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  • From: aquaponicfarm@gmail.com
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Aquaponics + Biogas + Green Business = Food & Energy Independence
  • Date: Tue, 3 May 2011 16:37:28 -0500

Out setups use only one pump. Water is gravity fed to grow beds and gravity
back to fish tank.

The pump used can be wind powered as easily as electric.

With low density fish you could use human powered by dumping buckets of fish
water a couple times a day into grow beds.

Hook it up to a sea saw for kids to pump the water.

Smaller systems for family use instead of large commercial systems are more
sustainable in my thoughts.

We teach a section on aquaponics as part of the PDC course we teach but it is
a element not the final answer.

Gloria

On May 3, 2011, at 2:03 PM, Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com> wrote:

> I'd be very interested to hear others thoughts along the thread of
> aquaponics being "one of the most sustainable" agricultural systems ever
> created. I really appreciated hearing Darren Doherty's thoughts about that.
>
> I'll go ahead and admit my weakness: I haven't been convinced of aquaponics
> sustainability. I am convinced that it is an extremely productive system. I
> currently oversee a small two-tub aquaponics demo that my students built and
> take care of, so I am familiar with the concept and function. It seems the
> materials that it takes to set up such a system embody huge amounts of
> energy (including the greenhouse structure itself). As an urban set-up to
> use converted warehouse space in overly industrialized areas with toxic soil
> it makes great sense. Beyond that I am not yet willing to generalize it as
> an extremely sustainable form of agriculture. Naturally, it probably depends
> on the methods one uses. It seems particularly subject to power outages and
> equipment failure though.
>
> I also should note that I'm NOT suggesting aquaponics shouldn't be done if
> it is proven to be unsustainable, just that we might want to choose
> different language when generalizing about it. For example, I love the
> benefits of a greenhouse, but I'm not going to suggest it is one of the most
> sustainable forms of growing. It's just nice to have fresh food all winter!
>
> And aquaponics could be the holy grail of agriculture, but I'm not convinced
> yet. I'd like to hear about other models, that use gravity more than pumps,
> soil based media instead of hydroton, or more chinampas like scenarios.
>
> Anybody have thoughts they want to share about this...
>
> Jason
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