1,000% more productive than conventional gardening & farming. The most robust, most scalable Aquaponics system in the world is the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System. Maxed out, you can produce 240,000 vegetables and 92,000 pounds of fish per acre, using up to 95% less water and no dirt. These are locally grown, organic, vine ripened vegetables and the freshest of the fresh Tilapia, Catfish or Salmon.
Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants in water only), in a carefully designed, hyper-productive closed-loop system. There is no pesticide, no fungicide, no fertilizer, no watering the garden, no bending down to weed the garden, and you produce food year round, no matter the climate or soil conditions. This can work in the Sahara Desert or in Antarctica.
Using this system, each 25 SF of grow space can feed one adult 25% of their protein and all of their table vegetables, year round, forever! On-site local food production is the ultimate form of food storage.
Anyone can install a backyard version of one of these hyper-productive Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems in their backyard/rooftop/patio and grow with more abundance. It is time to solve hunger worldwide, through creating local food abundance…. Anyone can do it, once you learn how.
You can access their website at Portable Farms.com
Note: You can build a greenhouse addition attached to your home using these same principles. It doesn’t have to be a separate structure. This would make it easy to utilize the excess heat and simplify the plumbing. Use the sustainable materials discussed on our blog and save even more.
Hi! I know this is an older post, but a friend of mine has started a kickstarter project to document an aquaponics project in Nebraska. I thought you might do a blog post on it, possibly? He has a pretty detailed project set up. I was impressed!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1509106546/testing-the-potential-and-productivity-of-aquaponi
It is a bit deceiving because there are external requirements that are needed with these systems. You can’t really grow that amount of food in that space, unless you ignore the requirements (energy, fish food, trace minerals).
Don’t get me wrong, I love aquaponics and I love backyard farming, but some of the claims being made with these systems ignore a lot of factors.
Aquaponics is energy intensive, and completely energy dependent. If the power goes out for a few hours, you’ve lost all of your fish. This makes it very difficult to do in developing nations where grid power is unreliable.
You can take it off-grid, but then you are looking at a significant cost, because of the 24/7 power requirement.
There are some things that can be done, and I’ve discussed Low Energy Aquaponics (LEAP) on many aquaponics forums. The key to energy demand is low stocking density of fish and low head requirement by the pump. When all said and done, we figured you could produce 100 kgs of live fish a year on 10 watts of solar power at a cost of $500 (approx). That’s not bad, but it ignores the cost of fish food and other associated costs.
Seems like you’re probably right. Good points.
Yes, my thoughts too. I had already added “efficient fire” (rocket stoves and the like)& internet and you mention roofwater catchment and small livestock. I like modern (urban or rural)homesteading!
I can see this appealing to several different groups of widely varied motivations.
1)Conservative politicians might like a “we will teach you how, long-term lease you an eight of an acre, then you pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” approach to welfare.
2)Young folks starting out could use this as a way to save most of their regular job salary by not having large house payments, utility bills and food bills and thereby accumulate a lot of wealth over a period of 15 to 20 years. They could retire in their mid 40s rather than in their mid 60s like their peers, who used their money for a middle class monthly budget.
3)Hard working poor and working class people, not on welfare, but feeling financially trapped and unable to get ahead. They could save the majority of whatever their current incomes are and build cash, to either change their situation or simply feel more financially secure where they are.
4) the Green movement folks who think this is a healthy and harmonious way to live.
A lot of folks who feel trapped and desire freedom could have it if they were to adopt the package of methods that are a part of modern homesteading. Such programs could fly under pithy titles like: “Find Gold in the Ghetto”, “Pioneers for Profit”, “Poor No More”, “From Handouts To Homesteads” or “Natural Wealth”, depending upon the orientation of the advocate.
What if every school child in the world learned, perhaps 10, basic methods (earthbag construction, aquaponics, family sized solar arrays, natural toilets, etc.)that are part of modern homesteading? In urban centers of the Western world, being able, or not, to find a job would not be such a make or break situation. Whether in the most remote area or in a crowed slum, people would always know how to provide for themselves. The physical, emotional and financial consciousness surrounding being a “have” or a “have not” would shift dramatically. The world would be a better place.
This knowledge is spreading, and it’s getting easier to find on the Internet. This blog alone gets quite a bit of traffic. Multiply the number of topics (on rocket stoves, greenhouses, etc.) times thousands of websites and blogs and it’s likely tens of millions of people are now aware of these things. The bad economy seems to be pushing more people toward learning about these sustainable living ideas.
To your list above, I would add a 5th category — some combination of 1, 2, 3, 4. For instance, someone might be from category 3 (hardworking poor or working class) who are also concerned about the environment (category 4).
Seems like a great system! I laughed at the Antarctica bit, because I work down there at McMurdo Station. We do have hydroponic greenhouses that we use in winter to grow veggies to supplement our diet. Some people from NASA have come down to teach us their ways. Unfortunately we don’t have the fish… I think that would be a breach to the Antarctic Treaty. Thanks for sharing this!
This really excites me! It effectively addresses one of a handful of basic human needs. A home built from earth, a waterless & nonelectric toilet, small off grid solar array for power and now this–grow all the food you need in a very small space!
I realize we have to deal with logistics, education, financial interests, political agendas and even individual motivation. But, my goodness! The dream of eradicating poverty and hunger is no longer just a dream!
I agree. I used to research these things one at a time. About 13 years ago or so it all clicked when I had the same realization you’re describing. Add in wireless Internet, roofwater catchment, small livestock, rocket stoves or other fuel efficient stoves, etc. etc. and things get way more interesting. This I believe is the dawning of a new world.