The Future of Roots: From Waste Stream to High-Value Biomass

In modern hydroponic farming, we optimise what we can see — leaves, fruits, stems, flowers. But beneath every crop lies something largely ignored: The root system.

In most commercial operations, roots are treated as waste. At harvest, they are removed together with rockwool, coco coir, peat plugs, or other disposable growing media. They are composted, sent to landfill, or diverted into anaerobic digesters to generate biogas.

That is often described as “circular”.

But is it truly value-optimised?

Or is it simply managing a problem created by disposable substrates in the first place?

Above image - bare roots inside GyroCup - no soil or substrate Below image - roots in substrate - hard to recover root value:

The Anaerobic Digester Question

Many greenhouses and vertical farms that use coir and peat send used substrate and root mass into anaerobic digestion (AD) systems. Other substrates and waste gets sent to landfill.

On paper, this appears sustainable:

• Waste converted into energy

• Nutrients recycled

• Reduced landfill

  
  

But AD is a downstream solution to an upstream design issue.

It still requires:

• Importing substrate materials

• Managing large volumes of bulky waste

• Handling contaminated root mass

• Accepting relatively low-value energy output
  

Anaerobic digestion captures some value.

But what if the root itself is worth far more than biogas?

Substrate-Free Growing Changes the Equation

When crops are grown without disposable substrates, the entire root system becomes:

• Clean

• Media-free

• Recoverable

• Traceable

• Suitable for secondary processing
  

Instead of being entangled in peat fibres or rockwool, roots can be harvested intact.

This fundamentally shifts the economics of the root zone. Rather than asking how to dispose of it, we can begin asking:

What can we do with it?

Roots Are Biochemical Powerhouses

Roots are metabolically active organs.

They contain:

• Structural fibres

• Polysaccharides

• Starches

• Lipids

• Secondary metabolites

• Unique phytochemicals

• Micro-nutrient reserves
  

In many species, roots contain compounds not present in the aerial parts of the plant.

Yet in hydroponic production, this entire biomass stream is routinely discarded.

High-Value Applications for Roots

Pharmaceutical & Nutraceutical Ingredients

Clean hydroponic roots can be suitable for:

• Botanical extraction

• Functional bioactive compounds

• Adaptogenic formulations

• Anti-inflammatory ingredients

• Precision-controlled phytochemical production
  

Controlled environment agriculture allows nutrient, oxygen, and environmental parameters to influence root chemistry — creating predictable and standardised inputs. Purity and traceability matter in regulated industries. Media-free roots provide a cleaner starting material.

Beauty & Cosmetic Ingredients

Root-derived extracts are increasingly used in:

• Skin regeneration products

• Anti-aging serums

• Hair-strengthening treatments

• Natural pigment systems

• Botanical oils
  

The beauty sector values origin transparency and contaminant-free inputs. Clean hydroponic roots grown without peat or soil create a powerful story for premium markets.

Functional Food & Whole-Plant Utilisation

As food systems move toward whole-plant utilisation, root biomass could be:

• Processed into dietary fibre ingredients

• Used in fermented food systems

• Converted into starch fractions

• Integrated into whole-plant powders

• Used as novel textural components
  

Instead of harvesting only the visible crop, farms could unlock additional revenue per square metre — without increasing footprint.

Feed, Biomaterials & Circular Inputs

Roots contain structural carbohydrates and micronutrients that could serve:

• Insect protein production

• Livestock supplements

• Mycelium substrates

• Biopolymer feedstocks

• Circular biomaterial inputs
  

These pathways offer significantly higher value potential than simple energy recovery.

Designing Waste Out of the System

When farms rely on disposable substrates, they inherit:

• Disposal logistics

• Contamination barriers

• Pathogen accumulation risks

• Increasing regulatory pressure

• Rising substrate costs
  

Substrate-free systems remove these burdens at source.

Instead of managing waste through anaerobic digestion, we design systems where:

• There is no substrate to dispose of

• Roots are clean and accessible

• Biomass streams are separated

• Secondary value chains are possible
  

This is upstream circularity — not reactive circularity.

The Economic Opportunity

Roots can represent 20–40% of total plant biomass.

For a farm producing 100 tonnes of above-ground crop annually, that could equate to tens of tonnes of additional biological material.

Even modest value recovery per kilogram materially changes:

• Revenue per crop cycle

• Resource efficiency

• Sustainability metrics

• Margin resilience
  

CEA facilities are under constant pressure to improve unit economics. Root utilisation represents a largely untouched opportunity.

A Vision for the Future of Roots

The next generation of hydroponic farming will not only optimise yield.

It will optimise the entire plant.

Roots will be:

• Chemically profiled

• Selectively harvested

• Processed into high-value ingredients

• Integrated into pharma, beauty, and food supply chains

• Accounted for as assets on farm balance sheets
  

We will move from crop production to biological platform engineering.

The farms of the future will not ask:

“How do we dispose of roots?”

They will ask:

“How do we unlock their value?”

Beneath the Surface Lies the Next Frontier

Indoor agriculture has already optimised light, irrigation, climate control, and automation.

The next optimisation frontier is beneath the surface.

Roots are not waste.

They are untapped biological capital.

And substrate-free growing systems make it possible to capture that value — cleanly, efficiently, and at scale.