I have some experience growing cannabis in a low pressure aeroponic system (10x less water use than hydro) but I came to the realization that there is no system that can match growing with the environment. I wonder if you looked into permaculture (bill mollsion) and biodynamics (rudolf steiner), I watched a youtube video of them growing in the desert in israel and this has been done before in arid places. I agree that there are some places you cannot grow (cold/frozen places) but for the most of the world you can work with your natural environment in a far less work/energy intensive way.