Lovely Photos of Aquaponic Farming
Here’s a nice photo presentation of aquaponics-based farming.
I’m ashamed to admit that my initial reaction to this was quite negative. “You’re going to use energy to light the place and pump nutrient-rich water across the plants’ roots? There is a reason that God gave us dirt, rain, and sunshine,” I smirked.
I later started to add up all the energy associated with planting, compounding, delivering and applying fertilizers, pumping irrigation water, harvesting, and transporting the produce. Then I started to think about the damage that chemical-based fertilizer run-off is doing to our ecosystems. Then came the realization that growing food with no toxic chemicals is a really cool thing.
Now it’s clear what a terrific idea this is, especially in certain parts of the world, which include inner-city food deserts.
Craig,
I’m glad you have revised your negative opinion of hydroponic controlled “factory” farming.
The problem with adoption is not feasibility, but economics. In developed nations, food is incredibly cheap, especially broad acre farming of staples such as potatoes, grains, rice, truck vegetables.
It’s doubtful “fresh” food has any actual nutritional benefits over say, tinned or frozen. Mostly, the advantages are imagined or aesthetic.
It’s a seemingly unfair fact that most highly developed industrialized nations are also some of the most fertile and agriculturally productive.
In the early 1990’s I began to become interested in the science and economics of growing “out of season’ luxury, high quality, food items such a capsicum and specialist tomatoes in large, computer controlled glasshouses.
By 1997 a boom existed in Australia and Europe for “hobby” farms, (usually 5-100 acres). These “farmlets” had been engendered by various government tax schemes and attracted a lot of interest from city based business and professional people.
Thanks to generous tax incentives, the owners of these properties,( usually subdivided from idyllic rural locations and close to amenities), invested in building large, luxurious housing and upgrading the facilities on these propeties. (fencing, soil conservation, all weather roads, trees, barns, outbuildings, energy supply, wind mills, water tanks etc).
These properties were not designed to be economically viable rural businesses, and once the Tax incentives ceased, quickly became no longer attractive. Accordingly, within a short period,prices plummeted .
At the height of the crash in prices I was able to secure seven such hobby farms adjacent to my farming property totaling 440 acres for less than the cost just one of these hobby farms had commandeered only four years earlier ! I bought an eighth property, along side my rear fence of 100 acres for less only 50% of the cost of the new house the owner had built less than 5 years earlier.
At the time it occurred to me that most of these properties, while too small to be viable in terms of regular agriculture or even as an agistment lot, would be an ideal investment for a migrant family seeking to qualify for investment migration, once a commercial greenhouses was added as part of part of the business package.
For a short period favorable government policies and an abundance of suitable properties made my idea viable and we sold and built 207 such projects before a combination of changes in government regulations coupled with diminishing numbers of suitable properties the opportunities ceased to be worthwhile.
I’m happy to report more than 153 of the original 207 properties are still operating successfully after nearly twenty years.
I’m afraid this sort of technology is difficult to justify economically, except to produce high priced luxury crops.
However, for those living in a bleak urban jungle, who have the time, money and space and have to install an urban greenhouse, will discover such an experience enormously aesthetically rewarding and interesting. .
Some years ago I bought an enormous,dilapidated, derelict industrial site. The old five and seven level factory building complex is historically and architecturally important, but a financial nightmare to restore and maintain.
I have kept this as my retirement project. I hope to convert the factories to house my historical museum of early or classic electric transport, hotel and restaurant. The buildings are located at the edge of a long disused WW2 airstrip. After a lot of wrangling, I secured a 100 year lease to occupy the old airstrip. The whole complex sits beside in picturesque river in idyllic rural surroundings. (There’s even an old orchard with apple, pear, quince, plum, walnut, and apricot trees.
The last few years have been spent cleaning from the site, ancient industrial pollution, asbestos, illegally dumped toxic waste and rubbish. That important task is now complete and although it was expensive, well worth every penny.
As part of the renovations, I intend to build a greenhouse complex covering nearly 1 acre of the main building’s roof. The buildings will still have enough space for vast array of installed solar, Wind, Biomass etc.
I also intend to install cutting edge bio-conversion fertilizer liquefied organic compost, able to be directly root fed to the plants.
In the depths of the old subterranean shafts and cellars I hope to construct a large working, molten salt battery.
Over the years I have collected over 430 examples of EV transport, in addition to an impressive amount of EV infrastructure and accessories.
My collection contains I have nearly 300 EV “cars, vans, trucks and motor bikes, scooters” etc. I’ve also collected early tram’s, (streetcars)trains, lifts, cable cars, even some late model examples. We have enough room on our the airfield to operate a small tracked tramway, with enough overhead wires and infrastructure for 5 miles. (hence the need for the molten battery”).
We also have just enough room for a small EV race circuit, especially for electric go carts.
We just obtained an entire Dodgem ride circa 1936, complete with cars, fittings, tools and even spares parts. The whole ride is battered, and a bit shabby, but still sound and in full working order ! An exciting restoration project.
I hope our roof top greenhouse can provide interesting and attractive food for the hotel and restaurant, while the garbage will generate power! We have just started building a trout and fish farm, after a lot of delay getting planning permission. We also plan in the old tunnels, mushroom and other edible fungi cultivation.
I’m keen to eventually build a working model of a CO2 atmospheric absorption device, to provide CO2 to the greenhouse plants.
As a special treat for Craig, I’ll include an EV equipped to electrify deer, cattle and lambs,that you can then butcher yourself…..only kidding 🙂 !
In reality hope most of our customers will be keen environmentalists and appreciate the wide range of Vegan and Vegetarian organic food,(home grown) available. Most produce will be sourced from local farms, while Beer, Wine and cider even some spirits, will be the produce of our own properties, or produced by donors and supporters.
The old factory complex will also have room for EV and environmental educational and vocational training, research facilities, design and business incubator facilities, conference centre, laboratories, light manufacturing, restoration workshops and some residential facilities for those working in the complex.
I hope this project will be my legacy.
Craig,
You’ve missed the two most exciting things about the potential for indoor farming: whether it is from aquaponics or traditional dirt-based farming.. Total land use.
You’ll notice the rows within this facility are ranked 7 high, offering 7 rows in a width that would normally only accommodate 2 rows. This can be replicated many times over, and it can easily stack floor-to-floor. Also, with no pests (no pesticides), no droughts or higher-than-average heat, no invasive species, etc… the yield of any crop is considerably higher than a comparable yield from an outdoor growth.
Plants are actually inefficient at photosynthesis, and the efficiency decreases if there is too much heat. The plant is only using the visible light spectrum (red-to-blue) for the process of photosynthesis.. the rest of the energy (infrared, ultra violet, etc…) is often counter-productive.
So even when you use a ~20+% efficient solar panels to convert sunlight into energy, then use ~40% efficient full-spectrum LED, you can provide effective radiance to a greater area of plant foliage that would result in faster growth.
Indoor growing has no seasons, so your higher-yield harvest will occur significantly more frequently per year than such could occur in the same area of land outside…
It’s just a better overall option. There is no wasted fertilizer, no fertilizer runoff, no pesticides, no boom/bust from weather variation, and no threat from climate change. It’s a vital accommodation that our society must make in the decades to come.
Excellent points.