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Aquaponics Technology Could Be the Future of Farming
Green Technology Featured Articles
November 21, 2013

Aquaponics Technology Could Be the Future of Farming

By Tammy Marie Rose
TMCnet Contributing Writer

Aquaponics is an ancient practice that is now being embraced by some sustainability-minded farmers. Rising concerns about food security is bringing the practice into the mainstream.

Environmentally friendly Aquaponics is the combination of fish farming and hydroponics, which is the process of growing plants using water instead of soil. It is a extremely productive means of growing food for sustainability.

Farmers using large systems can grow 5,000 plants a week. Once the system is set up and running properly they can see as much as $1,000 a week in profit with two hours a day of work.

AquaFarms are available at certain retailers including Whole Foods and Nordstrom. The system works by growing edible fish in tanks. The fishes poop enriches the water with nutrients. The enriched water is then pumped into gravel beds. The plants take root and the water flows through the gravel beds. The plants roots take nourishment from the water. This process feeds both the plants and cleans the water.


Aquaponics provides farmers with fish, vegetables and herbs for themselves and consumers.  Though still experimental fruit trees have actually been grown aquaponically.

Recently the Crop Diversification Centre North in Alberta, Canada allowed the public into its Edmonton research facility to learn more about this sustainable farming technique.

Noa Fisheries Director Jason Oziel says, “There’s a growing need for local sustainable food production technologies. Aquaponics, because there’s no chemical inputs, is completely natural.”

Nick Savidov of the Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development adds, "Microorganisms link together two components -- plants and fish -- in one living ecosystem and they make the whole operation work much more efficiently."

Savidov led the tours of the Crop Diversification Centre North’s research facility along with Lethbridge College’s Charlie Shultz and James Tidwell of Kentucky State University.

Savidov sees Aquaponics becoming a vital part of the food chain. “In order to grow food for future generations we need to recycle nutrients, which, now, most of them are wasted,” Savidov says. “We can help humanity to survive this planet.”

 




Edited by Ryan Sartor


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