Salad at the South Pole—Growth Chamber Offers Physical and Psychological Benefits

Fresh produce doesn't come to mind when you hear the word "Antarctica." Researchers living there usually eat packaged food year round indoors. They can suffer from seasonal affective disorder (SAD), a health malaise brought on by a lack of full spectrum natural light, and they long for the sight, taste and touch of plant life in the most isolated place on earth. They've also learned that having access to plants can raise morale and increase productivity.

For these reasons, personnel based at the new Amundsen-Scott research station at the South Pole will be growing and harvesting their own salad vegetables by 2004 in a special high-technology facility designed, built and tested by the University of Arizona. Scientists from the Controlled Environment Agriculture Center (CEAC) in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences are collaborating on the project with Phil Sadler, of Sadler Machine Company in Tempe, Arizona.

For complete details about this project, click here

As part of the ongoing working relationship (MOA) between Penn State and GRT, Ltd., headed by William Bang of Seoul, Korea, Penn State has received one of the company’s plastic-fueled boilers to test. It was scheduled to arrive on Dec 19 for installation in January and February of 2004, to heat a high tunnel and a greenhouse at the Penn State Horticulture Research Farm. ASP member James Garthe, Agricultural Engineer with Penn State’s Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering, is working on the project. He reports, “We will initially fire it with a few tons of pelletized waste plastic from Korea along with some granulated plastic pesticide drums from here in Pennsylvania. Later, we will modify it to burn our Plastofuel fuel nuggets, which are made from all types of waste thermoplastics (mainly ag plastics, but also waste #4-#7 household containers). If / whenever we receive funding, we will do air emissions testing through our Energy Institute to confirm the favorable results found from emissions testing completed in Korea last year. Over the next few years, we plan to have numerous field days centered around this novel heating system at the Hort Farm." Click here to view photos.