Healthfulness of foods by comparative farming practices is not something I have been able to find any solid information about. Hopefully our taste buds know wha

Healthfulness of foods by comparative farming practices is not something I have been able to find any solid information about. Hopefully our taste buds know what's good for us when they're not confused by sugar and fat. Life - Dan Barber said on "Chef's Table" that he felt his produce tasted better and better as he put more life into the soil. The hydro growing medium is relatively sanitized. Freshness/Ripeness - We had an organic CSA farm box last summer, and in head to head comparisons, the stuff we grew at home (both soil and aqua) tasted way better. I think this is because we picked it when it was ripe and ate it immediately. I do have some worries about using plastics. unless you are doing a large-scale operation with concrete and / or glass, hydro and aqua both involve water making a lot of contact with plastics. I have to assume that food grade plastics are safe, but no one really knows for sure. My gut feeling is that as long as you're meeting all the needs of the plant, freshness/ripeness matters more than the presence of other life in the growing medium.