H&M-backed project seeks to scale hydroponic cotton
Spanish hydroponic-farming company Magtech, backed by H&M Group’s Circular Innovation Lab, is testing growing cotton without soil and in a closed loop of water.
The project combines soilless cultivation with AI-driven monitoring to improve efficiency and resource use.
When grown hydroponically, the cotton plant’s roots sit in circulating water, are fed a controlled nutrient mix and the water is recovered and reused rather than seeping into the ground. Grown under simple net structures, the crop needs no fertile soil, just sun and a water source.
Cotton has been grown this way before, both HKRITA and companies such as Materra have explored versions of soilless or controlled environment cotton. So far, those efforts have mostly shown what’s technically possible, rather than how hydroponic cotton becomes a scalable alternative to conventional growing, said Magtech. It added its use of AI can bring the cost down.
David René Rodríguez, co-founder of Magtech, said: “One hectare of our system contains approximately 30,600 plants distributed across 52 growing channels, each about 98 metres long. Walking those channels once means covering more than five kilometres. A skilled technician can inspect the crop, but no person can observe every plant continuously or maintain the same frequency and consistency at larger scales.
“We’re not claiming zero impact or trying to replace conventional cotton. The goal is to demonstrate, quantify and independently validate a complementary way to grow it. One that works where water is scarce, fertile land is limited, or the textile industry is close by.”
The first garments from this cotton have been made in Spain and a second site is under way in India.
