A Community and Forum For Aquaponic Gardeners

Aquaponics - Commercial Styles

I have seen a lots of suggestions and discussion as to how to incorporate Aquaponics for Commercial Farming. Some discussions center around growing styles such as Water based or Gravel Based, horizontal or vertical, DWC or NFT's, types of growing medium as well as other growing means which an be converted to Aquaponics. Lets share some of these ideas here :-

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Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on February 28, 2011 at 6:57pm

Here is a great short video by Murray Hallam. Aquaponic Gardening Community member, on Commercial Aquaponiocs comparing NFT with DWC. Temperature control looks to be the main criteria per this video for a preference of DWC over NFT. Depending upon your individual Temperature Zone and growing area (outdoors/indoors and/or open/covered), it is possible to use both to maximize the growing possibilities.

What do you think?

Aquaponics for profit

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on March 4, 2011 at 4:30pm

An excellent article of progress in Commercial Urban Aquaponics ...I am sharing an article on the activities of one of my Aquapon friends, Myles Harston of AquaFresh...just look at some of the inroad being made :

“Miles is a true believer. He sees the value of what he spent so many years trying to refine. At his core, he’s a farmer," said Rose. “And what we’re talking about here isn’t a science experiment. This is farming.”
And Harston and Rose don't plan to stop with Here. Besides serving as consultants to other famers interested in setting up aquaponics systems, they’re hoping to partner with institutions such as Chicago State to create degree and certificate programs in aquaponics and urban farming"

Read the full article...http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=181403

God bless

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on March 6, 2011 at 6:03am

Here an an excellent post on "Home Town Farms Solves Skyrocketing Food Costs"

Well worth both a read as well as watching the You Tube Video. I believe that they are using Hydroponics but it is as easy to use this in Aquaponics and have the added benefit of Fish. this is where "tomorrows' urban farming should be heading in my opinion.

The article begins as follows:

"We are in the midst of a global food crisis, with the price of food skyrocketing globally over the last year. As the cost of corn has jumped 87% and wheat 74%, tens of millions of people are finding it harder than ever to feed their families, with the rising price of food even helping to trigger the wave of social unrest sweeping the Middle East. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) said a record 40 million Americans, or 1 in 8, may not be able to eat without government assistance..."

Commercial Vertical Organic Urban Farming 2

News Article - click here

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on March 8, 2011 at 5:07am

Here is a follow up article that is also worth a read. I love the idea that there is thought to combining two growing methods...Aquaponics and Aeroponics...now that is finally getting to what I was dreaming of :-)

"Northwestern University alumnus Alan Rose, a 1977 Medill journalism graduate, is at the forefront of this movement. Along with his partners Paul Suder, Paul Hardej and Myles Harston, he’s working to grow produce in the Chicago area using closed-loop technologies, including growing plants in air, called aeroponics, and with a simulated ecosystem where fish provide fertilizer through their waterborne waste. "...read more by clicking the link below.

Science Connections: A Third Way of Thinking About Agriculture

Sahib Punjabi said:

An excellent article of progress in Commercial Urban Aquaponics ...I am sharing an article on the activities of one of my Aquapon friends, Myles Harston of AquaFresh...just look at some of the inroad being made :

“Miles is a true believer. He sees the value of what he spent so many years trying to refine. At his core, he’s a farmer," said Rose. “And what we’re talking about here isn’t a science experiment. This is farming.”
And Harston and Rose don't plan to stop with Here. Besides serving as consultants to other famers interested in setting up aquaponics systems, they’re hoping to partner with institutions such as Chicago State to create degree and certificate programs in aquaponics and urban farming"

Read the full article...http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=181403

God bless

Permalink Reply by Kobus Jooste on March 8, 2011 at 10:45am

Thanks for getting this up and running. Maybe I'm a bit of a stickler for detail, and I will still have to read all your posts, but when I was getting a detailed business plan together 2009/10, the only data on yields came from UVI and Alberta. It is great to see people trying other things on large scale, but it is a brave person that goes for an "untested" method with little or no data on yield and running costs. I think because of that, most people will likely go for DVC as the bulk of their systems, trying other methods on the side maybe.

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on May 25, 2011 at 5:32am

Aquaponic farming operations taking root
Startup companies bet locally sourced fish, produced in self-sustai...

Amid the worst economy in decades, Andrew Fernitz, 23, thinks he can raise fish and organic produce for a living.

While his classmates are searching for jobs at employment fairs and scrambling for internships, the recent University of Illinois at Chicago graduate quit his job as a bartender to join three friends in launching an ambitious new startup. Together they are setting up an aquaponic farm on the South Side. read more by clicking this link :Aquaponic farming operations taking root Startup companies bet loca...

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on May 25, 2011 at 5:34am

Related post "Aquaponics redefines "locally grown"...

http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=186175

Sahib Punjabi said:

Aquaponic farming operations taking root
Startup companies bet locally sourced fish, produced in self-sustai...

Amid the worst economy in decades, Andrew Fernitz, 23, thinks he can raise fish and organic produce for a living.

While his classmates are searching for jobs at employment fairs and scrambling for internships, the recent University of Illinois at Chicago graduate quit his job as a bartender to join three friends in launching an ambitious new startup. Together they are setting up an aquaponic farm on the South Side. read more by clicking this link :Aquaponic farming operations taking root Startup companies bet loca...

Permalink Reply by David Hart on May 25, 2011 at 7:08am

Thanks Sahib

.....I always enjoy reading about others giving the commercial side a 'go'.

Permalink Reply by Sahib Punjabi on October 2, 2011 at 6:13am

A growth industry

Manager Steve Meyer talking to aquaculture tour group in the Future Farm greenhouses. Above: Steve Meyer, center, director of operations for Future Farm Food and Fuel, led a tour of a greenhouse during a beginning aquaculture workshop. The 27,000-square-foot complex north of Baldwin produces lettuce and other leafy, green vegetables as well as fish for various markets. Below: Some of the aquaponics vegetables floated in effluent from the fish tanks.