CALLING ALL FOG FARMERS! RESEARCHERS LEARN HOW TO RANCH CLOUDS

Matt Case - January 9th, 2026 

In one of the driest places on Earth, scientists in Chile have found a surprisingly simple way to pull drinking water out of thin air — literally.

Researchers have shown that fog can be harvested in regions that receive less than a quarter-inch of rain a year, providing enough water to keep roughly 10,000 people hydrated. The solution isn’t futuristic tech or expensive infrastructure. It’s fabric.

The system relies on long, vertical mesh fences stretched across hillsides. As fog rolls through, tiny water droplets cling to the mesh, collect, and drip into gutters below. From there, the water is funneled into storage tanks for community use.

The approach is low-cost, low-maintenance, and powered entirely by nature — no pumps, no electricity, no miracle breakthroughs required. Just the right material in the right place, letting fog do what it already wants to do.

In a warming world where water scarcity is becoming more common, the idea of “fog farming” is gaining attention as a practical option for arid coastal regions. Sometimes the future of water doesn’t fall from the sky — it floats in.