This project explores genetically modifying crops to be irrigated with seawater, conserving groundwater. It reviews scientific evidence on groundwater challenges, climate change impacts on agriculture, and the development of salt-tolerant plants (halophytes). The study discusses genetic modification methods, including Agrobacterium Tumefaciens and particle gun techniques for gene transfer. Legal and soil salinity considerations are examined, along with regulations and historical soil issues. Experiments include testing osmosis in cucumbers, irrigating Pilea plants with saltwater to challenge glycophytic tolerance, and confirming soil salt accumulation after irrigation. All which paves the way for there to be produced a salt water tolerant crop.

The agricultural sector uses 70% of water withdrawals worldwide and uses nutrients that are leached from the soils into lakes and reservoirs. Vertical farming has great potential to remedy some of these issues. Vertical farming, where crops are grown vertically indoors, uses more than 600% energy per kg of crops produced compared to traditional greenhouses. By reducing the amount of light exposed to the lettuce plant rocket, a reduction of this energy consumption can be achieved. By exposing rocket to 7 hours of light per day an energy saving of approximately 10% per kg of crops is achieved (compared to the average vertical farm). This saving makes vertical farming a more desirable supplement for traditional agriculture, thus reducing water use.

My research project is founded in my curiosity of how we with modern technologies can make sustainable use of marine resources, including sustainable management of fisheries and aquaculture. Therefore, I will investigate how we, with the least environmental impact, utilize the sea’s benefits in the development of an efficient and sustainable aquaculture that will contribute to a sustainable development of the aquaculture sector in Denmark. The focus of my project is the development of an aquaculture system where different organisms such as mussels, algae and cultivated fish live in a nature-like ecological system as an alternative to traditional fishing and conventional fish farms.

In recent years we humans have produced a vast amount of plastic and too much of it has ended up as pollution in the oceans, where it deteriorates into microplastics. Inspired by the separation methods used in the field of nanotechnology a method based on hydrodynamics has been developed to concentrate and quantify microplastics from contaminated water.

The method allows effective and autonomous measurements of the microplast-concentration in the water. With an adequate detection method, it will be possible to get an insight into the extent of microplastic pollution of oceans and how to best to fight the ever growing problem. We aspire to make the first move towards an efficient, clean decontamination of water.