DISCUSSION

From the concept screening matrix we determined that a vertical automated green house would be the best option for food production. The local manufacturing sector for greenhouses in T&T is very small at best and non existent at most. most greenhouses are made by farmers placing contracts with fabricators to design and build them greenhouses but there is no formal procedure or formal design. The use on engineering firms is an option to generate optimum greenhouse designs but that would add additional costs to farmers. In the local agriculture sector there is the use of green, blue, yellow and sometimes red label pesticides to combat the year round pest issue. The use of anything above green level pesticide can be dangerous to the farmers and consumers as some traces of the chemicals can enter the body through consumption and cause health problems. By using green houses we can limit pesticide usage to only green pesticides which are much safer to use than the other types of pesticide. 

Due to the start up cost for a regular greenhouse, a less expensive option would be to use a shade house. A shade house uses close knit fabric to provide shade to plants and limit insect intrusion into the structure. Due to the low cost and high availability of shade cloths, they can be very good for controlling temperature inside a greenhouse or shade house. Shade cloth is not as impact resistant as polycarbonate or as insulative as twin wall polycarbonate but it does come in large rolls for easy usage. 

By increasing roof height in the green house we can also allow for greater temperature control. Plants transpire in order to cool off and this tends to increase the relative humidity around plant leaves, but if the ceiling of the greenhouse is low the moisture in the air will remain around the leaves. Relative humidity is important in a greenhouse due to plants using transpiration to cool off and if water vapor clings to their leaves that increase relative humidity and limits the amount of cooling that can occur. . By increase celling height and under the principle that hot air rises, the water vapor around the leaves will also rise allowing more transpiration to occur and with the use of ventilation fans relative humidity can be kept to reasonable levels. 

automated hydroponics isn't fully automated, yet. the use of nutrient dosing technology allows for precision inputs and helps reduce nutrient solution wastage. it also allows for constant monitoring of the nutrient solution which is great for recirculating systems where pH and EC can constantly change. the use of robots to harvest or plant crops in greenhouses are available but they are expensive (in U.S. dollars) and it may be cheaper for a new farm to use hired help instead. After the greenhouse expands or new greenhouses are added, then a closer look at robots to harvest or plant can be feasible.