1) Pesticide free. There's a lot of chemicals that go into growing crops and they contaminate our bodies, water, and soil.

2) Sun is free, but sun exposure and temperature aren't consistent year round.

3) Shipping may be cheap, but the time of travel from the farm to the table is long. Growing locally increases the amount of time a plant can be on the shelf or fridge before going bad. Food waste is a big problem from a waste and cost perspective.

4) You've touched on the water aspect. It's an issue that this can solve.

5) Going back to farming and food waste, much of the crop grown is scrapped due to insect or animal damage, rot, or other reasons.

6) Soil type and exhaustion. Only certain type of plants can be grown in certain soils and environments and only for so long before the soil is exhausted of nutrients.

7) In hydroponics you can control the taste of the product by the light spectrum and nutrients. Some customers ask for specific tastes, which is something farms can't provide.

8) Hydroponics is just the first step. The next step is integration of microbials and aquaculture with aquaponics.