them are soil, fresh water and over-reliance on the grid for electricity.

A world-first giant greenhouse has been built in the South Australian desert. The plants grow in coconut shells and absorb a lot of sunlight and seawater. This may sound harmful, but thanks to the salinization process that takes place on the''place, the seawater becomes fresh and safe for plants. The plants also receive nutrients and are sustainably supplied with carbon dioxide. Solar panels generate most of the electricity, but a backup system connected to the grid ensures the well-being of the plants.

The result? Sundrop Farms produces up to 18739 tons (17,000 metric tons) of tomatoes annually.

Sundrop Farms isn't the only unique prototype to emerge in Australia. In an attempt to cope with the lack of natural resources, the University of South Australia recently decided to move agriculture to the sea by growing broccoli, lettuce and bok choy on a floating farm.

Why the world needs more algae, not less

Imagine you're driving down the''highway and you pass under a pipe-shaped farm. Logic might suggest that the carbon dioxide emitted from the busy lane is harmful to anything on the farm. But one crop thrives on this toxic gas - algae.

In 2014, Dutch and French designers wanted to solve an old problem with a new idea. Because algae absorb carbon dioxide and release huge amounts of oxygen, placing it over a highway can reduce pollution naturally.

This is exactly what they did on an overpass over a freeway in Switzerland. The system consisted of a highway viaduct with algae plants cultivated inside in tubes, and solar panels, filters and pumps allowed everything to function.

Besides''Absorbing dangerous gases the mature algae crop can be used to create a variety of things, including nutritional supplements, cosmetics, medicines and biodiesel.

On dairy farms, the wind chooses when to milk

On dairy farms, the manager decides when cows eat, rest and when to milk them. This is effective, but experts fear that by ignoring the animals' needs, herd health suffers. In turn, the quality and quantity of milk can also deteriorate.

So the University of Connecticut has allowed a herd of 100 cows to decide for themselves what to do on their Kellogg Farm. The cows decide for themselves when to rest, where to go, when to do nothing and when to be milked (they willingly enter a fully automated machine,''which milks them without human assistance).

This milking machine is filled with gadgets that identify each animal and collect data on cow behavior, milk composition and performance. Video cameras on the farm and sensors inside the cow reveal more about where they go when they take a break from milking, when they eat and how they spend their day.

Researchers hope this farming experiment will reveal what makes cows happier and healthier and improves milk production, which is a win-win situation for everyone.

Snow farming in Canada: an alternative to artificial snowmaking

Every year, Sunshine Village Resort in Alberta, Canada, delights skiers and snowboarders with a clean''snow covered. But few visitors know that the resort is also a farm - of sorts.

Most ski resorts make their own snow, allowing them to open earlier in the fall. Most of them use snowmakers, but Sunshine Village is different. Here they grow natural snow, which doesn't require electricity, lots of water or equipment like other resorts. Mostly they need a fence. A long fence.

A special snow fence about 24 kilometers long runs along the resort's highest terrain, stretching through Canadian Rockies. The fence is designed to catch wind-blown snow that accumulates in huge drifts near the fence, and then resort staff''golden dogs.