I would love to hear what your thoughts are on the role of aquaponics and how it fits in the larger picture of agriculture, soil farming, next gen urban farming, value chain, etc.
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Im very interested the urban farming. Farm to table Aquaponics greenhouses to supply family owned businesses"restaurants and small community towns.
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Good stuff. I think its perfect for urban farming too… I also found it interesting, was reading this piece and thought AP would be perfect at solving those scalability points:
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where does it fit in NOW… vs where does it fit in 10 yrs from now, 100 yrs from now?
maybe by 2050 half of all ag production will be aquaponics?!? wishful thinking? necessary thinking?
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necessary long term goal.
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The global food supply situation has been laid out pretty cleanly by the Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome. Projected food demand through 2050 (newer and revised projections focused on 2030) is 70-100% over current food supplies. We have to double food production in the next 30 years. That is a daunting task. Can we simply keep putting more land into agriculture around the world? Can we achieve increased production of this magnitude by further genetic selection programs? Transgenic manipulation? Climate Smart agriculture? Perhaps. However, the rest of the picture is a very simple one (or, as one of our Board members calls it, stupid simple!). We currently use 70% of the global supply of freshwater producing food by conventional approaches. Math is not my strong suit, but I am pretty that if we double 70, we exceed the amount of freshwater available. We need to incorporate new food production systems and approaches that demand less water. Ironically enough, water-based food production systems demand less water than terrestrial crops and aquatic animals demand less water than mammalian or avian species. When we add the healthy food supplies targeted in aquaponics, the argument for expanded production from theses systems becomes even more compelling. There is resistance from wholesalers and retailers. This is a new food production system, so there is a lack of experience and trust of the products. One of my favorite quotes is “New ideas are guilty until proved innocent”, David Raup, University of Chicago. Aquaponics needs to continue educating key components of the global food supply chain AND consumers. I strongly suspect food supplies from aquaponic production systems will increase in the short term and become an important input into global food supply chains.
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I grew up on a working dairy farm in northern Iowa. We grew corn, beans, hay, and oats. Besides dairy we also raised beef and pork. We had about 500 acres. I don’t see that way of farming with the heavy reliance on mechanization, fossil fuels, and a bunch of chemicals being sustainable. But there are great lessons we can learn from some parts of it. I believe that all human consumable foods can and should be grown in an aquaponics system, except for tree bearing fruits and nuts. Non-human consumable foods or plants should still be grown outdoors in traditional soil based operations. We can also integrate livestock operations into aquaponic operations. All of this can be done off-grid, sustainably.
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I like these types of statements 
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The rooftop farming idea struck me when I was trying to take cows up to the roof. They were unable to use the elevators and when I tried to help - they shat on their way up.
So I used fishes instead. And dropped the soil all together.
This is how I see it (and currently live it) :
This is a satellite view of a rooftop in Mumbai. This is our farmland.
For this project - we’ll grow only spinach in that farmland.
Mom Nature’s rules for Spinach
One plant of spinach takes 30 days to be ready for harvest. It grows from seed to harvest and takes 30 days to reach the stage when it can be eaten.
Using Aquaponics, I have been able to touch 100 gms worth of spinach from one netpot.
On our project rooftop - we will install 5000 netpots - meaning we will harvest 500kgs of spinach in a month.
[ 5000 netpots x 100 gms per month ]
Hold on…
…this is 500 kgs coming to us on day #30. For the rest of the 29 days - no spinach has arrived. And after harvest - it’ll be another 29 days before the next 500kgs will arrive.
SCALING THE PRODUCTION
We’ll replicate this setup on 30 rooftops in Mumbai.
But we don’t sow seeds in all the rooftops together. We sequentially stagger the seeding cycle - 1 rooftop each day.
Sequence of Events
For the first 29 days of this project - nothing happens.
The first harvest from Rooftop #1 arrives at day #30.
Harvest 2 from Rooftop #2 arrives on day #31
Harvest 3 from rooftop #3 arrives on day #32
…and so on…
Till day #30.
Now we’re clocking 500kgs of spinach everyday.
I am selling at a shade over INR1000 per kg. There are 10 cities to scale to.
This is Maths for spinach - a very basic and simple vegetable. Some superfoods like celery are hyper premium because they are difficult to grow in current farming setups !
Here are top points in favor of this hyper-local farming model on a city rooftop :
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There’s zero delivery costs. I go deliver on my bicycle or walk.
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Customer pays me a premium - and that too happily. That is because they know the farmer. The connect is amazing. And I think it’s the secret to success - especially the fresh veggies market.
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I grow what they want - so there’s literally a farm calendar that my customer prepares for me.
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These farms are carbon fixing engines on city roofs. In my first month I harvested cucumbers from a rooftop in Juhu - the plants seem to love the extra CO2.
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Aquaponics recycles all the water - so there’s no wastage
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At least the equatorial regions don’t need a greenhouse or a polyhouse to do aquaponics
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More jobs for city dwellers. And farm access to children so they can learn a life skill.
What do you think ? Have you any experience with Rooftop farming models that are working and/or not ?
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This sounds like a good place to ask this question. I was recently approached by a large ministry in TX, wanting to know the approximate foot print needed to produce enough food for a 1000/yr using greenhouses and aquaponics. Where do I need to look to find this type of research. I am hoping this can work into a full time position. So any help would be greatly appreciated.
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No doubt in my mind.
Aquaponics is the future of farming.
I am currently promoting Regenerative Aquaponics in my country, the Philippines. No hungry Filipino is my battlecry.
Yes, regeneration means creation of new soil.
Im a handyman, so my small rooftop garden of around 40 sq m is supplying fresh vegetables and fruits and tilapia to my family.
Teaching the technology to several folks and soon a collaborative partnership with educational organizations.