Comment

Comment by Chris Smith on August 1, 2012 at 9:52pm

Coastview Aquaponics is looking for volunteer help on our farm on Saturdays. We are a small family run commercial farm that sells produce directly to our neighborhood and located on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii. We need a little help keeping up with the day to day work which usually gets put off until Saturdays when we are all around.

We will compensate your time with food sharing  and aquaponics knowledge. Just being on our farm and helping you will have the opportunity to absorb a lot of information. I am always teaching how to do things we have learned over the years of running an aquaponic farm. You will need your own transportation and a willingness to get your hands dirty. I have hundreds of pictures of our farm posted on my page.

Comment by Rebecca B on April 18, 2012 at 11:16am

HB 2703 needs some final help:

"Our food sustainability bill -to commit the state to double food production by 2020- has passed every committee on both sides of the Legislature leaving just minor differences between the Senate and House versions to be ironed out in a Conference Committee before final votes on the floor of both chambers. Hallelujah! Right?

Not so fast…

The Senate has appointed its Conferees.  But the Speaker, Calvin Say, has not named his House reps.  No House conferees, no conference.  No conference, no bill.  It’s that simple.

HB2703 would set the stage to press for all the things needed to spark a true food-farming renaissance in Hawaii.  Things like helping farmers get leases, investing in irrigation systems, providing covered port facilities to encourage inter-island commerce, building processing and purchasing networks and revising procurement codes so institutions like the Board of Education can start buying local, investing in training and loan assistance programs, putting food stamp machines in farmers’ markets, etc, etc. 

So we need a huge response.  

We need everyone to contact Speaker Say and the House Ag Committee Chair, Clift Tsuji, to politely ask them to pass HB 2703 out of Conference Committee.  We need the response to be bigger that at any previous stage.  We need people who've never lobbied before.  We need people to identify themselves – “I’m a teacher, I’m a lawyer, I’m a waiter…” to impress the Speaker with the breadth of support. 

Speaker, Calvin Say 

Phone 808-586-6100

E-Mail: repsay@capitol.hawaii.gov

and

House Ag Committee Chair, Clift Tsuji

Phone 808-586-8480

E-Mail: reptsuji@capitol.hawaii.gov

 

You don’t need to write much.  A couple of lines would do.  Preferably in your own words.  And keep the message positive.  Here’s some of the things you could say:

§  Doubling food production would give a $313 million boost to the economy, provide $6 million in state tax revenues and create more than 2,300 jobs.

§  Hawaii only grows 8% of the food we eat, according to the US Department of Agriculture.  This leaves us incredibly vulnerable to supply disruptions.

§  Opinion polls show this issue is one of the top concerns of voters in Hawaii and that people are prepared to pay a little more for locally grown food.

§  A statutory goal for food production will galvanize the state and the private sector – just like the Clean Energy Initiative helped kick-start the booming alternative energy sector. "

Comment by Rebecca B on March 18, 2012 at 10:56pm

I received this today:

Our food self sufficiency bill is not supposed to still be alive.  Thanks to you it is. Now we need one more push to get over the finish line and WE REALLY NEED YOUR HELP!

Last month you testified in support of HB 2703, a bill to require the state of Hawaii to double its food production by the year 2020.  The bureaucrats and the developers hated it.  But thanks to your support it survived in the House of Representatives. Now it is going to be heard on the other side: in the SenateAgriculture Committee - and one more time we need you to testify.

We’ve heard that opponents are unhappy that we’ve gotten this far and they are going to make another effort to finish us off.  We need to show that a lot of people support this bill - both in writing and in person. 

Why is it controversial?  Think about it: If the state has to double food production in just 8 years, how could they possibly justify reclassifying the best farmland currently growing food in order to permit more suburban sprawl?

Please write to the Chair of the Committee, Senator Clarence Nishihara.  You can submit testimony here  and if you can spare the time please come testify in person this Tuesday at 2:45pm at the Capitol in Room 229. 

Here are some of the things you could say:

§  Doubling our food production, according to a 2008 UH study, would give a $313 million jolt to the state economy, create $47 million in profits, provide $6 million in state tax revenues and create more than 2,300 jobs.

§  Hawaii currently only grows 8% to 10% of the food we eat, according to the US Department of Agriculture.  This leaves us incredibly vulnerable to supply disruptions.

§  Opinion polls repeatedly show this issue is one of the top political concerns of voters in Hawaii.  They also show that local people are prepared to pay a little more than for imported food because they place a premium on locally grown food.

§  A statutory goal for food production will have a galvanizing effect both on the state and on the private sector - in the same way as the Clean Energy Initiative has helped lick-start the booming alternative energy sector.

Comment by Raychel A Watkins on February 3, 2012 at 11:57am

Aloha all you members of the aquaponic community that live in Hawaii.  We need to talk to each other now and then to know what is going on.  Solidarity is the only way we are going to advance aquaponics here in Hawaii.  I know the University is doing all these different things but we the back yarders need to get together.  Join this group and lets start the chatter. Think about investigating the AQuaponic Association.  Glen Martinez is bringing a farm tour here on the 7th of Feb at 4 pm.  We are then going to Ma'o farms to talk Farmers Union and eat Kau Kau,  Consider comming out to Waianae and join us

Comment by Raychel A Watkins on April 17, 2011 at 7:55pm

Aloha Albert.  Is the meet up at my place still in the works for the 7th of May.  I guess noon till 6pm would be good.  Don't have any famous speakers but I have a pool to go swimming in if anyone chooses.  I am looking forward to it.  Is the hydronton sale still going forward.  Where do we pick it up Mahalo.

Comment by Chris Smith on February 23, 2011 at 10:41pm

The new image is much better. Mahalo!

Comment by AlbertF on February 23, 2011 at 5:04pm

sorry chris, im at work and dont access to my tools, i'll fix it later.

Comment by Chris Smith on February 21, 2011 at 12:51am

Aloha everybody. I a a little disappointed that half of the Big Island is cut off the image above. In the area of map that is cut off lies a major % of out states aquaponics systems! AT least the map has the Kona side where our farm is.

 

There seems to be much interest in prawns so  I start a discussion on it.

Comment by AlbertF on February 18, 2011 at 9:57am

a texas hatchery recommends:
Post larvae to day 45: Up to 40 animals per square foot.
Post larvae to day 60: Up to 20 animals per square foot.
From day 60 to day 90: No more than 2 animals per square foot.
After day 90: One to two and one-half square feet per animal.

Comment by AlbertF on February 18, 2011 at 9:56am

raychel, should be soon. please check forums for updates.

also found this re:prawns. "Volume and added substrate in holding tanks should allow each brooder approximately two square feet of surface area."

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