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Singapore’s Sky Farms Are Transforming The Agriculture Sector
Jun 06, 2019
Apollo Aquaculture Group CEO Eric Ng checks on his fish at his prototype vertical fish farm in Singapore May 17, 2019.(Photo: REUTERS/Edgar Su)
Singapore's cost-efficient sky farms are changing the way people in the city-state view farming and agriculture as a whole. Lab-grown and in-building products are being promoted to help achieve the ultimate goal of producing 30 percent of Singapore's total food by 2030.
According to Voice of America, the basic principle in sky farms is to grow fish, vegetables, and other crops and seafood on top of the city-state's skyscrapers. Singapore has an estimated 5.6 million citizens, but the local agriculture sector only produces 10 percent of food products for Singaporeans.
Among the challenges that the government is faced with are population growth and climate change. With more people moving to the city-state, the biggest dilemma is space for growing crops.
"Whenever I talk about food security in Singapore, I tell folks don't think land - think space. Because you can go upwards and sideways," agriculture professor at Nanyang Technological University, Paul Teng, noted.
The idea of growing seafood outside sea areas emerged after fish farmers complained of algae blooms gradually killing fish and other oceans produce. For Apollo Aquaculture Group, the new project could help propel production for Singaporeans who patronize seafood.
Singapore state investor Temasek has been helping fund agriculture companies interested in sky farms. Among the firms that Temasek assisted is Sustenir Agriculture, a farming company that raised around $16 million in 2018 for expansion purposes.
Sustenir Agriculture utilizes artificial lighting within skyscrapers to grow various crops such as strawberries and kale. The government has been promoting the farming process to other agri-businesses in Singapore as a means of reducing costs and overcrowding in the small city-state.
Founder and CEO of Metabolic, Eva Gladek, said last week that the current food system that many countries around the world have adopted is further pushing the planet to deteriorate. According to TNW, Gladek noted that around 25-30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions have been linked to the world's food habits.
Gladek mentioned Singapore's sky farms in her speech at the TNW Conference, noting that low carbon hydraulic farming systems like the one Singapore Sky Greens utilizes can help reduce the levels of energy that tech-assisted farming demands.
Singapore stepped up its game in food security earlier this year when the government announced that malls are now welcoming various forms of agriculture. The city-state's Orchard Road features a mall where a Comcrop farm measuring 600 square meters is being tended to by expert farmers.
Since agriculture is not among the key sectors in the city-state, the government is hoping that farmers will indulge in vertical farming to reduce supply disruptions that come with excessive importing of food.
The Early Bird Ticket Deal Expires This Saturday, June 15.
The Early Bird Ticket deal expires June 15
this is a super discount!
This ticket includes THREE days of programming, ALL conference digital content, ALL conference lunches and snacks, ALL conference tours and transport, and the Saturday evening Aquaponics Banquet!
Most importantly, you will feel the camaraderie of an aquaponics conference!
See you soon :)
Brian Filipowich, Chairman
Aquaponics Association
TICKET INFORMATION
Aquaponics Is Coming To France
Widely used in Africa or the United States, aquaponics is now arriving in France. It is a form of market gardening that consists of growing vegetables in water that comes from fish farm tanks
Widely used in Africa or the United States, aquaponics is now arriving in France. It is a form of market gardening that consists of growing vegetables in water that comes from fish farm tanks.
It should not be confused with hydroponics, since in aquaponics, there are no inputs used but only natural products. "It is by feeding the fish that we will indirectly feed the plants," explains Matthieu Geyelin, a market gardener at the Terr'eau farm in Noth en Creuse.
After staying in the middle of trout and carp in fish farming basins, the water loaded with fish effluent is filtered and then assimilated by the plants.
"We will sow directly into the substrate where there is a stream of water passing through," explains Elise Geyelin maraichère, Terr'eau farm. The young plants are then transplanted, not into the soil, but directly into the water enriched by the fish. There is therefore no need for soil or weeding. And apart from root vegetables, everything grows whether it is salads, aromatic plants, tomatoes or strawberries.
Once filtered by the roots, the water flows back to the fish. "It is a significant saving, we will use 85% less water compared to open field market gardening. A technique that is almost unknown in France but which works," concludes the farmers' couple.
Source: france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr
Publication date: 5/28/2019
Aquaponics In The Classroom Sets Up Students For A Growing industry
by Dustin Bonk
May 11, 201
A bed of edibles at UNE's aquaponics facility. (WGME)
Aquaponics is increasingly popular in Maine. It's a way to grow fish and plants at the same time indoors, allowing for a fresh supply of locally grown produce all year round.
Kale, oregano, basil, and more - all thriving inside the aquaponics facility at the University of New England in Biddeford.
"Aquaponics is a way to produce a lot of food in a small footprint virtually anywhere," says Zach Miller-Hope, Assistant Director for Education at UNE and Assistant Lecturer in Aquaculture and Aquarium Science.
He says aquaponics is ideal in urban environments where farm-fresh produce may be further away and in wintry climates when you can't grow locally in the cold weather, like in Maine. With an indoor aquaponics set-up, you can grow fresh fish and vegetables just about anywhere, like on walls and rooftops, which can result in a very efficient use of space to grow food. He adds that aquaponics can often produce food more efficiently than common agriculture in soil.
Miller-Hope describes aquaponics as the "marriage between aquaculture and hydroponics". Aquaculture is the practice of growing fish or aquatic plants, and hydroponics is the practice of growing plants in water instead of soil. Aquaponics combines the two - growing fish and plants in the same system.
The fish waste feeds the plants like a fertilizer, and the plants clean the water for the fish in return. It forms a symbiotic relationship helped along by a bit of mechanical filtration.
UNE's Marine Science Center houses a 600 gallon tank with 15 rainbow trout. It is surrounded by about 1,000 different plants at a time from about 25 different species. UNE grows mostly vegetables and spices through aquaponics, but does grow some ornamental plants as well.
The Aquaponics Club manages the daily maintenance: feeding the fish, tending the plants, monitoring water quality and temperature, planting and transplanting, repairing leaks, and even building apparatuses to house new plants. These undergrad student volunteers, mostly science majors, work hard for a tasty result.
Sophomore Aubrey Jane is the president of the club. She's a marine biology and medical biology double major. She says "it is exciting to be involved in the entire process - watching the plants grow from seedlings all the way until you eat them."
"One of my favorite things about this system and working with this system is that it connects them to food. They're seeing food growing, and it's a direct result of their efforts," adds Miller-Hope.
Miller-Hope says the program has been around for a few years and grows and improves with each school year. The university offers a one credit five week workshop on aquaponics, but the club is almost entirely extracurricular. While a few staff members help facilitate, the students run the system and decide what to grow.
When the edible plants are mature enough, they move on to the Living Wall in nearby Ripich Commons. It's a part of UNE's Edible Campus Initiative. They stay there until ready to be sold. Each May, the club holds a farmers' market selling their vegetables on campus as a fundraiser for the next year.
Incorporating the results of aquaponics into other aspects of campus is something both UNE and the University of Southern Maine have in common.
The USM aquaponics team in Gorham grows vegetables for the school's dining services. In the 2018-2019 school year, they've sent over 85 pounds of produce to Sodexo, which manages the dining services on campus. Sodexo aims to use as much locally grown food as possible.
"It's organic, it's local, it's fresh produce, it's available in winter. It's all win-wins," says Theo Willis, Adjunct Research Scientist at USM. Willis runs the aquaponics lab.
In exchange for bags of spices and vegetables, like lettuce, arugula, and parsley, Sodexo helps Willis and his students purchase things like fish food and supplies.
Aquaponics at USM is a constant experiment with a focus on edibles. The students are always growing something new. Some vegetables thrive, like their bell peppers, and others don't do as well, but they are always learning. For the spring semester, they just planted some mint with the hopes of eventually sending it over to Sodexo.
Their facility is arranged differently from UNE's. The USM lab contains ten different fish tanks of tilapia, a warm water fish, totaling 1,000 gallons of water, each with a connection to various beds of plants. A different set up, but these students manage the same responsibilities as those at UNE.
For graduating senior Luke Mango, it's all training for his future.
"I love working with my hands. I love agriculture, the ability to farm. I love fish, grew up loving fish. It definitely gets to integrate all those different components, all those different traits into one potential career," said Mango, who has just graduated with a degree in environmental science. Mango says he plans to pursue a career related to aquaponics.
"We're really about the teaching component. So, the business component, if I get students that spin businesses off of this, I can't ask for anything better than that, but we're here to train," said Willis.
Aquaponics at USM is maintained mostly by students that are interns or part of a work study. It is growing immensely, and getting a lot of university support. Over this summer, Willis and his students are moving down the hall to a room three times the size of their current lab, which will allow even more educational and growing opportunities. Willis says they plan to experiment with new fish, possibly salmon or trout.
For spring 2019, USM offered a brand new online course in land-based aquaculture, with aquaponics at the heart of it, in an effort to prepare students for a growing list of aquaponics opportunities. Many of the students in the course were working members of the community seeking training for upcoming aquaponics and aquaculture jobs in Maine.
Maine-based Whole Oceans is building a new facility in Bucksport, and Norway-based Nordic Aquafarms is building a facility in Belfast, both centering around fish. American Unagi offers more aquaculture opportunities.
Springworks Farm in Lisbon has been in operation for several years. They're seeing success distributing vegetables to Maine businesses, and they have recently expanded their aquaponics greenhouses. They also sell small aquaponics "Microfarms" that can fit inside any home.
In nearby Brunswick, Canopy Farms is an aquaponics greenhouse that is partnering with Tao Yuan restaurant. They are still under construction, but say they hope to be open this summer.
With more aquaponics-related jobs on the horizon, it is sure to become increasingly popular in STEM education. Scarborough High School launched a small aquaponics operation in late 2018.
Part of Something Bigger - Promote Jobs And Improve Diets
February 1, 2018
Growers Create Community Partnerships And Educational Programs to
Promote Jobs And Improve Diets.
From left to right: Traders Hill Farm's Nichole Curry, Tracy Nazzaro and Victoria Caba
When it comes to doing good, some growers set a high bar. They form integral community partnerships and educate people about health and nutrition through offering locally grown produce, all the while creating jobs and committing to strict food safety and environmental standards. These growers exude a sense of altruism, and their passion provides clear benefits to their and other communities.
Although it is rare to succeed in these many ways, examples are being set by Traders Hill Farm, an aquaponics and leafy greens operation in Hilliard, Florida; and the Rid-All Green Partnership, a nonprofit urban farm in Cleveland.
Beta steps
Traders Hill Farm began small and is now a commercial agribusiness, says company president Tracy Nazzaro. The operation built its aquaponics beta system in a retrofitted chicken barn in 2013. “The structure itself was in pretty good shape, but it had that tin roof to it, so we cut out sections of the roof and put in corrugated plastic just to let the light in,” Nazzaro says. Traders Hill no longer grows produce in the former chicken barn, but it plans to turn it into an aquaculture hatchery in 2018.
The greenhouse operation specializes in romaine lettuce — both red and green varieties — but also grows Bibb, Lollo Rossa, Oscarde, frisée and a spring mix. It sells fresh produce to mostly restaurants, but also a handful of retail stores.
To fuel growth and advance food safety protocols, Traders Hill built a 10,000-square-foot commercial structure in 2015, and the following year, built a larger 40,000-square foot structure. It also began another major development in 2016 — its internship program.
Traders Hill’s aquaculture team measures feed amounts and dissolved oxygen in fish tanks.
Students in the Sunshine State
For the past two summers, paid interns have shadowed growers and their colleagues at Traders Hill. Working with the aquaculture team, the interns measured greenhouse temperatures, as well as feed amounts and dissolved oxygen in the fish tanks for the operation’s approximately 10,000 tilapia. Afterward, the students mapped the data they gathered.
In their internships, students have worked in Traders Hill’s aquaculture, horticulture, general farm and office environments. All high school interns so far have been local, and college interns have come from the University of North Florida, Jacksonville University, Southern Illinois University, Auburn University and Valdosta State University in Georgia.
Nazzaro suspects many young people are drawn to this work because it is technical. “This is a different farming from what we think of as traditional ag — although traditional ag isn’t what it used to be either,” she says. “But it’s not tractors and hoes and garden tools. This is a much smaller footprint. There are a lot more moving parts. I think that they gravitate toward that.”
Victoria Caba worked at Traders Hill as an intern in 2017 and was subsequently hired in the farm's aquaculture department.
Traders Hill awarded a full scholarship to a local student who worked at the farm during his senior year of high school and is now a sophomore at Southern Illinois University studying agricultural systems and education. Looking ahead, the operation is considering offering partial scholarships to benefit a greater number of students.
The greenhouse has hired interns following completion of their internships. In September 2017, the farm hired Victoria Caba, an intern from that summer and a Jacksonville University marine science and sustainability graduate, to work in its aquaculture department. And the farm hired summer 2017 intern Nichole Curry, a freshman studying finance and accounting at the University of North Florida, to work part-time while she attends college.
Traders Hill participates in community partnerships, such as working with the Nassau County School District to supply students with lettuce, engage them in health fairs and invite them on tours. Additionally, it works with professors at nearby Jacksonville University and provides tours for students in the university’s marine science program.
“One of our core values is developing people,” Nazzaro says. “So we seek out and hire people who are a good fit for our company and our culture, and then we’ll provide them with opportunities and training.”
Emphasizing local produce
Traders Hill Farm sells its popular romaine lettuce to markets spanning the area from Daytona, Florida, to the south; to Tallahassee, Florida, to the west; and Savannah, Georgia, to the north. “Where we’re located on the East Coast, that’s a pretty big deal,” Nazzaro says. “From being in the ag industry, almost all romaines are grown either in Yuma [Arizona] or Salinas [California].” But Traders Hill’s customers can expect their produce to be grown within 130 miles and delivered promptly.
Local produce is one of many benefits the Nassau County School District sees in partnering with Traders Hill. The 16-school district previously received its lettuce from a national supplier at a low price. But Traders Hill conducted a test whose results convinced the district to switch lettuce providers to its nearby aquaponics farm.
“We took what they got from their supplier and we took ours, and over a week we looked at what kind of shrink we had,” Nazzaro says. “The commercial stuff was getting between 40 and 50 percent shrink, which was just not usable product, and ours was in the 5 percent range. They were like, ‘Wow.’”
In many ways, local produce is healthier than that which has traveled a long distance. Produce with fewer miles on it contains more nutrients and nutrient variety, according to Kathleen Frith of the Harvard School of Public Health. And children have something to gain from eating local produce, because according to the Mayo Clinic, they need the same types of nutrients as adults, just in different amounts.
Traders Hill visits the district schools to discuss the greenhouse's process and the importance of eating healthy eating. “We are really proud of the fact that we provide the cleanest food possible, both from a food safety standpoint — we take our food safety very, very seriously — and that we aren’t adding anything into this food supply that doesn’t need to be there, just from a pure health standpoint — no pesticides, no herbicides, no fungicides.”
One of roughly 10,000 tilapia at Traders Hill
Photo courtesy of Traders Hill Farm
Fulfilling consumer demand
Valuing health and safety, Nazzaro and her colleagues at Traders Hill Farm were excited when the National Organic Standards Board voted in November 2017 to allow USDA Organic certification for hydroponic and aquaponic produce operations. Prior to the decision, Nazzaro says, hydroponic and aquaponic growers found themselves in a precarious position in declaring certification.
Traders Hill joined the debate to ensure aquaponics would be certified USDA Organic. “We had six team members write arguments for why we should be allowed to do that,” Nazzaro says. “I reached out to my local university professors. They also wrote arguments. We delivered verbal comments at the recent hearing, and we were really pleased about that.” Within the next year and a half, Nazzaro says Traders Hill plans to determine if USDA Organic certification is viable for the operation — aiming to officialize the practices it already intently follows.
Also, in the future, Traders Hill will consider adding other types of produce. “We’re a regional player,” Nazzaro says. “We developed this regional market and they’re buying all our leafy greens. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, what else would you guys like that grows well in our system?’”
Produce markets might need more greenhouses like Traders Hill to step up their output. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs expects the world population to reach 8.6 billion by 2030, 9.8 billion by 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100, according to the report, 2017 Revision of World Population Prospects.
“We’re feeding people,” Nazzaro says. “This is part of a bigger plan, and we need more food. This is really important, because on a global scale our food production needs to exponentially increase. I don’t know if we need a lot of lettuce, but on a lot of levels it needs to exponentially increase. It’s fun to be a part of something that’s bigger.”
From left to right: Rid-All Green Partnership’s David Hester, Keymah Durden, Damien Forshe, Randell McShepard and Marc WhitePhoto: Gary Yasaki | From forthcoming “Soil Brothers” documentary
Meet the Soil Brothers
Another grower creating jobs and improving diets is the Rid-All Green Partnership, a nonprofit urban farm thriving in Cleveland’s Kinsman neighborhood. Produce Grower first featured Rid-All’s work in the community in the December 2014 issue (Editor’s note: Read the story here). But we decided to provide an update as the farm has continued expanding over the past several years, in part through strengthening its aquaponics and composting efforts, and by influencing urban farmers outside of Cleveland.
Childhood friends Damien Forshe, Keymah Durden and Randell McShepard began Rid-All Green Partnership in 2009 with broad ambitions to clean up and revitalize toxic soils, develop meaningful community partnerships and provide fresh produce to city residents.
Operating in an area known as the “Forgotten Triangle” for its history of illegal dumping and burned-out cars, Rid-All cuts through the area’s discord to bring community members together. “We encourage everybody to come and get involved,” Forshe says, “because that’s what we all have in common — food.”
Rid-All’s output includes lettuce; heirloom tomatoes; kale greens; collard greens; chili, ghost and cayenne peppers; rosemary; lavender; thyme; basil; beets; and Swiss chard. On 1.3 acres, Rid-All runs one 30-by-80-square-foot hoop house, two 30-by-60-square-foot hoop houses, two 30-by-60-square-foot greenhouses, a treehouse office and a teepee (used for events such as weddings and concerts, as well as relaxation for the farmers). In 2017, Rid-All expanded its aquaponics footprint by 7,200 square feet and added a five-acre compost facility.
The farm sells produce to restaurants and caterers, and directly to end consumers. “We operate a CSA — community-supported agricultural program — where members from the community can sign up for one of three tiers — gold, silver or bronze,” Durden says. “Based on their membership, they can come and pick up food weekly that they take home and consume.”
Rid-All established Soil Brothers, a soil compost business, in 2016.Photo: Matt McClellan
Overcoming the unknown
Rid-All, whose partners include the Cleveland Metropolitan School District, Ohio State University and Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, places a strong emphasis on job creation. The farm’s main staff consists of six people, but they require help with tasks such as growing, groundskeeping, landscaping and driving to pick up food waste. “Since our beginning we have created over 15 to 20 jobs for local residents,” Durden says. “Some only stay with us for a short time before moving on to manage their own project.” Over the course of a year, the operation adds around 300 volunteers.
Durden stresses the importance of educating people about healthy eating habits. “Most days, many folks, particularly in low-income areas, are making food choices with their wallet — ‘I can buy what I can afford’ — instead of making an educated choice based on knowledge of the food that they’re consuming,” he says. “We believe that if we can educate folks about how to make healthy choices, then that fear of the unknown won’t be as prevalent.”
But, Durden says, people are more educated about food choices now than they ever were in the past. When organizations like Rid-All teach children to develop healthy eating habits, those children will retain those habits as they transition into adulthood. Simultaneously, Rid-All teaches children and other community members about making smart decisions in other aspects of life, from the TV they watch to the environment they find themselves in.
Many of the partnership’s educational offerings are specific to growing produce, but a generous portion of them extend into other areas as well. “Our main tracks deal with our composting, our aquaponics operations and urban farming as our main core of classes that we teach,” Durden says. “But that branches out anywhere to wastewater management, it goes into animal husbandry, dealing with trees and agriculture. But then we spin off even further into arts and entertainment, where we engage local students and residents about how to become creative again.”
Rid-All’s work isn’t limited to Cleveland, either. When Columbus, Ohio’s Linden neighborhood was facing many of the same issues as Kinsman, its Saint Stephen’s Community House decided to address them. In 2014-15, the community house linked with Rid-All, which built it a greenhouse with aquaponic tanks, a compost bin and double-wide hoop houses. Since then, the community house, like Rid-All, has been providing educational programs, creating jobs and making compost. It even has its own teepee.
To make good happen in the community, growers need to put in “manpower and blood, sweat and tears,” says David Hester, Forshe and McShepard’s cousin and a farmer at Rid-All. “When you’re not getting paid, or anything that you still have the passion with, keep on moving it forward, as long as you’re doing something,” he says. “Don’t just talk about it — actually do something. For us, a lot of times, we recommend starting with the soil, because that makes the hugest difference in how your place is going to turn out.”
“Since our beginning we have created over 15 to 20 jobs for local residents,” says Rid-All co-founder Keymah Durden.Photo: Gary Yasaki | From forthcoming “Soil Brothers” documentary
Remediating the soil
The soil is a major component of the Rid-All Green Partnership. The toxins that saturated the former dump site created a challenge for the urban farmers, who had to improve soil conditions. They tried remediation via clay, as well as using soil they received from a rural area. Ultimately, they succeeded when they layered the ground with wood chips. “What I found out is that wood chips are the best remediation that you can use for lead, arsenic, things like that, so we were layering our ground [with them],” Forshe says. “Wood chips eventually break down from a carbon to a soil.”
With a commitment to minimize food waste, Rid-All established a soil compost business with the name Soil Brothers in 2016. As a whole, Rid-All has produced more than 500 tons of compost since 2011. In 2014, Soil Brothers became the only compost facility in Greater Cleveland to earn a Class II Compost Facility license through the EPA. The soil business is one of Rid-All's biggest revenue streams, working with local Starbucks stores, the Greater Cleveland Food Bank, AVI Foodsystems and other partners.
In June 2017, former Ambassador to the United Nations and civil rights activist Andrew Young visited Rid-All for the purpose, Young says, of partnering with Soil Brothers. A Cleveland public broadcasting station filmed Young telling an audience at the event, “I think it’s our calling to kind of pull the world together in peace, and peace starts with a good, balanced diet.”
“The Soil Brothers’ whole concept is relative to fortifying our bodies with nutritionally rich soil first,” says Marc White, Rid-All’s operations manager. “If [nutrients] are not in the soil, they can’t get in the food. We’ve been eating empty food for the last 20 years. That’s why everybody’s sick.”
Over the past eight years, the urban farm has helped redefine the area and even earn it a new name. “As society has shifted and the economies have changed, a lot of neighborhoods got left behind,” Durden says. “We believe that we can go into those neighborhoods and transform them from desolate to places of hope. This area that we’re in now, the Kinsman area, which was called the ‘Forgotten Triangle’ is now referred to as the ‘Urban Agriculture Innovation Zone.’”
We're excited to see what Rid-All does in the future. Look out for the forthcoming “Soil Brothers” documentary for more coverage.
US (ME): Student, Aquaponic Farmer With 22 Employees Awarded
At a special luncheon in early May, President Clayton Rose of Bowdoin College presented six seniors with awards to celebrate their personal achievements and contributions to the College.
Inaugurated in 1997 by Bowdoin President Robert H. Edwards, the President’s Award recognizes a student’s exceptional personal achievements and uncommon contributions to the College. The student’s actions demonstrate particular courage, imagination, and generosity of spirit; and they benefit the atmosphere, program, or general effectiveness of the College.
Trevor Kenkel, a biology and economics major, is the founder and president of Springworks Farm in Lisbon, an organic aquaponics business and a model for sustainable agriculture. He runs his farm while pursuing his studies at Bowdoin, earning him this descriptor: "part scientist and entrepreneur, part environmentalist and farmer—and full-time Bowdoin student."
Trevor Kenkel with President Rose
Kenkel has grown Springworks into the largest aquaponics farm in New England, employing twenty-two people and supplying organic lettuce to more than 130 customers, including Bowdoin College, UMaine Orono, Colby, and thirty Hannaford supermarkets.
Biology professor Barry Logan, who has spent time working with Kenkel at the farm, describes his student as a “collaborator” who “works really hard to create an extraordinary balance” between his classes and his impressive business venture. And a former proctor of Kenkel's praised his “warm-heartedness, willingness to welcome others, and his ease with conversation.”
Publication date: 5/10/2019
Aquaponics Adapted For Africa
Colin Bremner, Kleinskuur Aquaponics
A South African aquaponics grower has tweaked the techniques he has learned from Australia’s Dr Murray Hallam for African conditions and his design is being installed in an increasing number of African locations.
Colin Bremner’s Kleinskuur Aquaponics system in Donkerhoek, outside Pretoria, last year functioned for up to a week without electricity (when their transformer was hit by lightning), exhibiting minimal stress.
The water surface between the floating vegetables is completely covered by duckweed, which retards evaporation and is fed to the fish in the system
Kleinskuur Aquaponics produces greens, microgreens and herbs to packhouses that supply all of South Africa’s retailers and to a few restaurants, around 50,000 plants a month.
“This system has been running for three and a half years, during which we’ve never cleaned the system. It’s still the same water we started with. We just clean the outlet holes every three or four months,” Colin says.
In all respects he has tried to minimise reliance on electricity, using some quite interesting techniques along the way. The water temperature is maintained at 23°C despite winter cold that has dipped to -7°C and summer temperatures into the mid-thirties. In fact, he notes, at one of the Kleinskuur sites in west Africa, daytime temperatures can climb as high as 47°C but the water remains at 23°C.
Geothermal piping, running along the outlines of the beds three metres underground, maintain the water temperature within this narrow band. The piping runs for a length of 160m in the commercial size of his aquaponic design.
Furthermore the system has only one water pump and one air pump. The surface is covered with duckweed, reducing evaporation and removing nitrates from the water, as well as being fed to the fish.
The fish come when he whistles, Colin says, as he scoops a handful of duckweed from the surface of the deepwater beds for them
The fish he uses – and the species that he recommends or provides along with his system design implemented in African projects – are the males of four tilapia species, all highly tolerant to pH and temperatures fluctuations, low oxygen levels and high nitrite levels.
Seedlings are placed in ordinary sponges in which he cuts a slit (“our Pacman system”, he calls it), holding stems upright as the plant is lowered in its hole in the floating polystyrene plate.
The sponges (pictured left) are re-used many times, while plastic seed nets often tear when the plant is removed and besides, can cost up to R2 for one.
His own gravel bucket design
Regarding gravel beds, he solved the problem of anaerobic bacteria proliferating in areas that are not drained, which would usually necessitate a clean-out, with his own patent on a gravel bucket. These buckets house an individual plant (typically a fruiting plant), so that should the plant need to be removed, others are undisturbed.
“The gravel barrels, to which I hold the mould and design patent, is a manageable size, one person can carry it, and it doesn’t have to perfectly fit over a hole, it can be settled over a trench. Water runs in at the top and drains out, five cycles an hour. When the water drains out it takes with it the particles that are not eaten by earthworms. This drainage movement cools the gravel and the water down, from the approximately 28°C at which it leaves the fish to 23°C, the optimal temperature for roots.”
The gravel bucket system needs earthworms in the capillaries between the 20mm gravel pebbles, with other biota like nematodes and fungi also present, making it philosophically very different from the striving for sterile conditions in hydroponics.
“When you work with nature you have none of the problems they have in hydroponics,” opines Colin, who practised hydroponics for a few years in Port Elizabeth. “In hydroponic systems bacteria are removed with UV lights and ozone. We encourage other forms of wildlife, like dragonflies, lady bugs and other beneficial insects. Nature has been doing everything right.”
One drawback to the system is that under current legislation, such produce can’t, despite the complete absence of insecticides and other poisons that would of course be lethal to the fish, be marketed as organic because it does not grow in soil, Colin explains.
Expansion into Africa
His design is being built in Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia to provide fresh vegetables within the hospitality sector, while mining countries in remote areas in countries like Burkina Faso are also interested in its ability to produce in harsh environments.
Kleinskuur Aquaponics regularly offers training courses in his system of aquaponics. The next course is on 25 May 2019.
For more information:
Colin Bremner
Publication date: 5/22/2019
Author: Carolize Jansen
© FreshPlaza.com
Pentair Shutting Down Urban Organics Aquaponics Facility In St. Paul
Urban Organics grows leafy vegetables like Swiss Chard at its aquaponics facility, but the venture will close next month
NANCY KUEHN | MSPBJ
Urban Organics Grows Leafy Vegetables Like Swiss Chard At Its Aquaponics Facility, But The Wenture Will Close Next Month.
By Mark Reilly – Managing Editor, Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal
May 15, 2019
Urban Organics, a startup that had established an ambitious fish-and-produce aquaponics venture in the former Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul, has lost the support of corporate partner Pentair and will close next month.
The Star Tribune has a report on the announcement from Pentair (NYSE: PNR), which surprised local restaurateurs who had become some of Urban Organics' biggest evangelists, touting the benefits of sourcing food locally.
Pentair, which is legally based in England but has its operational headquarters in Golden Valley, said only that the aquaponics business "did not meet our expectations."
Urban Organics will close by June 14, laying off 27 workers.
Urban Organics, launched by by Dave Haider, Kristen Haider, Fred Haberman and Chris Ames, opened its first operation in the former Hamm's Brewery five years ago, growing produce and raising fish in a venture designed to showcase the potential of urban farms. The idea behind aquaculture is that both fish and plants can be grown in a nearly closed-loop system, with fish providing fertilizer for plants and plants cleaning the water for the fish.
Urban Organics unveils aquaponic fish and vegetable farm in old Hamm's Brewery
Urban Organics unveiled its aquaponics farm in the old Hamm's Brewery. The facility raises fish and grows vegetables.
The Schmidt Brewery location aimed much higher: At 87,000 square feet it was 10 times the size of Urban Organics' first venture, and Pentair's participation, in theory, lent more resources and a bigger name to the concept. Pentair bought out Urban Organics' other owners a year ago, the Star Tribune notes, though Haider stayed on as general manager.
The facility may have encountered production problems. Though it turned out produce, Tracy Singleton, owner of Birchwood Cafe in Minneapolis, said Urban Organics never began harvesting arctic char and rainbow trout as expected in the Schmidt site.
Pentair said it didn't know what it would do with the Schmidt Brewery facility.
The Future of Farming
Darren Handschuh - May 7, 2019
Naomi LaFrance has a vision.
She wants to feed not only people from her first nation in Saskatchewan, but other nations as well.
And she wants to do it all with as little impact on the planet as possible so she turned to the Aquaponics Training Institute in Vernon for help.
Aquaponics is the marriage of hydroponics and aquaculture where the best of both systems are used to grow plants with very little harm to Mother Earth.
“Right now we have a hockey arena that is not being used so maybe we will be able to convert that into a growing operation,” said LaFrance. “I didn't realize how big it can become. I just came here to learn and the more I am learning, the bigger the vision is becoming and it's pretty exciting.”
The Aquaponics Training Institute is located in the BX area and is the brain child of Shawn Bonnough who teaches classes on aquaponics.
One of the big advantages of aquaponics is the food will grow 24 hours a day, 365 days a year with a minimal environmental footprint.
“The fish are fertilizing the water for the plants and the plants are filtering the water for the fish,” said Bonnough. “In between those two living systems is the bacteria that breaks everything down and creates natural fertilizer which is not harmful to the environment. This is the only system that is working on 10 percent of the water of traditional farming but is producing 10 times as much food.”
LaFrance said she will take what she has learned at the institute back her Cree nation in Saskatchewan.
The Aquaponics Training Institute offers courses online as well as at the institute itself.
US (CO): Growing More Food Using Less Resources - June 8-9, Denver
June 8-9, Denver
Ceres Greenhouse Solutions, in conjunction with The Aquaponic Source, will be organizing an aquaponics course where participants can learn about a well-designed aquaponic system with the most energy-efficient greenhouse environment possible.
The course is intended for families, the prepared, retirees, the health conscious, non profits, commercial growers and anyone else interested in growing more food using less resources.
What participants will learn:
How to leverage the "greenhouse self-heating" phenomena with the ground-breaking Ground to Air Heat Transfer System (GAHT).
Where to put thermal mass in your greenhouse and why putting it in the wrong place can be catastrophic
A dirt cheap (yet commonly overlooked) step in greenhouse design that is actually KEY in increasing heat retention performance. This applies to simple hoop houses AND 10,000 square food commercial greenhouses alike
How to use "strategic glazing" to optimize light transmission based on climate, crops, and available materials
Exactly when to ventilate your greenhouse throughout the day based on climate and humidity
Which materials take up no greenhouse space and hold 5x more thermal mass than water
How to design and layout your aquaponic system to maximize use of space and energy
Participants will also receive building designs and plans for a backyard energy-efficient greenhouse that can be combined with an aquaponic system.
Details
When: June 8-9th 2019
Times: Sat- 9am-5pm, Sun- 9am-4pm
Where: GeoTech Environmental Center 2650 E 40th Denver, Colorado
Who: Ceres Greenhouse Solutions and The Aquaponic Source
For more information:
www.theaquaponicsource.com/greenhouse-training
Publication date: 5/9/2019
An Aquaponics Pioneer In Cameroon
Flavien Kouatcha, who is almost 30, is an example of youth entrepreneurship in Cameroon. Since he was a child, he’s always wanted to have the best job in the world and, as he likes to say, “feed the planet”. His parents and grandparents are farmers
Flavien Kouatcha, who is almost 30, is an example of youth entrepreneurship in Cameroon. Since he was a child, he’s always wanted to have the best job in the world and, as he likes to say, “feed the planet”. His parents and grandparents are farmers.
He has just been appointed National President of the Cameroon branch of the Junior Chamber International (JCI), an international NGO of young active and enterprising citizens that aims to be the largest global network of young people aged between 18 and 40, who are creating positive change both in their communities and in the business world.
“Save Our Agriculture”, Flavien’s company, has adapted the practice of aquaponics to the African environment, and more specifically to the Cameroonian environment. His goal was to enable Cameroonians, who mostly live in urban areas, to undertake this type of agriculture at home with no major constraints, with the advantage of having a high-quality animal and crop production at home. For Flavien, this is the future of agriculture, and we’re willing to believe him. “Aquaponics results in higher yields than traditional farming, as it requires less input – notably in terms of water – and emits 20% less carbon into the environment”, Flavien explains.
Read more at Société Générale
Publication date: 5/6/2019
Jury Convicts Former South Dakota Aquaponics Company Official of Fraud
APRIL 29, 2019
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SIOUX FALLS, S.D.
A federal jury has convicted a former executive of a South Dakota company accused of defrauding investors in a scheme to build an $11 million fish farm.
The jury Monday found Timothy Burns guilty of five charges of wire fraud for his role in soliciting investors for Global Aquaponics in Brookings. He will be sentenced later.
Burns was the one-time chief operating officer of Global Aquaponics. The company sought investors to build an indoor fish farm and hydroponics facility.
But the Argus Leader reports construction on the fish farm never started. Investors who put a minimum of $25,000 each in the project lost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Businessman Tobias Ritesman earlier pleaded guilty to all 18 counts against him in the alleged scheme. Ritesman also awaits sentencing.
Pittsburg State University Showcases Aquaponics Project On Campus
Project Creates Sustainable, Healthy Food
By: Chris Warner
April 24, 2019
PITTSBURG, Kan. - Hydroponics involves growing plants in water instead of soil, and a project at Pittsburg State University has turned that into aquaponics by adding another element.
"It started out as a hydroponics operation so, it's basically growing lettuce primarily, but other food through water rather than soil, with the aquaponics, that incorporates fish into the system so it's more of a closed loop." Erin Kruse is one of two students giving tours at Pitt State to showcase their new aquaponics project.
Aquaponics, as Kruse mentioned, incorporates fish, in this case, tilapia, into the hydroponics system. Kruse says "So the fish actually generate the nutrients for the plants and then the plants actually clean the water for the fish."
And it's this unique system that officials like Matt O'Malley with Live Well Crawford County, are excited to see. O'Malley says "We are hoping to increase access to healthy foods for everyone in the county and thought this could be a really neat way to get that in communities that might not be able to do a garden project or something like that."
Kruse says the Students 4 Sustainability group, agree. "We really think, as students for sustainability, that local food production, sustainable food production is something that's always going to be paramount, especially in rural communities."
For O'Malley, he says he's looking at an even bigger picture. O'Malley says "We like to dream big and how cool would it be if every high school in Crawford County had an aquaponics system and they grew their own lettuce for their own school lunch salad bar, and so that's what we're kinda dreaming about with this project."
The project is still in it's early stages but Kruse says they hope to see it continue to grow and expand to serve the county.
The project was originally started by another group on campus before the students for sustainability group took over.
Hydroponics To Aquaponics: How University Students Are Learning To Master Sustainable Food Production — On The Roof
PSU
April 18, 2019
Pittsburg, KS
Fish soon will be living on the roof of the science building at Pittsburg
State University.
And those fish will be helping to grow plants.
It’s a forward-thinking project by Students for Sustainability (S4S), a student organization at PSU, in cooperation with Enactus, another student organization, and the PSU Biology Department.
S4S has gained a reputation for its recycling efforts: each Fall, members collect as much recyclable material as they can during the move-in process at the residence halls. At each Spring, they collect reusable items students don’t want to take with them when they leave campus to head home — hair dryers, brooms, microwaves, you name it. Those, they sell at the SEK Recycling Center.
The group’s latest initiative, hydroponics and soon to be aquaponics, is one that’s trending: they’re promoting sustainability by developing a sustainable food production project they have installed in a greenhouse on the roof of Heckert-Wells Hall.
“Trial phase”
One recent afternoon saw a group of students there tending plants; they're growing without soil in a “garden” built of PVC pipe and covered with mosquito netting to diffuse sunlight.
Among them was Charlie Beetch, who moved his family from Hutchinson, Kansas, to Pittsburg to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Sustainability, Society, and Resource Management (SSRM); it’s the only program of its kind in Kansas.
“We’re still in the trial phase,” Beetch said. “Th fish ought to be here next week. Then, it will be a full system.”
As he checked the health of the plants, a classmate, Cecily Stephens, a non-traditional graduate student from Pittsburg, harvested greens she considered using in a salad later.
“We’re growing arugula, red kale, romaine, collard greens, and butter lettuce,” said Stephens, who dreams of becoming an environmental journalist. “I’m pushing for starting herbs, and we could use them for fresh pesto!”
“Perfect fit”
The project was borne of conversations between S4S advisors and students during last year’s Earth Day celebration in the Overman Student Center. Enactus member Dodge Mattingly was displaying a booth that described his group’s trip to Haiti to set up a hydroponic system at an orphanage to help them grow fresh produce.
S4S members had been dreaming of a food production project — especially one that would provide a learning laboratory experience. Enactus was wanting to give away their prototype hydroponic set-up. And S4S
President Erin Kruse, a Girard, Kansas, native, had experience with aquaponics, hydroponics, and farm-to-table production at Johnson County Community College before transferring here.
“It seemed like a perfect fit,” said Jim Triplett, who volunteers as the Special Assistant to the President for Sustainability — a position created last year as part of the university’s focus on sustainability.
Enactus also gave S4S the fertilizer, seeds, and other supplies needed, and offered to share what they had learned to help S4S get up and running.
“Enactus had worked out the hydroponic side of the project, but the aquaponics portion is a new dimension, because it involves growing fish,” said Triplett, who for decades taught in the PSU Biology Department and served as its chair.
“The waste from the fish will break down and provide nutrients for the plants that will use the nutrients to grow, cleaning the water before it’s returned to the fish,” he explained. “When properly balanced, the system provides extremely efficient food production in terms of resources, energy and space.”
The biggest challenge? Fitting the PVC pipes and other supplies into the elevator.
Networking
Last month, their project took another step forward with a visit to Nile Valley Aquaponics, in inner Kansas City, Missouri, where they toured the facility and gained insight into its closed loop system.
The trip was organized by Kruse, who works at the Student Assistant for Sustainability in the President’s Office, and is majoring in SSRM.
Joining her on the trip were several S4S members, SSRM majors, faculty members including Catherine Hooey (Geography), June Freund (Economics), Tim Bailey (Geography), and staff including Jesse Briscoe (Housing), Elliott Rowland (Physical Plant).
Nile Valley provided inspiration: it features three, six-foot deep, lined trenches that house more than 60,000 tilapia. The water from the fish-rearing troughs is pumped up to the top of a stack of four growing beds that sit on top of the trenches and run their full length, Triplett said.
The nutrient-laden water travels through each bed and drops to the bed below until it is returned to the fish trough. In addition to plants and fish, the facility raises soldier flies to feed the fish and goats to eat the vegetative leftovers from production.
The trip also included a visit to Johnson County Community College, which created a Center for Sustainability in 2003.
“A composting operation there takes in all of the food waste from the facility and runs it through a hot tumbler and, with the addition of wood chips and sawdust, it develops into a compostable mix in about 10 days,” Triplett said.
The mix then is moved to aeration piles and is used as a soil amendment on the campus farm.
A greenhouse there houses the aquaponics project, which features a fish tank that holds 60 tilapia. They provide the nutrients for the hydroponic production of leafy greens and larger plants in media beds. All of the material grown from the system is used in JCCC dining services.
“It’s an amazing system and is reflective of future sustainable food production. We hope some of these ideas can be applied to future projects at PSU,” Triplett said. “There is a lot more to do before our system is fully operational, but this project has caught the imagination and interest of an active and enthusiastic group of students who are investing their time and energy to forge a new path in sustainable food production."
Learn more about the SSRM degree at https://bit.ly/2Og4STx
Early Bird Tickets Are Available For The September Conference
Early Bird Tickets Are Available For The September Conference. Tickets
Are Limited, Get Yours Soon!
TICKET INFORMATION
Fusion Farms In Puerto Rico An Investment Opportunity With Brains, Heart, And Guts
It's an intelligent investment opportunity with a social conscious and serious punch and it's opened its arms to investors to go from start-up to success.
Apr. 15, 2019 / PRZen / MAYAGüEZ, Puerto Rico -- It's an intelligent IMPACT investment opportunity with a socially conscious and serious punch and it's opened its arms to investors who want to own a piece of a Hurricane-Protected Aquaponics Vertical Farm.
For the past year, husband-and-wife business partners Kendell Lang and Lisa Jander have worked tirelessly through government bureaucracy, the language barrier, and the tendency of things to grind along at "island time" in Puerto Rico to get their start-up to germinate and put down roots. Now, with milestone after milestone under their belts, Kendell and Lisa are presenting investors with a unique opportunity to contribute positively to the environment and help Puerto Rico rebuild itself after the devastating landfall of Hurricane Maria in September 2017, all the while benefiting from fund capital gains reduction and deferrals.
It's called Fusion Farms, a hurricane-protected, indoor, controlled environment aquaponics farm model that leverages the natural relationship between fish and vegetation to grow a quality, fresh, and reliable source of non-GMO, pesticide-free, all natural proteins and greens. This is particularly needed in Puerto Rico because it is estimated that the island imports upwards of 95% of their fresh produce, which, after weeks of travel, is not-so-fresh and not very nutritious when it arrives.
Learn more about Controlled Environment Aquaponics
Hurricane-protected agriculture
Read: Hurricane Protected Farming in Puerto Rico
The model can be applied anywhere, but Fusion Farms' "secret sauce" is its location inside one of the many unused Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company (PRIDCO) buildings that pepper the Island. The Pilot Project is in the Mayagüez district of Western Puerto Rico. These steel-reinforced concrete structures have withstood the ravages of hurricane season in the Caribbean, making them the perfect facility to house an indoor farming operation. And with farming encouraged in Puerto Rico – farming that is sheltered from even the most wrathful of storms – Fusion Farms aims to establish the island's food sovereignty, vastly reduce its reliance on imports, encourage local commerce and agriculture, and restore fresh, healthy, locally-grown produce to grocery store shelves.
"Importing is expensive and the final product lacks the labelled nutrient value," says Lisa Jander. "All those food miles also contribute immensely to the condition of the produce when it arrives. There are thousands of farmers and ancillary service providers that have taken a hit or even lost their jobs due to hurricane damage. Fusion Farms is here to contribute to Puerto Rico's food sovereignty, to give the people back their jobs, and to encourage prosperity on the island."
This is an IMPACT investment with a socially conscious, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture focus, and a heart.
A unique investment opportunity
And now: the brains. The start-up is offering investors a smart investment opportunity with a bevvy of attractive benefits, many of which stem from the start-up being in a Qualified Opportunity Zone and a Qualified Small Business Stock:
"We are a Qualified Opportunity Zone investment, as well as a Qualified Small Business Stock, both of which have tremendous capital gains tax benefits for investors," says Kendell Lang. "Additionally, investors can work directly with us without having to deal with a third party administrator, which gives them the benefit of the capital gains reduction and deferrals without the overhead/management fees that fund managers charge.
"In other words, investor dollars go further with us than with non-self qualified investments."
Another attractive aspect of Fusion Farms' equity investment opportunity is that it is being presented through an Online Public Offering. This eliminates the middleman and the pressures and costs associated with having an investment banker or broker sell and manage the opportunity for investors. Everything potential investors need to see is presented on Fusion Farms' Campaign Page and if they like it, they can go right ahead and invest. But this also means that investors have to take action so they don't miss out when offering closes.
The demand for what Fusion Farms is setting out to do is enormous and has been confirmed by several local food distributors and hospitality businesses. Lisa Jander provides an example of just one agricultural product that's in demand:
"We have upscale hotels, bars, and restaurants on the island begging for fresh mint because Puerto Rico's iconic drink is the mojito; you cannot make a mojito without mint," says Lisa. "What's currently available is expensive or wild grown, limited in supply, and isn't great quality, yet these establishments don't have much of a choice. If we can supply a dependable, fresh, local source of mint, we could support a large part of the tourism market."
Read: How a Holiday in Puerto Rico Became a Calling to Change its Future
Fusion Farms' outlook on fresh produce
Fusion Farms' choice of agricultural products reflects the need for crops that are in high in local demand, grow easily and prolifically, and are considered valuable, such as basil, butter lettuce, microgreens, cilantro, mint, and whole Tilapia fish. Year two would provide the opportunity for Fusion Farms to reconfirm market demand for its existing agricultural products while exploring the feasibility of expanding this portfolio. This could happen initially with the planting of fruit trees. Year three could see the introduction of strawberries, green beans, Swiss chard, peppers, and tomatoes.
"Our diversification is attractive to investors who might otherwise worry about their investment if anything were to go wrong with, for example, the lettuce crop," explains Kendell Lang. "Our plan offers diversity, stability and market flexibility."
Tax-free exports
A specific strategy and interesting twist to Fusion Farms' ultimate business plan is Kendell and Lisa's intention to apply for a Value Added Producer Grant for the purchase of equipment to extract essential oils from herbs such as basil and mint as an additional revenue stream. These oils are not only considered a highly valuable commodity but, more important to investors, they also qualify Fusion Farms as an Act 20 company under the Export Services Act.
Act 20 provides tax incentives for companies that establish and expand their export services businesses in Puerto Rico. Under Act 20, income from eligible services rendered for the benefit of non-resident individuals or foreign entities (Export Services Income, or EIS) is taxed at a reduced tax rate of 4%. Moreover, dividends or benefits distributed out of EIS are 100% exempt from Puerto Rico taxation.
This means that all of Fusion Farms' revenues derived from export sales would be tax-free.
"If there's uncertainty or price fluctuation in the local markets for basil or mint, we have a multi-tiered alternate plan model," says Kendell. "We can sell fresh farm-to-table leafy green vegetables, turn excess basil into pesto, excess mint into mint jelly, and both into essential oils."
The whole package
With its keen environmental awareness, warm social conscious, sharp and comprehensive business plan, and numerous investment benefits, it's clear that Fusion Farms presents the investment community with an opportunity with brains and heart, while Kendell and Lisa's fierce determination and ambition prove they have guts!
Learn more about this investment opportunity.
About Fusion Farms
Fusion Farms PR is CEA farming which allows crops to grow faster, all year round in a hurricane-protected, climate-controlled indoor facility, using less water and minimal labor while eliminating crop failures. Fusion Farms, in the beautiful Mayagüez district of Western Puerto Rico, is the ideal location to use an existing PRIDCO facility to grow mint, basil, cilantro, heirloom tomatoes, and leafy green vegetables, which are in high local and organic demand.
For more information about Fusion Farms and to become an investor in this opportunity, go to www.fusionfarmspr.com or email: Info@FusionFarmsPR.com
Media Contact
Kendell Lang
7604453315
Follow the full story here: https://przen.com/pr/33294020
Read more:http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/4256802#ixzz5lFYOERki
The Future of Sustainable Food Is Fishy
Marketing manager Shawn Bonnough, Farm manager Jeff Smith and General Manager Barbara Bonnough are behind the new Aquaponics Training Institute. (Brieanna Charlebois - Morning Star)
Aquaponics Training Institute officially
launched last weekend in Vernon
April. 2, 2019
A new way to grow food has come to Vernon.
It’s called aquaponics and is the combination of aquaculture (breeding fish in captivity as a food source) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil).
Jeff Smith is the farm manager at the recently opened Aquaponics Training Institute in Vernon. He explained the process as a “match made in heaven.” In the symbiotic system, fish provide fertilizer for the plants, and the plants clean the water for the fish, eliminating water waste and making it the ultimate sustainable food source.
Link To Video
Marketing manager Shawn Bonnough said that his ultimate goal is to show people how to minimize their ecological footprint by growing food at home throughout the year.
“We’re really just a small training company with a small local footprint and our doors are open to the local traffic, but we have a global solution to a problem that we’re all going to be facing in 8.3 years and we’re going to hit a tipping point,” said Bonnough.
Smith explained that the system uses less than a tenth the amount of water in comparison to any other agricultural system. Very little waste is produced.
“There is no real waste to this system other than the evaporation. The fish are fed the appropriate ratio of food to produce the appropriate amount of food,” he said.
Bonnough said he hopes to be able to bring this science to small communities in northern Canada that don’t have food readily available based on distance to farmed food and weather conditions. Located at 4877 Haynes Road, the Institute is an indoor facility that will operate all year long.
“With a background in education, we formed the Aquaponics Training Institute to be able to take food security to our planet’s most vulnerable population and that’s usually Indigenous communities worldwide,” said Bonnough. “We’ve got a scalable worldwide solution to a worldwide problem. When you look at the economic impact to a community who is shipping vegetables 50 to 100 kilometres on average to get to their community, we can turn that around and create jobs and opportunity for fresh, nutritious vegetables and fish, that are both healthy when they’re combined.”
The first information session took place Saturday, March 30 and hosted about a dozen local hobbyists. The next session is set to take place Saturday, April 6 from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. From there, people can sign up for workshops on how to build their own system.
Those who are travelling to Vernon for courses are also able to stay at the accommodations on site.
For more details, visit the Aquaponics Training Institute website.
A Beginner’s Guide To Help You Grow Plants Indoors
In the last 5 to 10 years, a number of exciting technologies have come forward that may change the way people garden forever
Do you ever feel like your garden just won’t grow right, no matter how many nutrients, pesticides, or hours of care you throw at it?
If you answered yes, you are not alone! Growing up, many of us have seen our parents or teachers work magic with plants in their garden, dealing with cold weather, frost, bugs, animal invasions, and other tedious garden tasks. Many of us are left wondering how dealing with the elements and bugs can be worth it for anyone!
In the last 5 to 10 years, a number of exciting technologies have come forward that may change the way people garden forever. No longer do gardeners have to brave the elements and deal with cold winters where nothing grows. Indoor gardening has gained global attention, and there are countless innovators working on indoor growing solutions for the home and office.
Here are a few of these technologies. We hope these tips can empower you grow more food for more of the year!
LEDs
Horticultural LEDs have revolutionized indoor gardening in more ways than any other technology could. With access to controlled indoor light that isn’t too expensive to run, anyone can turn their soil or hydro container farm into an indoor set up, eliminating the need for sunlight and the risk of climate damage to crops. With the right LEDs giving your crops light, you can also expect way higher yields and fuller growth from your plants!
Hydroponics
This is the most popular of the indoor growing methods today. Hydroponics is the process of growing plants using no soil, suspending them in or over a nutrient rich solution for food and often using LEDs or artificial lighting to induce day/night cycles for plants and allow them the energy to photosynthesize. There are many kinds of hydroponic system designs and configuration, all of which carry out different approaches for different plants and outcomes.
Aquaponics
Similar to hydroponics, this growing method allows the user to grow plants without soil. Using slightly different irrigation and feeding methods, aquaponics takes fish waste from a fish tank and circulates it into the hydroponic root system, giving plants truly organic natural food. The plant roots then soak up the waste and clean the water, which can then be circulated back to the fish and the cycle repeats. This technology most closely mimics a natural energy cycle, and also has the added benefit of producing more than just plants, but seafood in your home too!
Container Gardening
Container gardens can be either indoor or outdoor, and are the lowest tech and oldest indoor gardening solution. Using a container with a water catching tray underneath, anyone can move their plants indoors, eliminating many of the pest and climate issues commonly associated with container gardening outdoors. Besides being the lowest cost indoor gardening solution, container gardens are a great way to transition from soil gardening outdoors to soilless gardening indoors using something like a hydroponic system. Whether using LEDs or natural light from a window, container gardening will keep you growing right through the winter months with a little less work and risk.
Smart Gardening
The newest of these options, smart gardening utilizes a plug and play growing appliance or device which controls lighting, feeding, watering, and monitoring your plants for you. This is the most effortless and failure free gardening option for homeowners anywhere. Whether you have a colder climate, a busy job, or a full social life, having a smart garden guarantees you the space and time to grow a garden without the hassle, time commitment, or pesticides. Smart gardens often utilize full climate control systems to guarantee your plants an optimal environment, and produce much less waste, toxins, and runoff than any other indoor gardening solution. Smart gardens come in all shapes and sizes, growing everything from herbs and greens to tomatoes and cannabis! If you are looking to up your gardening game for good, you can’t do better than a Smart Garden!
Many people we meet and talk to at Aeroasis agree on a few key things:
First, gardening is an incredibly rewarding experience, minus one or two very tedious and time consuming tasks. Second, limitations like seasonality make it hard to keep their garden up year after year, and this affects people’s willingness to garden over time. Third, everyone is looking for a better way to grow, spending more time and money on their plants directly and less on tertiary tasks like weeding, spraying, and watering their crops. With the option to garden inside, all of the more tedious aspects of growing become significantly less limiting, and seasonal plants are a thing of the past!
We at Aeroasis hope to keep empowering more people to grow their food indoors, and to spread the joy of controlled environment agriculture globally!
LEARN MORE ABOUT OASIS
Red Otter Farms: One of The First And Biggest Aquaponics Growers of India
When Red Otter Farms started out, they looked for out-of-the-box solutions for a range of issues – from environmental controls to input and output management.
Out of The Box Thinking From The Start
"We are a soilless farming company, growing our produce in water. The otter is a fun-loving aquatic mammal and symbolizes our efforts. The Red Otter is a rare species of the otter family, much like us. We were one of the first movers in the space in India and are pioneering commercial aquaponics farm systems."
That's what Srishti Mandaar, co-founder of Red Otter Farms, says when asked about the name of the company - one of the first and biggest aquaponics growers in India. At their farm in Uttarakhand, they grow leafy greens and other crops on an acreage of 10,000 sq.ft.
First Aquaponic Farm Warehouse Set To Launch Soon In Brownsville`
Grow Brownsville is a unique new project designed to bring locally grown food to underserved communities by way of aquaponic farming
The aquaponic farm prototype. Rendering courtesy Alexis Mena of Grow Brownsville
The Farm Will Serve As A Sustainable Local
Food Source For Brownsville Residents
by Gabriella Thalassites March 13, 2019
in Brownsville, Business & Innovation, Featured News
Grow Brownsville is a unique new project designed to bring locally grown food to underserved communities by way of aquaponic farming.
Aquaponics is a form of agriculture that combines raising fish in tanks with soilless plant culture (hydroponics). In aquaponics, the nutrient-rich water from raising fish provides a natural fertilizer for the plants while the plants help purify the water for the fish. Aquaponics can be used to sustainably raise fresh fish and vegetables to generate profit in a commercial farming venture, year-round, in any climate.
Aquaponic farming can be done anywhere, providing fresh local food that is free of pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.
Set to launch in May, the Grow Brownsville aquaponic farming project is a shared vision of co-founders Jill Mellovin, brothers Frank and Alexis Mena, and Brittany Markowitz. It first took shape in 2017, when Brittany and Jill met Alexis while he was working on a different project for ARTs East NY.
A prototype of an aquaponic farm, created by Grow Brownsville co-founder Frank Mena. Photo courtesy Grow Brownsville.
Jill and Brittany mentioned the idea for an aquaponic farm to Alexis and the ideal space to hold it in Brownsville, and Alexis was immediately on board.
“My brother called me and said, ‘Hey, these two girls talked to me about having a warehouse, and I need your help!” Frank laughs, as he recalls the urgency in his brother’s voice.
Frank finished out his last year of teaching to fully dedicate himself to the cause, and the project officially began in August 2017.
Brownsville, notorious for its limited access to quality food, is often described as a “food desert,” with mostly fast food options. The warehouse at 234 Glenmore Ave will house an aquaponic farm, growing in-demand fruits, vegetables, fish, prawns and herbs for the community.
The farm is a true community effort. Outreach by the founders has gained support from Oko Farms and Eden Works, among others, to lend resources and assist with the build out.
Currently, the warehouse is a production venue serving local artists who rent out studios for anything from runway shows, to music videos, photoshoots or recording booths. Artists membership profits fund “Grow Brownsville.”
Grow Brownsville co-founder Frank Mena. Photo credit: G. Thalassites for BK Reader
The warehouse is swarming with creatives partnering on the project and renting out studio space. Ultimately, the warehouse will continue as a studio space for local artists, as well as serve as a hub for the aquaponic farm.
Going through the warehouse there are several different rooms of different themes, all inspired by chakras; all decorated beautifully and designed with the purpose of invoking unique inspiration for the artists using them.
After touring the space and meeting with not only the founders, but also some of the key partners of the project, the energy is invigorating. While the project is still underway, the progress it has made in such a short amount of time is impressive.
“We all had a dream and it was like, it came together. It is still coming together every single day,” says Don McCoy, Grow Brownsville brand ambassador and studio director.
Grow Brownsville will launch May 18, 2019. For more information, visit ioby.org.
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