Look into using sonic bloom 45 minutes a day. Ash or biochar for soil. copper or copper coated garden tools for working the soil easier and soil plus plants like the tiny particles of copper left behind. Perhaps hire a local metal worker with foundry skills. Trade some food, ask people to bring scrap copper pipes, wires, etc to keep carbon footprint & $ minimized. Top bar bee hives. Start Fukuoka seedball operations. Metal worker make highly polishes parabolic dish for cooking.
Protecting people from contaminants!? I cant believe this! It was just signed this month! I want them to show the damn paperwork that says this was warranted! I have not heard of anyone being poisoned by organic local farm veggies, and if it happend it's probably rare. These big corporations sell contaminated spinach, and sell produce made with GMO's and harmful chemicals and inhumane livestock processing. But they don't get hit, the local farmers do?! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I would contact my state representative, but i don't even feel that would do any good. What next? When is enough enough? It's my right if I want to buy tomatoes from my neighbor, or purchase from local farmers! And now it's illegal? See this is what people need to be paying attention to instead of the nonsense T.V!
From what I gather, the act makes it illegal for local farmers to sell home grown food to the public without some government document. They try to say it's to protect people from contaminants? So basically if you want fresh organically grown produce, you better grow it ya self or go to the store. This bill is gonna cancel out local farmers! They won't be able to sell you anything unless they pay a lot of money for some government approval...WTF!!!
It's pretty obvious to me that these 'farmers' are actually Nazis in disguise.
America is the land of the free, and we shouldn't have these racist, government hating extremists pretending to grow food, when in fact they are building weapons of mass destruction.
Call your local Homeland Security office before these vicious monsters attack Israel !
$1.50 a head is pretty optimistic... and you'd have to sell them yourself... you'd have to open your own store... realistically if the stores are selling lettuce for around $1, you can expect to sell your lettuce to the store for about $0.35 per head, quite possibly less...
All I know is that if you even had a somewhat modest commercial aquaponic system, organic lettuce sells for what? $1.50 a head....rotating 1000 heads weekly...that's $1,500 weekly...and once you have the system running...especially a system like they have here..a dwc (deep water culture) you can really have a nice green business that is feeding your local populace.
@davehutchinson67 Getting the product directly to the consumer is the hardest part and the only way to make enough money to be worth the effort. It is not hard to sell a thousand dollars in 'natural' veggies at our local farmers market. This is because there is a health store next to it. Therefore, many health conscience and educated people are already passing by.
Tilapia are very low in fat. Sense fatty fish are so healthy to eat (and they keep you feeling fuller longer) have you considered growing fatty fish such as catfish or trout.
@AquaticCastle I have tried bluegill, but they did not grow fast. I have not found any trout to try yet. Our weather here is warm and summers are long and hot.
@AquaticCastle Where is Obama to praise this black man for being "green". He is trumpeting the wonders of "green energy": that stuff from Fukushima that has showered down on us to an alarming degree, producing 10,000% more radiation than FDA acceptance levels in Hawaiian milk and causes massive increases in still borns in the continental USA. No Obama is about supporting Monsanto and GMOs, not self-sustaining farmers.
@AquaticCastle You need to do research on tilapia's fat content. Very low in omega 3 fatty acid and very high in omega 6 fatty acid. Omega 6 fatty acid is bad. Omega 3 is why doctors tell people to eat fish.
@kingmike40 Obviously I didn't just pull that out of you know where. The tilapia in my store has 0 fat. If it has 0 fat, then it can't have any Omega 6.
stilll.... going by your math of 3100lbs of food grown in 765 sqft. of a 1005sqft chunk, you're 100,000lbs short of half way to 1 million lbs grown on 3 acres of land per year... and that's if your data is completely accurate on variable lengths of a growing season based on sunlight. 130680= acreage / 1005 = 130 plots of 1005sqft area. now 130 X 3100 = 403,092lbs produced... looks like you're eating well, and if that isnt adding up for your food consumption, u did the math wron.
@nomadatlop That is the amount of eatable food that I weighed in from 1005 SqFt over 120 days. I see no problem getting a similar yield using 4 season techniques over the renaming 245 days in the year.
Not only are we eating well, we cant eat it all. The goats and cow got many treats. The real problem with growing this much is that you must input compost or mulch to feed the soil. I dont like this idea as much as using the biointensive method and growing your own mulch on site.
@nomadatlop Its true that only growing space is figured. In my trial garden vines grow over the walk ways some times or are restricted with string. My trial garden has 765 square foot of garden area with 240 square feet of paths for a total area of 1005 square feet. Harvest over 120 days: corn(20#), oats(4.3#), wheat(5.8#), carrots(3#), and green onions tops(2.7#), zuchinni around the edges in paths(238#), were planted between sweat potatoes (2318#) & leaves (570#). 3100 pounds of food.
@GreenLearning That is 3+ pounds of food per square foot including foot paths in 120 days(rounded down). If I used vertical space, and grew two more crops in a green house this would easily approach the million pounds of food on 3 acre CLAIM. That is why I THINK it is possible to do. Did they really do it? I Do Not Know.
i've grown wall to wall plants in a raft system, and the system was sitting on 2.5 acres of lang... but i cant single out te growing strength of 1 sqft and apply it to all of the 108,900 sqft of the acreage... i can only multiply my growth rate by the amount of available growing area, which in my case was limited to the area of the troughs... that's how the math is flawed... thats how i turned the just over 20,000 lbs of actual production into 2,000,000+ lbs of projected production.
@green learning i fully understand your math, but equating what's grown in a square foot of the system to the 43,000+ sqft in an acre is misleading... you're saying that you're producing that amount of food on every sqft of that acre, which is wrong, you're can only account for the square footage of where the plants are actually growing... this means subtracting area of walk ways and space in between plants... doing this will dramatically reduce your projection numbers.
@nomadatlop Get one thing straight. As I have said several times. I am not growing power. I do not claim that I raised a million # of food on 3 acres. I am simply showing what they claim and the key components that growing power uses. Based on my trials I believe it IS possible. I do not know that they did in fact do what they claim.
@GreenLearning Wasn't asking you just throwing the question out there. It's obvious he has a good thing going there and I love the idea of aquaponics but a million pounds on 3 acres in a year sounds ridiculous.
@TheConspiracyRealist The thing is that much food was not raised in aquaponics. They do water with the nitrogen rich fish water. If you read the info with the video, you can see why I THINK it is possible to do based on my trials. Have I raised a million # of food? Not yet. If you counting the foot path area, I can grow half that density(3+ pounds a square foot), but if I grow two or even 3 seasons as growing power there should be no problem getting similar results.
the government pulls the same stunts with math, like when they say they're going to throw 500 million dollars at a problem like education, when the grim reality is that number is a fraction of a percent of the total budget... looks like a pretty big number, but when put up against the sum of what it's being pulled from... its actually quite small... the devil is in the details my friend...
@nomadatlop What are you talking about? I can raise that much food on a per square foot basis WITHOUT using vertical growing space, WITHOUT a greenhouse, WITHOUT growing in 100% compost, and two instead of 3 crops per year! Its entirely possible to grow at a density of 7 to 8 pounds of food(yes eatable product) per square foot, per year; which IS a million pound on 3 acres. Like the video said. GROW YEAR AROUND (2 to 3 well choose crops per year), use LOTS OF COMPOST, USE VERTICAL SPACE.
but even i've been a bit misleading with the math. the farm that i was on had 20 troughs measuring 80ft'4ft. thats 320sqft per trough. like i said it only took 160sqft to get around 350lbs of growth. 350lbs= 160sqft, so 320sqft 700lbs. (700lbs*20 troughs)*9 harvests on average = 126000lbs of lettuce produced per year... still over 6 times the amount of the actual amount produced...
but what about the walking area? 2ft wide paths in between each trough still only accounts for 1920sqft. then over estimate another 2000sqft per acre for misc walking areas around the tanks... so that leaves 40270sqft of growing area/ 160sqft = 252apx. so (350lbs*9 harvests)* 252 {160sqft units} * 2.5 = 1,984,500... which is still false for how much was actually grown.
sorry, i caught a mistake, i put the "," in the wrong place... it should read 2,143,968.75 pounds our lettuce per year on a 2.5 acre farm... either way it's still false.
and i even over estimated the lettuce growth time in the system at 6 week cycles... depending on the weather you can get it to a harvestable size towards the end of it's 4th week, but thats only at prime conditions. so from sprout in the system - harvest size, i over estimate it at 6 weeks with 3-4 days of full sunlight per week.
faulty projections can cause alot of confusions... and i only did that calculation for 1 acre... according to that math, if i did the calculations for a 2.5 acres farm id just take 857587.5*2.5=214,3968.75 lbs of lettuce per year. in reality, we produced close to 1% of that.
my point is math is misleading. if i counted in the waste product with the total weight grown, the number gets farther away from the truth... (43560sqft /160sqft)= 272.25 units of area for growth in a acre measuring 160sqft, now counting wast we got around 350lbs per harvest with 9 harvets per year. (350lbs*9 harvests)*272.25, 160sqft units in an acre=857587.5lbs of lettuce production per year. looks good on paper, but it didnt happen. i have the records to prove that it didnt happen.
@nomadatlop My personal trials have yielded high enough to be equal to growing powers claims. While I have not grown a solid 3 acres I know it possible. I believe its possible based NOT only on mathematical figures. Its based on real production averaged over a 4 square foot area in a years time. Production from mulched beds watered with fish water + AP beds; not counting fish weights, and always rounding figures of real weighed produce down. If you have issue with Will go talk to him.
i did read the math, and it's probably because of the plants that you grew in the ground, but on the Farm i was on we averaged close to 9 Harvest a year in just the lettuce. now it only takes 160sqft to get 200lbs of sellable product on average. multiply the number of 160sqft section in an acre by the weight grown, by the number of harvesting cycles, and you get 489600. which is a long way off from what was actually produced.
yes, you go through all of those extra steps to produce a sort of food product from this system, but without the advertising of these extra steps, to say that the food comes from the systems is is truthful, but misleading as to the extent of extra processing, as your point of the fish bones.
@nomadatlop Perhaps you have a suggestion for a disclaimer I can tack onto the video? I really believe its possible to get a million pounds on eatable product form 3 acres of growing area based on the production I get. That would be a lot work though! Also, I notice that almost no one reads the video description text. I had hoped that that text would help clear things up..
what im doing? i going by the generally accepted terms of food. i've been cooking in restaurants for many years now and never have i heard of eating potato leaves. neither has anyone i've asked in the last 3 hours. Maple leaves are edible, but most people wouldn't consider that food. but what you've just basically aid is the largest portion of your food production is a result from outside sources, i.e. the compost from other sites and largely not produced on the 3 acres...
lettuce is a good indicator of growth power. it grows fast, and has a high water content, so for it's speed of growth, it holds a good weight of EDIBLE product. things like water cress do grow very rapidly, but are steamy... the leaves are good to eat, but the stems hold little flavor, so i wouldnt consider that a food... the stems would add to the total weight of growth, but simply cannot be called food because you wouldnt eat it. words people, use them correctly.
@nomadatlop We prepair our food with almost every part of the plants and fish; even the bones are boiled in vinegar to make them eatable. So what one person calls food another person would call waste. Americans in general are just wasteful and eat only the best parts. Its a matter of prospective.
i've got an idea in mind to increase the productivity of a finite space, but even that will only increase the yield to just under 32,000lb of sellable product per year... so like i said... i would have to build a farm 10 stories high @ 2.5 acres per story, and i still wouldnt reach a third of what growing power claims they can produce, using the current logistic models... like i said... a simple misuse of words can cause alot of issues.
@kariscorp you're off by a "0" it's only 20,800, wish it would have been 200k. we grew a lettuce mix, over 14 varieties, Johnny's seeds permitting... lol. and that's 20,800lbs of sellable product. no root weight. no spotted leaf weight. no compost weight. see what i mean about skewed numbers...
it's set up to look life a self contained system on 3 acres that's producing massive amounts of food, when really there are various outside inputs, and the weight measured, although theoretically plausible, physically impossible. if you don't believe it refer to the comment below from an actual commercially producing aquaponics farm that had an account with a large grocer... adding waste product to the total weight does not count as food weight... it counts as skewed numbers.
the whole title is misleading... not all of the stuff weighed is edible, argo, not food, and alot of stuff on that 3 acres wasn't exactly produced on that 3 acres in it's entirety... like i mentioned before, what they're doing is great, even though they aren't being completely truthful as to the title and claims.
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
look, dont get me wrong, what you guys are doing is great, but there is a big issue with people making false claims about the productivity of their systems in order to market their manuals, week long classes, and internships... so please do not feel singled out, because Friendly aquaponics is getting just as much heat from me about their questionable information as well.
@nomadatlop Just to make one thing clear I am NOT growing power or will allen. I use biointensive methods with aquaponics water to water the soil. I have no problem what so ever getting 7 pounds of produce(not growth) per square foot per year and I dont even use vertical space or hundreds of yards of compost like is used in the video. I just like what they are doing recycling waste to produce cheap food for the community. My favorite crops:sweet potato, kangong,cucumbers,radish..
"Regardless, it is not at all hard if you pick the right plants nutrition aside." i thought the point of the systems were to provide nutrition? and the collection of compost from the system wouldnt count as edible either... that's why it's compost... i.e. not food.
@nomadatlop If you looks at what it takes for truly complete nutrition. Pretty much non of us get it. We eat what we like. I cant possible get into the nutrition figures in this tiny sized reply post, but I suggest you read "Food Now" from bountiful gardens. They do pretty good job of it. It would take $600 per month per person of crappy walmart produce to get "complete" nutrition. To round out the nutrition you need some plants that are just not space efficient.
I can't wait to try this here at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. We grew oysters years ago via Aquaculture in Pescadero, CA, and I can't wait to try fish and vegetables here now. Plus we can help all the people around the lake in the many villages that do not have access to healthy, organic or sufficient food. What a wonderful benefit for all concerned! God bless people like this who do such good works for the world.
"The winds of grace blow all the time; all we need do is set our sails."
i have done it, on a commercial scale, on 2.5 acres of land, in hawaii. only produced 400lbs per week of sellable product at it's maximum yield point... even if i counted the edible product, with slight imperfections, it would only be 600lbs weekly. still a very far cry from 1 million pounds. even if i built that farm up and stacked in 10 stories high with the same acreage on each level, it'd still only produce a third of the mass that you're claiming to produce.
@nomadatlop Its just not hard to get 7 pounds of food per square foot on the ground per year. I dont know what you are doing. Water cress is very productive, but most production is in compost where its not uncommon to get 12 pounds of sweet potato per plant per season plus a minimum 3 pounds of eatable leaves. The leaves and vines intertwine, some are tied up, but the root area is only 2.25 square feet. So in only 120 days yeilds 6+ pounds of FOOD. Now with 240 days left..got it.
@CraigRidley1 FDA S510 Food Moderization Act (makes it illegal to grow your own food in your backyard, in your house or anywhere not approved by corporations), accompany that with the NDAA
it's like calling a 140 pound deer 140 pounds of food... you can eat the bones, or the antlers, or most of the digestive tract, so this doesnt qualify as food. in that 140 pound deer you can only expect a fraction f total weight to be edible... yes, watercress does grow real well in the systems, but not all of that plant can be eaten. meaning part of the weight of the plant cannot be called food
yes, plant matter. but the difference between plant matter and food is edibility. not all of what is being weighed can be eaten. so it's misleading. it should say 1 million pounds of growth. in the eyes of the world 1 million pounds of food brings to mind things you can eat in absolute. this would also mean 1 million pounds in sellable product. so in short, if it isn't sellable, it probably isn't edible... or else these people would be loaded...
@nomadatlop Yea Yea. You have to be selective about what you grow to get an Eatable yield close to 90%. Regardless, it is not at all hard if you pick the right plants nutrition aside. I can and have feed my self 99.x% in 400 square feet without great variety. For the 'normal' person the large amount of compost (food industry waste) is the hard part of growing power system. Enough wining, go do it then you can talk from experience.
@nomadatlop 7.65 pounds of plant matter per square foot in a years time. LOL, its not hard to do with aquaponics not using vertical space. Micro greens and water cress are VERY productive. But then anyone doing it would know that.
It is NOT a model that will work to feed the world due to the huge inputs of composted food waste, and seed grown on other farms. Its simply impossible to scale that to produce all food. However, it stands on its own merits.
like i said... it'd take 57 bull african elephants to make 1 million lbs of edible anything... and even thats misleading because im counting in bone weight as part of the total mass.
and since i live only a few hours away and there's no growing power labeled lettuce on my grocers shelves... somethings just arent adding up...
the sale of mislabeled knowledge is not only unethical but dangerous. you're going to put the faith of the people into a product that is being misinterpreted. imagine if people were counting on these projections of food and found out that most of the weight being produce was inedible?
as for the top comment, the projected 1 million pounds of "Food" should actually be 1 million pounds of "Product" is a wrong label. it's easy to git a high weight like that when you're counting your compost as a product. if it were 1 million pounds of food in 3 acres im sure growing power would have a slew of commercial accounts for their excess produce...
just remember, the price for a system will greatly vary depending on what part of the world you're in and the necessary materials. also a bit of thought goes into this... building a system out of wood wouldnt make much sense if you live in a area where termites are very active. in this situation you would use concrete blocks or some other material...
the price depends on what part of the world you are in, the ease of getting materials, and how creative you are... for example... instead of a raised bed you dig 80ftx4ftx1ft trenches and line them with the pvc liner.. you just reduced the cost by excluding the wood or what ever you build the walls of the troughs out of... all of the plumbing would lie under/ in between the trenches...
initial investments depend on where your building your system. different regions of the world have different materials costs and shipping costs, not to mention import taxes... anyone that can tell you an indefinite amount of money will get you a farm with asking first where you are and what you plan to build your system out of first is selling you a lie.
i find it hard to believe that 1 million lbs of anything can be "grown" on just 3 acres of land annually... that's the same as raising 57 bull african elephants on just 3 acres of land... yes, aquaponics is an amazing science in all of its forms... but saying you can grow 1 million pounds of food using it on 3 acres is a bit far fetched.
How many acres did it take to produce the inputs required for these 3 acres? (Like the compost, commercial feed for feeding the fish, coconut husks, etc) These should be factored into the overall picture. This is what Michael Pollan refers to as 'hidden costs.'
@inoculatedmind Yea, its NOT truly sustainable, BUT it is taking what was going to the land fill and using it productivity. A buffet society removed from their food production will always have tons of waste. Actually, unless you keep all the product on the farm (including the poo from eating it) then you will always have to import something to the land. The real answer is the one no one wants to hear; each person should produce their own food.
@GreenLearning i want to hear it. i want an automated system that makes it easy, and also get a learning experience from it. Home produced food is also as free as it gets ! so i definitely want to hear it!
@GreenLearning 'The real answer is the one no one wants to hear; each person should produce their own food'
that's exactly it, the mistake was moving off family & community land to take jobs to make money to pay someone else for food production. with things like permaculture and re-greening urban environments, and using eg lawns, verges etc productively things could begin to get back on track. also waters would team with life w/o pollution and wrong types of fishing (trawls etc)
Are you seeking truth? Search for "Truth Contest" in Google and click the 1st result, then click on "The Present" to open it. It is not what you think it is.
So I plugged this into my social model, of which I have 30 square miles of my project devoted to food development, and came to 17.5 million people being fed yearly. That is crazy....so... with 17.5 million people being able to eat off of 30 square miles why are people going hungry in this day and age?
@Daleon1b i have realized we are being cheated and robbed ,tricked into working jobs that mean nothing to dollars to some money hungry turd , we can stop playing there game and start living as soon as the sleepers wake up
This is really interesting. Did you grow the entire 1M pounds of food through your aqaponics system or is the total from all efforts (livestock, traditional farming etc) on the 3 acres?
hello, this is an amazing thing to do! congratulations in your work!
I was wondering, do you guys have any sort of technical documentation I could use, as Im interesting in doing it in my city, to feed our people and create new jobs. It would Government financed (here in South America)
Wow amazing! I have been thinking about combining these two system ideas, compost heated greenhouses and aquaponics and I want to do it! Where can we find more technical advise on how to build a system like this???
@thatstheguy07 yeah, i could see that, but, it would also depend upon if they are using the city water, rain water, purified water, if the water is ever changed, etc. As well as what the fish are eating. At a base level, if the water is mostly free of contaminants(heavy metals, etc) and the fish eat well, i would see no issues. I'm sure large scale fish farms could care less about the care of their fish, just as long as their nice enough that some one will buy them.
@thatstheguy07 "Farm raised" food only has the nutrients of the fish feed. The omega 3 & 6 is also out of balance. However, by adding a wide verity of fresh greens from the dirt to the fish diet you can get great nutrition. I suspect that even farm raised fish produce food of equal quality to any food you can buy. I know that we do better than average. Besides, to be nutritionally complete you must eat more than a single food.
Pardon my ignorance, where can one learn about the whole process on how to build and operate such facility? ( I am not a farmer or grower but it always interested me)
@gospodindima I too am very interested. I personally think this is going to be the future. I can see these in every town, providing more accessible, healthier and cheaper food while preserving land, water and other resources.
@gospodindima You can learn all you need for personal use at backyardaquaponics [dot] com/forum For large commercial systems check out the friendlies in Hawaii, growfish [dot] com, and and the university at the virgin islands.
this is how you survive on mars you would just need large tracking mirrors to amplify the solar gain to the green house and the greenhouse would only need to have a little positive pressure.
@modernblacksmith Great, we can send all the top 1%er's there to live, they can afford the spaceships and live happily ever after, the rest of us can get on with living and learning how to live better :) go Occupy Wall Street!!!
Why not simplify the aquaponic process altogether by using the chinampa method used by the ancient peoples in south america for thousands of years and has proven to outproduce modern methods by 2 to 3 times and maintaining their fertility and their ecosystems indefinitely? In the U.S solar heated greenhouses are all what is needed to run the system and using the correct crop species free of genetic engineering to ensure complete self-supporting farming that can use it's harvested crops as seeds
@darthvader5300 I am infact using this method now on a trial basis. 6 large peppers can use 20 gallons of water on a hot day so it is possible to circulate water using plants. However, it takes a LOT of room to produce enough food with chinampa vs aquaponics. With aquaponics I can produce all the food a single person needs in 513 square feet. With enough fish and water circulation the fish stocking rate drops greatly and thus the amount of food you can grow. But add composting and it works.
@GreenLearning If you use vertical aqgriculture wt mitlleider hydroponic artificial soil wt rock dust powders & terra-preta charcoal on the chinampa land section plus using the correct species & varieties of aquatic plants & fishes combined wt floating caged water hycinths to prevent water eutrophication & floating caged azolla to fixed nitrogen for the aquatic plants to provide additional fish food, then you can achieved higher yields. The aim is dependability & reliability through simplicity.
@GreenLearning If you use vertical aqgriculture wt mitlleider hydroponic artificial soil wt rock dust powders & terra-preta charcoal on the chinampa land section plus using the correct species & varieties of aquatic plants & fishes combined wt floating caged water hycinths to prevent water eutrophication & floating caged azolla to fixed nitrogen for the aquatic plants to provide additional fish food, then you can achieved higher yields. The aim is dependability & reliability through simplicity.
This is a Cold War era design. The aim is survivability for the Russian military personnel in our underground bases, submarines, bunker cities, factories, etc. The aim is using gravity and artificial grow lights that uses radioactive materials shielded to prevent radiation from passing through while allowing only UV-free light to past through. Heat is provided geothermally for if you drill deeper the hotter it is no matter where you drill. The hot water produced is used to generate electricity.
@GreenLearning The most important thing about the Chinampa system is that it is a PASSIVE AQUAPONIC SYSTEM that relies only on sunlight to make it work. Combining rock powders and charcoal powder to remineralize the soil and turn it into terra-preta soil that retains it's fertility indefinitely, plus using vertical mittleider artificial hydroponic soil increases yields by 880% wt terra-preta and rock powders alone, combined with vertical agriculture yields can increase 3 to 5 times.
@GreenLearning The important fact of the Chinampa system is that it is a PASSIVE AQUAPONIC SYSTEM which is time proven and time tested. Yields are 2 to 3 times that of modern agriculture. Combine vertical agriculture wt rock powders, terra-preta charcoal powders, nitrogen-fixing living mulch yields are increased 4 to 5 times wt rock powders, 880% wt terra-preta charcoal powder, 3 to 5 times wt vertical agriculture, and 6 to 7 times wt mittleider hydroponic soil. And requires no moving parts!
Pond heaters are best (koifishponds [DOT] com/pond_heaters.htm. I once used a homemade heat pump heater. Now I just over winter a few breeders in an insulated structure.
@bret354 You have to meet the laws of your state if you are going to sell to the public. I suggest contacting your local extension office to find out what agency regulates selling raw fish. If raising a fish like tilapia in southern states you also have to get a permit to stock and raise them, and this includes site inspections.
@goodvibes37 You need to talk to Will Allen of growing power. He got a good grant because of his notoriety and using his sales experience. He had the land and started a community program to offer fresh food to the city for a good price...
Obviously it is not a closed looped system. But let us count the calories burned to produce one calorie of food by way of GreenLearning, and compare with that of the calories spent to produce one calorie outside in our Great Conventional American Fields. Let's start with the making of the rubber tires, then the foundries and the man-hours to produce the tractor, the wars fought to steal the oil and the trucks to get to ...
To @charlesmrader: According to the world, I'm poor. Shove your food where the sun don't shine. I don't want your ....... handouts. I want the opportunity to have and do for myself. Aquaponics in my backyard changes the game, and it won't be long - if this (aquaponics in everyone's backyard) takes off that big agri-business will, through their - not yours - their police department (food swat team) that like the raw milk police; they'll stop this shit quick.
@101101101777 Soldierflies, garden waste, bug zapper or light pointed at water, algea grown from fish waste ect. All this can greatly reduce purchased feed. However, if fish is being sold then you will have to be sure you get the protein content and weight of feed correct so that the fish grow to full eating size in one season.
@GreenLearning I think if one is to eat a fish the head must be cut off quick from the water, don't fish traditionally with hooks, just net and kill fast, sharp cut, don't let them just suffocate like we would in water. Then if one must have meat for themselves or animals, have it from spawned flat fish from aquaponics and only aquaponic fish, ever. Ever.
@101101101777 I find that as I personally am taking responsibility for my food by raising,killing, and preparing my meat; I am much more careful about it and infact I eat less meat that I did before. We used to consume 400 pounds of meat in a year, now its more like 100 pounds per year. The other 300 pounds left in the pond are given away to neighbors and people who can not afford fresh food. Each fish is pulled from the water, killed and prepared fresh without the need for a refrigerator.
@101101101777 I find that as I personally am taking responsibility for my food by raising,killing, and preparing my meat; I am much more careful about it and infact I eat less meat that I did before. We used to consume 400 pounds of meat in a year, now its more like 100 pounds per year. The other 300 pounds left in the pond are given away to neighbors and people who can not afford fresh food. Each fish is pulled from the water, killed and prepared fresh without the need for a refrigerator.
This is true. It cost around .70 per fish; each weigh a pound to 1.5 pounds. This is the cost for energy, and food. The 10+ pounds of greens produced for each pound of fish is a bonus. So if you don't factor in labor cost or storage, each 11 ponds of food cost a whopping .70 cents. The growing power system uses primarily compost made from city waste which have to be hauled. Further being located in the north it consumes fuel to heat the water during winter.
So, utilizing the compost made out of sludge - does it contain chemical traces from pharmaceuticals people take in the city? And the "liquid plumber," "clorox," etc.?
Last article I read about this "compost from a city" it shocked the socks out of me...
You're missing a lot here. First off, he has to buy fish food. This is not a self contained system, so the real production weight has to take into account the poundage of food he feeds the fish all year. The energy being utilized to make this food, ship it to him, etc, is energy that could have been used to go directly to the consumer, lowering food costs elsewhere. Take that away, and you'll have a number closer to what he ACTUALLY produces per year.
@point177 Sure, and people may as well just directly eat sunlight, compost, and fishfood....
I mean it's true that the energy that is put into the system needs to always be considered, but why are you acting like everything that they are doing is crap, just because they use externally produced fish-
@usercorrupt Well, mainly because in endeavors such as this, people have a misconceived notion that they can solve all the world's hunger problems through aqua culture. Granted, he did not say that, but it is heavily implied. I didn't say everything he is doing is crap. I said take a closer look at how the money is spent. What we need to ask ourselves, is, when EVERYTHING about this system is taken into account, is it cost efficient?
what are they feeding the fish? more fish? where does that fish come from? come on people fish farming is not sustainable! sure if you had herbivorous fish and you could feed them some of the vedies you're growing. But then it's still not going to be sustainable. Water, dirt, compost and sun. It's not that hard people FFS!!!!
Actually I heard of a solution from the folks at aquaponicsdotorgdotuk..
Take the plant off cuts to use as compost in a WORMERY to feed the fish!
This model if already composting..probably feeding the fish worms grown on site!
I should watch the video..I got so excited to find out they were growing year round with free heat from compost i couldn't stop cheering..got right to the comments section..interested in staying home in the Northeast..growing food for our future!
@bigamejames1 he did say in one part the fish were vegetarians, but as you said, it doesn't matter. The ratio of energy produced to food consumed is not 1 to 1.... it never is. So there HAS to be an outside source of food for this system to work.
@point177 Even gardening can not work forever if you are taking product off the land; this includes flushing it down the toilet. It has to be rebuilt using/mining resources from greater amount of land elsewhere. In an ideal world each person would be responsible for his/her self; producing their food and reprocessing their waste on site.
where is this greenhouse..state ? where do you get the power to run the pump / does it run 24/7 ?
moecat1000 12 hours ago
fantastic
cornishrob123 22 hours ago
That is amazing!
synal 3 days ago
Look into using sonic bloom 45 minutes a day. Ash or biochar for soil. copper or copper coated garden tools for working the soil easier and soil plus plants like the tiny particles of copper left behind. Perhaps hire a local metal worker with foundry skills. Trade some food, ask people to bring scrap copper pipes, wires, etc to keep carbon footprint & $ minimized. Top bar bee hives. Start Fukuoka seedball operations. Metal worker make highly polishes parabolic dish for cooking.
charukrsnadasa 5 days ago in playlist 4 Seedball Gardening + cows N honey + herbs
240p WE MEET AGAIN!
totey8999 5 days ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Protecting people from contaminants!? I cant believe this! It was just signed this month! I want them to show the damn paperwork that says this was warranted! I have not heard of anyone being poisoned by organic local farm veggies, and if it happend it's probably rare. These big corporations sell contaminated spinach, and sell produce made with GMO's and harmful chemicals and inhumane livestock processing. But they don't get hit, the local farmers do?! WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pumkinpie27 6 days ago
I would contact my state representative, but i don't even feel that would do any good. What next? When is enough enough? It's my right if I want to buy tomatoes from my neighbor, or purchase from local farmers! And now it's illegal? See this is what people need to be paying attention to instead of the nonsense T.V!
pumkinpie27 6 days ago
Comment removed
pumkinpie27 6 days ago
From what I gather, the act makes it illegal for local farmers to sell home grown food to the public without some government document. They try to say it's to protect people from contaminants? So basically if you want fresh organically grown produce, you better grow it ya self or go to the store. This bill is gonna cancel out local farmers! They won't be able to sell you anything unless they pay a lot of money for some government approval...WTF!!!
pumkinpie27 6 days ago
It's pretty obvious to me that these 'farmers' are actually Nazis in disguise.
America is the land of the free, and we shouldn't have these racist, government hating extremists pretending to grow food, when in fact they are building weapons of mass destruction.
Call your local Homeland Security office before these vicious monsters attack Israel !
johnnycaboosehead 1 week ago
Somebody call Homeland Security and put a stop to these terrorists !!
Call the police !!
Call the police !!
johnnycaboosehead 1 week ago
The 10 'dislikes' are Monsanto executives.
johnnycaboosehead 1 week ago
$1.50 a head is pretty optimistic... and you'd have to sell them yourself... you'd have to open your own store... realistically if the stores are selling lettuce for around $1, you can expect to sell your lettuce to the store for about $0.35 per head, quite possibly less...
nomadatlop 2 weeks ago
All I know is that if you even had a somewhat modest commercial aquaponic system, organic lettuce sells for what? $1.50 a head....rotating 1000 heads weekly...that's $1,500 weekly...and once you have the system running...especially a system like they have here..a dwc (deep water culture) you can really have a nice green business that is feeding your local populace.
davehutchinson67 2 weeks ago
@davehutchinson67 Getting the product directly to the consumer is the hardest part and the only way to make enough money to be worth the effort. It is not hard to sell a thousand dollars in 'natural' veggies at our local farmers market. This is because there is a health store next to it. Therefore, many health conscience and educated people are already passing by.
GreenLearning 1 week ago
Tilapia are very low in fat. Sense fatty fish are so healthy to eat (and they keep you feeling fuller longer) have you considered growing fatty fish such as catfish or trout.
AquaticCastle 3 weeks ago
@AquaticCastle I have tried bluegill, but they did not grow fast. I have not found any trout to try yet. Our weather here is warm and summers are long and hot.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
@AquaticCastle Where is Obama to praise this black man for being "green". He is trumpeting the wonders of "green energy": that stuff from Fukushima that has showered down on us to an alarming degree, producing 10,000% more radiation than FDA acceptance levels in Hawaiian milk and causes massive increases in still borns in the continental USA. No Obama is about supporting Monsanto and GMOs, not self-sustaining farmers.
petrusprimus 2 weeks ago
@AquaticCastle You need to do research on tilapia's fat content. Very low in omega 3 fatty acid and very high in omega 6 fatty acid. Omega 6 fatty acid is bad. Omega 3 is why doctors tell people to eat fish.
kingmike40 2 days ago
@kingmike40 Obviously I didn't just pull that out of you know where. The tilapia in my store has 0 fat. If it has 0 fat, then it can't have any Omega 6.
AquaticCastle 1 day ago
stilll.... going by your math of 3100lbs of food grown in 765 sqft. of a 1005sqft chunk, you're 100,000lbs short of half way to 1 million lbs grown on 3 acres of land per year... and that's if your data is completely accurate on variable lengths of a growing season based on sunlight. 130680= acreage / 1005 = 130 plots of 1005sqft area. now 130 X 3100 = 403,092lbs produced... looks like you're eating well, and if that isnt adding up for your food consumption, u did the math wron.
nomadatlop 3 weeks ago
@nomadatlop That is the amount of eatable food that I weighed in from 1005 SqFt over 120 days. I see no problem getting a similar yield using 4 season techniques over the renaming 245 days in the year.
Not only are we eating well, we cant eat it all. The goats and cow got many treats. The real problem with growing this much is that you must input compost or mulch to feed the soil. I dont like this idea as much as using the biointensive method and growing your own mulch on site.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
@nomadatlop Its true that only growing space is figured. In my trial garden vines grow over the walk ways some times or are restricted with string. My trial garden has 765 square foot of garden area with 240 square feet of paths for a total area of 1005 square feet. Harvest over 120 days: corn(20#), oats(4.3#), wheat(5.8#), carrots(3#), and green onions tops(2.7#), zuchinni around the edges in paths(238#), were planted between sweat potatoes (2318#) & leaves (570#). 3100 pounds of food.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
@GreenLearning That is 3+ pounds of food per square foot including foot paths in 120 days(rounded down). If I used vertical space, and grew two more crops in a green house this would easily approach the million pounds of food on 3 acre CLAIM. That is why I THINK it is possible to do. Did they really do it? I Do Not Know.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
i've grown wall to wall plants in a raft system, and the system was sitting on 2.5 acres of lang... but i cant single out te growing strength of 1 sqft and apply it to all of the 108,900 sqft of the acreage... i can only multiply my growth rate by the amount of available growing area, which in my case was limited to the area of the troughs... that's how the math is flawed... thats how i turned the just over 20,000 lbs of actual production into 2,000,000+ lbs of projected production.
nomadatlop 3 weeks ago
@green learning i fully understand your math, but equating what's grown in a square foot of the system to the 43,000+ sqft in an acre is misleading... you're saying that you're producing that amount of food on every sqft of that acre, which is wrong, you're can only account for the square footage of where the plants are actually growing... this means subtracting area of walk ways and space in between plants... doing this will dramatically reduce your projection numbers.
nomadatlop 3 weeks ago
@nomadatlop Get one thing straight. As I have said several times. I am not growing power. I do not claim that I raised a million # of food on 3 acres. I am simply showing what they claim and the key components that growing power uses. Based on my trials I believe it IS possible. I do not know that they did in fact do what they claim.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
A million pounds? Where does such an absurd number come from, 3 acres growing a million pounds of food a year?
TheConspiracyRealist 4 weeks ago
@TheConspiracyRealist read the info too! Call growing power and ask them where they got a million pounds of food. I am not growing power.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
@GreenLearning Wasn't asking you just throwing the question out there. It's obvious he has a good thing going there and I love the idea of aquaponics but a million pounds on 3 acres in a year sounds ridiculous.
TheConspiracyRealist 3 weeks ago
@TheConspiracyRealist The thing is that much food was not raised in aquaponics. They do water with the nitrogen rich fish water. If you read the info with the video, you can see why I THINK it is possible to do based on my trials. Have I raised a million # of food? Not yet. If you counting the foot path area, I can grow half that density(3+ pounds a square foot), but if I grow two or even 3 seasons as growing power there should be no problem getting similar results.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
Comment removed
loveweeddude420 1 month ago
the government pulls the same stunts with math, like when they say they're going to throw 500 million dollars at a problem like education, when the grim reality is that number is a fraction of a percent of the total budget... looks like a pretty big number, but when put up against the sum of what it's being pulled from... its actually quite small... the devil is in the details my friend...
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop What are you talking about? I can raise that much food on a per square foot basis WITHOUT using vertical growing space, WITHOUT a greenhouse, WITHOUT growing in 100% compost, and two instead of 3 crops per year! Its entirely possible to grow at a density of 7 to 8 pounds of food(yes eatable product) per square foot, per year; which IS a million pound on 3 acres. Like the video said. GROW YEAR AROUND (2 to 3 well choose crops per year), use LOTS OF COMPOST, USE VERTICAL SPACE.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
but even i've been a bit misleading with the math. the farm that i was on had 20 troughs measuring 80ft'4ft. thats 320sqft per trough. like i said it only took 160sqft to get around 350lbs of growth. 350lbs= 160sqft, so 320sqft 700lbs. (700lbs*20 troughs)*9 harvests on average = 126000lbs of lettuce produced per year... still over 6 times the amount of the actual amount produced...
nomadatlop 1 month ago
but what about the walking area? 2ft wide paths in between each trough still only accounts for 1920sqft. then over estimate another 2000sqft per acre for misc walking areas around the tanks... so that leaves 40270sqft of growing area/ 160sqft = 252apx. so (350lbs*9 harvests)* 252 {160sqft units} * 2.5 = 1,984,500... which is still false for how much was actually grown.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
sorry, i caught a mistake, i put the "," in the wrong place... it should read 2,143,968.75 pounds our lettuce per year on a 2.5 acre farm... either way it's still false.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
and i even over estimated the lettuce growth time in the system at 6 week cycles... depending on the weather you can get it to a harvestable size towards the end of it's 4th week, but thats only at prime conditions. so from sprout in the system - harvest size, i over estimate it at 6 weeks with 3-4 days of full sunlight per week.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
faulty projections can cause alot of confusions... and i only did that calculation for 1 acre... according to that math, if i did the calculations for a 2.5 acres farm id just take 857587.5*2.5=214,3968.75 lbs of lettuce per year. in reality, we produced close to 1% of that.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
my point is math is misleading. if i counted in the waste product with the total weight grown, the number gets farther away from the truth... (43560sqft /160sqft)= 272.25 units of area for growth in a acre measuring 160sqft, now counting wast we got around 350lbs per harvest with 9 harvets per year. (350lbs*9 harvests)*272.25, 160sqft units in an acre=857587.5lbs of lettuce production per year. looks good on paper, but it didnt happen. i have the records to prove that it didnt happen.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop My personal trials have yielded high enough to be equal to growing powers claims. While I have not grown a solid 3 acres I know it possible. I believe its possible based NOT only on mathematical figures. Its based on real production averaged over a 4 square foot area in a years time. Production from mulched beds watered with fish water + AP beds; not counting fish weights, and always rounding figures of real weighed produce down. If you have issue with Will go talk to him.
GreenLearning 3 weeks ago
i did read the math, and it's probably because of the plants that you grew in the ground, but on the Farm i was on we averaged close to 9 Harvest a year in just the lettuce. now it only takes 160sqft to get 200lbs of sellable product on average. multiply the number of 160sqft section in an acre by the weight grown, by the number of harvesting cycles, and you get 489600. which is a long way off from what was actually produced.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
instead of food, call it growth, and as for the three acres part, just add in "with inputs from outside sources...
nomadatlop 1 month ago
yes, you go through all of those extra steps to produce a sort of food product from this system, but without the advertising of these extra steps, to say that the food comes from the systems is is truthful, but misleading as to the extent of extra processing, as your point of the fish bones.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop Perhaps you have a suggestion for a disclaimer I can tack onto the video? I really believe its possible to get a million pounds on eatable product form 3 acres of growing area based on the production I get. That would be a lot work though! Also, I notice that almost no one reads the video description text. I had hoped that that text would help clear things up..
GreenLearning 1 month ago
what im doing? i going by the generally accepted terms of food. i've been cooking in restaurants for many years now and never have i heard of eating potato leaves. neither has anyone i've asked in the last 3 hours. Maple leaves are edible, but most people wouldn't consider that food. but what you've just basically aid is the largest portion of your food production is a result from outside sources, i.e. the compost from other sites and largely not produced on the 3 acres...
nomadatlop 1 month ago
lettuce is a good indicator of growth power. it grows fast, and has a high water content, so for it's speed of growth, it holds a good weight of EDIBLE product. things like water cress do grow very rapidly, but are steamy... the leaves are good to eat, but the stems hold little flavor, so i wouldnt consider that a food... the stems would add to the total weight of growth, but simply cannot be called food because you wouldnt eat it. words people, use them correctly.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop We prepair our food with almost every part of the plants and fish; even the bones are boiled in vinegar to make them eatable. So what one person calls food another person would call waste. Americans in general are just wasteful and eat only the best parts. Its a matter of prospective.
GreenLearning 1 month ago 9
i've got an idea in mind to increase the productivity of a finite space, but even that will only increase the yield to just under 32,000lb of sellable product per year... so like i said... i would have to build a farm 10 stories high @ 2.5 acres per story, and i still wouldnt reach a third of what growing power claims they can produce, using the current logistic models... like i said... a simple misuse of words can cause alot of issues.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@kariscorp you're off by a "0" it's only 20,800, wish it would have been 200k. we grew a lettuce mix, over 14 varieties, Johnny's seeds permitting... lol. and that's 20,800lbs of sellable product. no root weight. no spotted leaf weight. no compost weight. see what i mean about skewed numbers...
nomadatlop 1 month ago
it's set up to look life a self contained system on 3 acres that's producing massive amounts of food, when really there are various outside inputs, and the weight measured, although theoretically plausible, physically impossible. if you don't believe it refer to the comment below from an actual commercially producing aquaponics farm that had an account with a large grocer... adding waste product to the total weight does not count as food weight... it counts as skewed numbers.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
the whole title is misleading... not all of the stuff weighed is edible, argo, not food, and alot of stuff on that 3 acres wasn't exactly produced on that 3 acres in it's entirety... like i mentioned before, what they're doing is great, even though they aren't being completely truthful as to the title and claims.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
nomadatlop 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
nomadatlop 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
nomadatlop 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
nomadatlop 1 month ago
my point isn't about all or nothing, it's about misinformation. "food", should be "growth" in most of the circumstances presented. in some circumstances, i.e. the compost pile, "growth" should be "accumulation". and "on 3 acres of land" should read something like, "3 acres plus various other input sites from local waste industries."
nomadatlop 1 month ago
look, dont get me wrong, what you guys are doing is great, but there is a big issue with people making false claims about the productivity of their systems in order to market their manuals, week long classes, and internships... so please do not feel singled out, because Friendly aquaponics is getting just as much heat from me about their questionable information as well.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop Just to make one thing clear I am NOT growing power or will allen. I use biointensive methods with aquaponics water to water the soil. I have no problem what so ever getting 7 pounds of produce(not growth) per square foot per year and I dont even use vertical space or hundreds of yards of compost like is used in the video. I just like what they are doing recycling waste to produce cheap food for the community. My favorite crops:sweet potato, kangong,cucumbers,radish..
GreenLearning 1 month ago
"Regardless, it is not at all hard if you pick the right plants nutrition aside." i thought the point of the systems were to provide nutrition? and the collection of compost from the system wouldnt count as edible either... that's why it's compost... i.e. not food.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop If you looks at what it takes for truly complete nutrition. Pretty much non of us get it. We eat what we like. I cant possible get into the nutrition figures in this tiny sized reply post, but I suggest you read "Food Now" from bountiful gardens. They do pretty good job of it. It would take $600 per month per person of crappy walmart produce to get "complete" nutrition. To round out the nutrition you need some plants that are just not space efficient.
GreenLearning 1 month ago
I can't wait to try this here at Lake Atitlan, Guatemala. We grew oysters years ago via Aquaculture in Pescadero, CA, and I can't wait to try fish and vegetables here now. Plus we can help all the people around the lake in the many villages that do not have access to healthy, organic or sufficient food. What a wonderful benefit for all concerned! God bless people like this who do such good works for the world.
"The winds of grace blow all the time; all we need do is set our sails."
CommentsSurvey 1 month ago
i have done it, on a commercial scale, on 2.5 acres of land, in hawaii. only produced 400lbs per week of sellable product at it's maximum yield point... even if i counted the edible product, with slight imperfections, it would only be 600lbs weekly. still a very far cry from 1 million pounds. even if i built that farm up and stacked in 10 stories high with the same acreage on each level, it'd still only produce a third of the mass that you're claiming to produce.
nomadatlop 1 month ago
@nomadatlop 400lbs/wk x 52=200,000 plus.....good job...what were you growing?
keriscorp 1 month ago
@nomadatlop Its just not hard to get 7 pounds of food per square foot on the ground per year. I dont know what you are doing. Water cress is very productive, but most production is in compost where its not uncommon to get 12 pounds of sweet potato per plant per season plus a minimum 3 pounds of eatable leaves. The leaves and vines intertwine, some are tied up, but the root area is only 2.25 square feet. So in only 120 days yeilds 6+ pounds of FOOD. Now with 240 days left..got it.
GreenLearning 1 month ago
How could a family of four replicate a system like this to be self-sustaining? Would love to know how to do this on a micro level.
mindykoch1 1 month ago
@mindykoch1 watch?v=ddVULB9j4Qc Or search for "The garden pool aquaponics"
witness00fleming 1 month ago
Love this video!! I hope this spreads throughout the world!
diabeteswarriornet 1 month ago
nice
ResumeBearNetwork 1 month ago
Interesting concept. Hope you share it with MSU. Michigan State University
mbowlersr 1 month ago
This is a great video!
lubstraining 1 month ago
Mark 7:36 And he charged them that they should tell no man: but the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal they published it;
37 And were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well: he maketh both the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak.
Jesus Christ is the Living God in the Flesh, Jesus is the One and Only way to Heaven.
I find when ever a doctor finds out how to cure cancer they basically get sent to jail. This may be the same case for this food system.
VeoKenKs 1 month ago
This is great.
watchinvidsize 1 month ago
You can't eat tilapia everyday, but it's a great Idea. People with yards could have a mini version of this out back
badfish13 1 month ago
This is now considered terrorism.
garrethdavis 2 months ago 12
@garrethdavis growing food is terrorism?
CraigRidley1 2 weeks ago
@CraigRidley1 Yup
garrethdavis 2 weeks ago
@CraigRidley1 FDA S510 Food Moderization Act (makes it illegal to grow your own food in your backyard, in your house or anywhere not approved by corporations), accompany that with the NDAA
Svecenader1 1 week ago
@garrethdavis Your right, and I will be a terrorist.
TheAdisah 2 weeks ago
@TheAdisah I'm one too
garrethdavis 2 weeks ago
@garrethdavis It's always terrorism to the terrorists.
Svecenader1 1 week ago
it's like calling a 140 pound deer 140 pounds of food... you can eat the bones, or the antlers, or most of the digestive tract, so this doesnt qualify as food. in that 140 pound deer you can only expect a fraction f total weight to be edible... yes, watercress does grow real well in the systems, but not all of that plant can be eaten. meaning part of the weight of the plant cannot be called food
nomadatlop 2 months ago
yes, plant matter. but the difference between plant matter and food is edibility. not all of what is being weighed can be eaten. so it's misleading. it should say 1 million pounds of growth. in the eyes of the world 1 million pounds of food brings to mind things you can eat in absolute. this would also mean 1 million pounds in sellable product. so in short, if it isn't sellable, it probably isn't edible... or else these people would be loaded...
nomadatlop 2 months ago
@nomadatlop Yea Yea. You have to be selective about what you grow to get an Eatable yield close to 90%. Regardless, it is not at all hard if you pick the right plants nutrition aside. I can and have feed my self 99.x% in 400 square feet without great variety. For the 'normal' person the large amount of compost (food industry waste) is the hard part of growing power system. Enough wining, go do it then you can talk from experience.
GreenLearning 1 month ago
@nomadatlop 7.65 pounds of plant matter per square foot in a years time. LOL, its not hard to do with aquaponics not using vertical space. Micro greens and water cress are VERY productive. But then anyone doing it would know that.
It is NOT a model that will work to feed the world due to the huge inputs of composted food waste, and seed grown on other farms. Its simply impossible to scale that to produce all food. However, it stands on its own merits.
GreenLearning 2 months ago
like i said... it'd take 57 bull african elephants to make 1 million lbs of edible anything... and even thats misleading because im counting in bone weight as part of the total mass.
nomadatlop 2 months ago
and since i live only a few hours away and there's no growing power labeled lettuce on my grocers shelves... somethings just arent adding up...
the sale of mislabeled knowledge is not only unethical but dangerous. you're going to put the faith of the people into a product that is being misinterpreted. imagine if people were counting on these projections of food and found out that most of the weight being produce was inedible?
nomadatlop 2 months ago
as for the top comment, the projected 1 million pounds of "Food" should actually be 1 million pounds of "Product" is a wrong label. it's easy to git a high weight like that when you're counting your compost as a product. if it were 1 million pounds of food in 3 acres im sure growing power would have a slew of commercial accounts for their excess produce...
nomadatlop 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
We are opening a school in the spring of 2012 teaching sustainable design and aquaponics farming. visit our page to learn more!
biotechturetraining 2 months ago
nitpick all you want, they're doing great things.
nichobert 2 months ago
just remember, the price for a system will greatly vary depending on what part of the world you're in and the necessary materials. also a bit of thought goes into this... building a system out of wood wouldnt make much sense if you live in a area where termites are very active. in this situation you would use concrete blocks or some other material...
nomadatlop 2 months ago
the price depends on what part of the world you are in, the ease of getting materials, and how creative you are... for example... instead of a raised bed you dig 80ftx4ftx1ft trenches and line them with the pvc liner.. you just reduced the cost by excluding the wood or what ever you build the walls of the troughs out of... all of the plumbing would lie under/ in between the trenches...
nomadatlop 2 months ago
initial investments depend on where your building your system. different regions of the world have different materials costs and shipping costs, not to mention import taxes... anyone that can tell you an indefinite amount of money will get you a farm with asking first where you are and what you plan to build your system out of first is selling you a lie.
nomadatlop 2 months ago
i find it hard to believe that 1 million lbs of anything can be "grown" on just 3 acres of land annually... that's the same as raising 57 bull african elephants on just 3 acres of land... yes, aquaponics is an amazing science in all of its forms... but saying you can grow 1 million pounds of food using it on 3 acres is a bit far fetched.
nomadatlop 2 months ago
How many acres did it take to produce the inputs required for these 3 acres? (Like the compost, commercial feed for feeding the fish, coconut husks, etc) These should be factored into the overall picture. This is what Michael Pollan refers to as 'hidden costs.'
inoculatedmind 2 months ago 4
@inoculatedmind Yea, its NOT truly sustainable, BUT it is taking what was going to the land fill and using it productivity. A buffet society removed from their food production will always have tons of waste. Actually, unless you keep all the product on the farm (including the poo from eating it) then you will always have to import something to the land. The real answer is the one no one wants to hear; each person should produce their own food.
GreenLearning 2 months ago 7
@GreenLearning i want to hear it. i want an automated system that makes it easy, and also get a learning experience from it. Home produced food is also as free as it gets ! so i definitely want to hear it!
IcarusFlying 2 months ago
@GreenLearning I'm both amused & irritated by people who assume that doing something is a matter of ALL or NOTHING.
The fact that perfection is an un-attainable goal DOESN'T MEAN YOU SHOULDN'T TRY.
Can't raise ALL your own food? Fine, raise what you can. Raise your favorites, or a once-a-year special treat.
Big ol tank of yummy fish, lots of containers full of yummy veggies, and a freezer for the "Can't eat THAT much in one day!" overflow.
Hmm, Nomad's point? Its on top of his head!
DamiettadCarnivalle 1 month ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@GreenLearning 'The real answer is the one no one wants to hear; each person should produce their own food'
that's exactly it, the mistake was moving off family & community land to take jobs to make money to pay someone else for food production. with things like permaculture and re-greening urban environments, and using eg lawns, verges etc productively things could begin to get back on track. also waters would team with life w/o pollution and wrong types of fishing (trawls etc)
JustSomePerson888 1 month ago
This is what REAL technology and innovation looks like.
Phenolisothiocyanate 2 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Are you seeking truth? Search for "Truth Contest" in Google and click the 1st result, then click on "The Present" to open it. It is not what you think it is.
TruthContest 2 months ago
Was Bill Gates in the 1% or the 99% before he dropped out of college and started a little company called Microsoft?
pinhighiron 2 months ago
@pinhighiron His dad was a millionaire. He was in the 1%.
brainwav93 2 months ago
This is great love it ( :
aadrianlee 2 months ago
what's the initial investment on a system like that if you have the land already?
nr9600 2 months ago
@nr9600 He said at 5$ a square foot in the greenhouses, it's about $200,000 an acre.
Aldenissin 2 months ago
@Aldenissin thanks
nr9600 2 months ago
Comment removed
nr9600 2 months ago
Comment removed
nr9600 2 months ago
So I plugged this into my social model, of which I have 30 square miles of my project devoted to food development, and came to 17.5 million people being fed yearly. That is crazy....so... with 17.5 million people being able to eat off of 30 square miles why are people going hungry in this day and age?
Sincerely,
The 99%
Daleon1b 2 months ago 12
@Daleon1b Greed is the seed that grows from false needs.....
cgodinu 2 months ago
@Daleon1b i have realized we are being cheated and robbed ,tricked into working jobs that mean nothing to dollars to some money hungry turd , we can stop playing there game and start living as soon as the sleepers wake up
headlightguy 2 months ago
This is really interesting. Did you grow the entire 1M pounds of food through your aqaponics system or is the total from all efforts (livestock, traditional farming etc) on the 3 acres?
cafenimore 2 months ago
@cafenimore Its not mine, and it was the entire production.
GreenLearning 2 months ago
hello, this is an amazing thing to do! congratulations in your work!
I was wondering, do you guys have any sort of technical documentation I could use, as Im interesting in doing it in my city, to feed our people and create new jobs. It would Government financed (here in South America)
aNdReSkKkK 2 months ago
I'm sure you've been asked this... but I'm from Racine..... Where is this place? I would love to visit someday and possibly get some idea from it.
deadlyinsane69 3 months ago
@deadlyinsane69 Milwaukee Headquarters: 5500 W. Silver Spring Drive, Milwaukee, WI 53218
Tel. 414.527.1546
GreenLearning 2 months ago
Wow amazing! I have been thinking about combining these two system ideas, compost heated greenhouses and aquaponics and I want to do it! Where can we find more technical advise on how to build a system like this???
mia5883 3 months ago
@mia5883 The water is heated with a conventional gas powered pond heater. It would take a large compost pile to heat the water for tilapia.
GreenLearning 2 months ago
Is it true that farmed fish have a lot less nutrients than wild?
thatstheguy07 3 months ago
@thatstheguy07 yeah, i could see that, but, it would also depend upon if they are using the city water, rain water, purified water, if the water is ever changed, etc. As well as what the fish are eating. At a base level, if the water is mostly free of contaminants(heavy metals, etc) and the fish eat well, i would see no issues. I'm sure large scale fish farms could care less about the care of their fish, just as long as their nice enough that some one will buy them.
Swansen03 3 months ago
@Swansen03 Yea, I think what Ive heard would most likely be having to do with large scale farms...
thatstheguy07 3 months ago
@thatstheguy07 "Farm raised" food only has the nutrients of the fish feed. The omega 3 & 6 is also out of balance. However, by adding a wide verity of fresh greens from the dirt to the fish diet you can get great nutrition. I suspect that even farm raised fish produce food of equal quality to any food you can buy. I know that we do better than average. Besides, to be nutritionally complete you must eat more than a single food.
GreenLearning 3 months ago 2
@GreenLearning Gotcha. Sounds great man, and great work! Thanks for the reply :)
thatstheguy07 3 months ago
I would like to sit down with 8 people for a meal and discuss their dislike choice.
dylansagar 3 months ago 8
...wow...
paulpellicci 3 months ago
Pardon my ignorance, where can one learn about the whole process on how to build and operate such facility? ( I am not a farmer or grower but it always interested me)
gospodindima 4 months ago
@gospodindima I too am very interested. I personally think this is going to be the future. I can see these in every town, providing more accessible, healthier and cheaper food while preserving land, water and other resources.
Thunderr10 4 months ago
@gospodindima You can learn all you need for personal use at backyardaquaponics [dot] com/forum For large commercial systems check out the friendlies in Hawaii, growfish [dot] com, and and the university at the virgin islands.
GreenLearning 3 months ago 2
@gospodindima You can also contact Sweetwater Organics in Milwaukee Wisconsin. They are extremely helpful.
jewelssparkledear 3 months ago
this is how you survive on mars you would just need large tracking mirrors to amplify the solar gain to the green house and the greenhouse would only need to have a little positive pressure.
modernblacksmith 4 months ago
@modernblacksmith Great, we can send all the top 1%er's there to live, they can afford the spaceships and live happily ever after, the rest of us can get on with living and learning how to live better :) go Occupy Wall Street!!!
timatlightbox 3 months ago
Why not simplify the aquaponic process altogether by using the chinampa method used by the ancient peoples in south america for thousands of years and has proven to outproduce modern methods by 2 to 3 times and maintaining their fertility and their ecosystems indefinitely? In the U.S solar heated greenhouses are all what is needed to run the system and using the correct crop species free of genetic engineering to ensure complete self-supporting farming that can use it's harvested crops as seeds
darthvader5300 4 months ago
@darthvader5300 I am infact using this method now on a trial basis. 6 large peppers can use 20 gallons of water on a hot day so it is possible to circulate water using plants. However, it takes a LOT of room to produce enough food with chinampa vs aquaponics. With aquaponics I can produce all the food a single person needs in 513 square feet. With enough fish and water circulation the fish stocking rate drops greatly and thus the amount of food you can grow. But add composting and it works.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@GreenLearning If you use vertical aqgriculture wt mitlleider hydroponic artificial soil wt rock dust powders & terra-preta charcoal on the chinampa land section plus using the correct species & varieties of aquatic plants & fishes combined wt floating caged water hycinths to prevent water eutrophication & floating caged azolla to fixed nitrogen for the aquatic plants to provide additional fish food, then you can achieved higher yields. The aim is dependability & reliability through simplicity.
darthvader5300 4 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@GreenLearning If you use vertical aqgriculture wt mitlleider hydroponic artificial soil wt rock dust powders & terra-preta charcoal on the chinampa land section plus using the correct species & varieties of aquatic plants & fishes combined wt floating caged water hycinths to prevent water eutrophication & floating caged azolla to fixed nitrogen for the aquatic plants to provide additional fish food, then you can achieved higher yields. The aim is dependability & reliability through simplicity.
darthvader5300 4 months ago
This is a Cold War era design. The aim is survivability for the Russian military personnel in our underground bases, submarines, bunker cities, factories, etc. The aim is using gravity and artificial grow lights that uses radioactive materials shielded to prevent radiation from passing through while allowing only UV-free light to past through. Heat is provided geothermally for if you drill deeper the hotter it is no matter where you drill. The hot water produced is used to generate electricity.
darthvader5300 4 months ago
@GreenLearning The most important thing about the Chinampa system is that it is a PASSIVE AQUAPONIC SYSTEM that relies only on sunlight to make it work. Combining rock powders and charcoal powder to remineralize the soil and turn it into terra-preta soil that retains it's fertility indefinitely, plus using vertical mittleider artificial hydroponic soil increases yields by 880% wt terra-preta and rock powders alone, combined with vertical agriculture yields can increase 3 to 5 times.
darthvader5300 3 months ago
@GreenLearning The important fact of the Chinampa system is that it is a PASSIVE AQUAPONIC SYSTEM which is time proven and time tested. Yields are 2 to 3 times that of modern agriculture. Combine vertical agriculture wt rock powders, terra-preta charcoal powders, nitrogen-fixing living mulch yields are increased 4 to 5 times wt rock powders, 880% wt terra-preta charcoal powder, 3 to 5 times wt vertical agriculture, and 6 to 7 times wt mittleider hydroponic soil. And requires no moving parts!
darthvader5300 3 months ago
Pond heaters are best (koifishponds [DOT] com/pond_heaters.htm. I once used a homemade heat pump heater. Now I just over winter a few breeders in an insulated structure.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
what kind of heater do you use for the fish water???
grandmastermicochero 4 months ago
what did you have to do to sell your fish? did your system have to be inspected by some government agency or anything?
bret354 4 months ago
@bret354 You have to meet the laws of your state if you are going to sell to the public. I suggest contacting your local extension office to find out what agency regulates selling raw fish. If raising a fish like tilapia in southern states you also have to get a permit to stock and raise them, and this includes site inspections.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@bret354 start you a CSA farm a community support ag farm, each one pays up front to buy the fish or food
altha2008 3 months ago
Comment removed
goodvibes37 4 months ago
@goodvibes37 You need to talk to Will Allen of growing power. He got a good grant because of his notoriety and using his sales experience. He had the land and started a community program to offer fresh food to the city for a good price...
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@bigamejames1: Cargill? Or is it Monsanto?
Obviously it is not a closed looped system. But let us count the calories burned to produce one calorie of food by way of GreenLearning, and compare with that of the calories spent to produce one calorie outside in our Great Conventional American Fields. Let's start with the making of the rubber tires, then the foundries and the man-hours to produce the tractor, the wars fought to steal the oil and the trucks to get to ...
t1l1m 4 months ago
To @charlesmrader: According to the world, I'm poor. Shove your food where the sun don't shine. I don't want your ....... handouts. I want the opportunity to have and do for myself. Aquaponics in my backyard changes the game, and it won't be long - if this (aquaponics in everyone's backyard) takes off that big agri-business will, through their - not yours - their police department (food swat team) that like the raw milk police; they'll stop this shit quick.
t1l1m 4 months ago
wow
22105jr5 4 months ago
Fish food? bugs, sea weed.
101101101777 5 months ago
@101101101777 Soldierflies, garden waste, bug zapper or light pointed at water, algea grown from fish waste ect. All this can greatly reduce purchased feed. However, if fish is being sold then you will have to be sure you get the protein content and weight of feed correct so that the fish grow to full eating size in one season.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@GreenLearning I think if one is to eat a fish the head must be cut off quick from the water, don't fish traditionally with hooks, just net and kill fast, sharp cut, don't let them just suffocate like we would in water. Then if one must have meat for themselves or animals, have it from spawned flat fish from aquaponics and only aquaponic fish, ever. Ever.
101101101777 4 months ago
@101101101777 I find that as I personally am taking responsibility for my food by raising,killing, and preparing my meat; I am much more careful about it and infact I eat less meat that I did before. We used to consume 400 pounds of meat in a year, now its more like 100 pounds per year. The other 300 pounds left in the pond are given away to neighbors and people who can not afford fresh food. Each fish is pulled from the water, killed and prepared fresh without the need for a refrigerator.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@101101101777 I find that as I personally am taking responsibility for my food by raising,killing, and preparing my meat; I am much more careful about it and infact I eat less meat that I did before. We used to consume 400 pounds of meat in a year, now its more like 100 pounds per year. The other 300 pounds left in the pond are given away to neighbors and people who can not afford fresh food. Each fish is pulled from the water, killed and prepared fresh without the need for a refrigerator.
GreenLearning 4 months ago
@101101101777 do you know what you are talking about?? or you just spitting out random crap?
grandmastermicochero 4 months ago
@grandmastermicochero do you have something constructive to add or are you just being rude? trollololololol
101101101777 5 days ago
@101101101777 what are you talking about??
grandmastermicochero 5 days ago
this is absolutly fantastic. i hope the world catches on. i am ready to be a farmer.
travelindavetv 5 months ago
This is true. It cost around .70 per fish; each weigh a pound to 1.5 pounds. This is the cost for energy, and food. The 10+ pounds of greens produced for each pound of fish is a bonus. So if you don't factor in labor cost or storage, each 11 ponds of food cost a whopping .70 cents. The growing power system uses primarily compost made from city waste which have to be hauled. Further being located in the north it consumes fuel to heat the water during winter.
GreenLearning 5 months ago
@GreenLearning
So, utilizing the compost made out of sludge - does it contain chemical traces from pharmaceuticals people take in the city? And the "liquid plumber," "clorox," etc.?
Last article I read about this "compost from a city" it shocked the socks out of me...
rushin2 5 months ago
@rushin2 No sludge, just restaurant waste. Once composted its clean of any toxins that may have been on it from its original growing process.
GreenLearning 5 months ago
@GreenLearning
Good thinking!
rushin2 5 months ago
You're missing a lot here. First off, he has to buy fish food. This is not a self contained system, so the real production weight has to take into account the poundage of food he feeds the fish all year. The energy being utilized to make this food, ship it to him, etc, is energy that could have been used to go directly to the consumer, lowering food costs elsewhere. Take that away, and you'll have a number closer to what he ACTUALLY produces per year.
point177 5 months ago
Comment removed
usercorrupt 5 months ago
@point177 Sure, and people may as well just directly eat sunlight, compost, and fishfood....
I mean it's true that the energy that is put into the system needs to always be considered, but why are you acting like everything that they are doing is crap, just because they use externally produced fish-
food?
usercorrupt 5 months ago
@usercorrupt Well, mainly because in endeavors such as this, people have a misconceived notion that they can solve all the world's hunger problems through aqua culture. Granted, he did not say that, but it is heavily implied. I didn't say everything he is doing is crap. I said take a closer look at how the money is spent. What we need to ask ourselves, is, when EVERYTHING about this system is taken into account, is it cost efficient?
point177 5 months ago
what are they feeding the fish? more fish? where does that fish come from? come on people fish farming is not sustainable! sure if you had herbivorous fish and you could feed them some of the vedies you're growing. But then it's still not going to be sustainable. Water, dirt, compost and sun. It's not that hard people FFS!!!!
bigamejames1 5 months ago
@bigamejames1
Actually I heard of a solution from the folks at aquaponicsdotorgdotuk..
Take the plant off cuts to use as compost in a WORMERY to feed the fish!
This model if already composting..probably feeding the fish worms grown on site!
I should watch the video..I got so excited to find out they were growing year round with free heat from compost i couldn't stop cheering..got right to the comments section..interested in staying home in the Northeast..growing food for our future!
sbaker48 5 months ago
@bigamejames1 he did say in one part the fish were vegetarians, but as you said, it doesn't matter. The ratio of energy produced to food consumed is not 1 to 1.... it never is. So there HAS to be an outside source of food for this system to work.
point177 5 months ago
@point177 Even gardening can not work forever if you are taking product off the land; this includes flushing it down the toilet. It has to be rebuilt using/mining resources from greater amount of land elsewhere. In an ideal world each person would be responsible for his/her self; producing their food and reprocessing their waste on site.
GreenLearning 5 months ago