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    AQUAPONICS PRODUCTION

    Overview of industry

    Although the continental United Statesproduces a lot of its own table vegetable cropsin areas of the deep south and the warmer

    climate areas of the Southwest, each year moreand more of our consumer crops are beingimported, primarily from Mexico and CentralAmerica. There are several reasons that thisshift in production areas is occurring.

    One of the reasons for this shift has beenbecause in most of the crop production areasthese crops are still seasonal. The United Statesis located just far enough north latitude thatduring the winter months the temperatures inmost areas are too cold for optimum plant andcrop growth. In the past, the population waslower and hence the demand lower and the fewareas such as southern California and Texasthat remained warm could produce enoughproducts to meet the demand. This is no longerthe case. With demand increasing each yearfrom a combination increased population andan awareness of the importance of thesevegetable crops in a health conscious society,US farmers can no longer meet the demand.Therefore, producers in the nearby southerncountries saw this demand and expanded to fillit.

    There have been some advantages in the past ofthis source of food for the American table. Themost obvious is the fact that at least we have asource of food during these winter months.Otherwise the grocery stores produce shelveswould be empty of many of the vegetablesfound in a salad bar. Another advantage hasbeen the price of the produce. In most of theSouth American countries the labor wage isvery low and this one factor helped to keep theconsumer cost of the product affordable evenafter increased transportation costs are factoredin. However, now in 2010 there is a dramaticchange in consumer preferences that is creatingunbelievable opportunities for domesticfarmers.

    Over the years there have been reports of foodcontamination all across the country. Most of

    the time in the past 40 years or so these reports

    were about tainted food in the meat industry.Usually these problems were found to be e-coliout breaks in beef, chickens and occasionally inpork. Most of the time after investigation bythe Department of agriculture it was found to

    have not originated at the farm, but rather inthe processing of the product. Although mostof the problems have been identified andcorrected, we still hear of recalls of meatproducts each year. An informed public hasnow been fully alerted and is very muchconcerned about the safety of their food.Although perhaps a bit over the top, OprahWinfrey announced she would no longer eatbeef and urged her devoted fans to do likewise.

    Unbelievably, within a week the demand forbeef and beef products dropped so much that abeef industry council in Northern Texas filed alaw suit against her claiming she was liable forruining their industry. Although the courtsfound Oprah innocent the publicity of the trialjust continued the public=s awareness of thefood safety problem and probably did causesome people to never purchase beef again.

    While it has been long known that there was apotential for tainted products from the meatindustry, mainly from processing failures, therewas a sleeping giant in the farm produce sectorthat was waiting to rear its ugly head.

    Since 2006 there have been reported manyhuge out breaks of Salmonella in vegetablecrops. Ironically this is nothing new. Thesepathogens have been with us forever and whenpeople were affected it was usually quietlyinvestigated, treated as an isolated incident andthen ignored. However, ever since the Winfreybeef dispute, news stations and food watch doggroups around the country see somethingcausing a problem in the food change and itbecomes a top national news story for weeks.Basically, this is a good thing. People not onlyhave the right to know the quality of their food,it is the job of government agencies to keepthem aware of problems. It is then theconsuming public=s task to make decision aboutwhat they purchase and where they purchase it.

    A good example of the problems in the produce

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    industry occurred in early 2008 when a majoroutbreak of Salmonella was attributed totomatoes produced in the United States. Formonths many stores and restaurants all acrossthe country refused to purchase tomatoes fromtraditional farms. Ironically, by the time thiswas all over, after months of investigation, itwas found that the problem was not with

    tomatoes at all, the problem came from chilipeppers produced in Mexico and used in somesalsa products that used this tainted product.But it was too late. The damage was done. Thetomato raised the public distrust of the foodindustry even higher.

    During the tomato recall of the early 2008'ssomething happened that has changed thepublic=s opinions and buying habits that isbeginning to have an effect on agriculture

    production. I mention that during the tomatoscare grocery stores refused to stock traditionalfarm raised tomatoes. This is true. But they stillhad a limited supple of tomatoes for those whowanted them. How could this be? The tomatoesthey were purchasing for their customers camefrom hydroponic growers who were able to becertified that their product was Salmonella free.Also, many upscale stores like health foodstores like Whole Foods had a supply oftomatoes that were declared, AOrganic@. While

    the supply of hydroponic tomatoes wasadequate to supply regular grocery stores, thesupply of organic tomatoes was limited andthere were shortages on these in storesnationwide. It should be pointed out, the reasonthe hydroponic crops were adequate wasbecause restaurants were purchasing them fortheir menus and many consumers found thatthey did not like the quality of thehydroponically grown products because theytend to be tasteless when compared to a soil

    grown variety. The second effect that resultedfrom this was a trend to ABuy Local@. Evenafter the tomato was exonerated the publicbecame cautious. In the early summer of 2008when the tomatoes produced by local farmersbegan to ripen stores all the country starteddisplaying signs announcing ALocally Grown@for all of their produce when it was available.Small roadside farm produced stands sprang upthroughout the country side and people woulddrive for miles from the city on weekends to

    the rural areas to purchase the produce rightfrom the farmer. The reason for this trend was

    simple. People trust the local growers.

    Another concern health conscious consumershave with the purchase of produce is the use ofpesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers.Whether this is really an issue or not isdebatable, but it doesnt matter. It is theconsumer who has the final decision about the

    purchase and if these chemicals concern themin the least, then they are going to seek thealternatives.

    HYDROPONICS

    Hydroponic crop production is based on theprinciple that all a plant really needs to grow isa combination of water and food. It does notnecessarily need soil. Over the yearsspecialized hybrid plants have been developed

    that can thrive in these artificial environments.Anyone who remembers the experiments inhigh school biology classes where a seed wasplaced on a damp cloth and it sprouted andthen began to grow can understand theprinciples of hydroponics. The seed onlyneeded the moisture from the water togerminate. After that point all it really neededwas a place to grip with it roots and somefertilizer and it would continue to grow.However, just because it would grow did not

    necessarily mean it would have the nutrient andstrength to grow big enough to produce a fruit.Based on this knowledge seed companies overthe years developed plants that could not onlygrow well under these conditions, but couldproduce fruit as well, and lots of it.

    There are a lot of advantages to having thistechnology. Since the plants could be fed usingchemical fertilizers they did not require largeexpanses of land to produce large amounts of

    product. These plants could be placed veryclose together to save space and as long as thefertilizer keeps coming they will grow straightup. This practice changes the dynamics offarming. We do not talk about pounds per acrewe talk about pounds per square foot. Becauseso many plants can be packed into a relativelysmall area, this means that an area of 3,000square feet, the average size of a greenhouse,can now grow as much produce as an acre ofland containing 42,200 square feet.

    Furthermore, since they can be grown inenvironmentally controlled greenhouses, as

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    long as there is sunlight and heat, they can begrown even in far northern regions of the worldin the dead of winter. This not only answers theproblem of a winter supply of produce, thesefacilities can now be placed near large urbanconsumer areas and the cost of transportation isgreatly diminished. In recent years hugegreenhouse complexes covering hundreds of

    acres have sprung up in Canada to serve bothCanadian groceries as well as the northernUnited States. It was these operations thatprovided the tomatoes during the Salmonellascare of 2008.

    For some knowledgeable and discerningconsumers there are issues with hydroponicproduce, especially tomatoes. Because there isno organic fertilizer used the taste tends to benon-existent or flat when compared to a typical

    farm raised product. Another factor is callednutrient load. Recently there has beenawareness that when crops are grown naturallythey are loaded with certain vitamins and othernutrients. Tests have shown that when onlychemicals are used this nutritional value isgreatly diminished. This is one of the mainreasons that during the local growing seasonpeople will stop using the hydroponic cropsand go to roadside farm stands. There is bigdifference between the two crops in flavor and

    quality. Although because the crops are grownindoor environments there is no use ofherbicides and little or no use of pesticides,some people still have issues with chemicalfertilizers. As anyone who prefers organicproduce to chemically grown vegetables willtell you, given the choice, when both areavailable they will go to the organic ones everytime even though the cost may be slightlyhigher. Perhaps it is a perception thing, butperception is what good marketing is all about.

    AQUAPONICS

    Although similar in some ways to the practiceofAHydroponics@ production, there are somevery important differences that make anAAquaponic@ vegetable far superior to aAHydroponic@ vegetable. Modern aquaculturecould possibly be the answer to many of theconcerns for the consuming public with theadaptation of aquaponics. Aquaponics is best

    described as being a method of taking thewaste produced from the rearing of aquatic

    animals, such as fish, and using this waste toproduce high quality vegetables and plants.Because the waste is organic in nature, the foodcrops coming from this operation can beconsidered organic as well.

    Aquaponics has the unique ability to combinethe best of things in crop production. A

    traditional farmer can use any variety ofvegetable he chooses to produce his crop. Forinstance, if he feels his clients would like thevariety of tomatoes known as ABig Boy=, he canget the seeds, place them in the ground andthey grow to give him what he wants. He hasthe choice of using either animal waste, likecow manure, or chemicals to provide the plantfood. If he uses animal waste or other organicfertilizer his crop can be labeled organic andbring a higher price at the market. The crop

    grows with nature soil moisture so the fruit isnot watery. Hydroponics do not have thisoption. They must use specific varieties ofplants and use chemical fertilizers. However,the farmer has a major short coming. He canonly grow his plants during the spring andsummer growing season. Also he is somewhatlimited to production based on the land area hecan plant.

    Aquaponics is a unique method to get the best

    of both worlds. The plants can be grown insidea greenhouse anywhere in the world in highdensities, the fertilizer is organic, the plant canbe any variety and the plant is not grown instanding water allowing for a very favorableproduct.

    HOW AQUAPONICS WORKS

    Aquaponic production facilities are notnecessarily overly sophisticated high tech

    operations, although the proper management ofthem are. Some systems are more advancedthan others depending on how the system isdesigned. As with anything, there are basicsteps in the process to achieve the desiredresults. No matter how the system is set up,they all center around the fact that in an indooraquaculture facility a lot of waste is generated.For every pound of fish raised one can almostexpect 2 pounds of waste. Without the use ofaquaponics, the disposal of this waste is

    something that a fish farmer has to deal with.He must find a way to discharge it in an

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    environmentally acceptable way. However,when one considers that this by-product hasvalues in the production of other high demandcrops throwing it away makes no sense at all.Because it is a water environment, obviouslythe fish waste is already in the water that willbe needed to grow the plants. It just becomes amatter getting the raw fish waste into a form

    that the plants can use as food.

    As mentioned, there are several different waysto grow plants using fish waste fromaquaculture facilities. Some of the simplersystems just set up beds or troughs that canhold water and run the fish water from the fishtanks through the beds and grow the plantsright there. The theory is the plant beds will actas a filter and trap the fish waste and then thiswater is sent back to the tanks. At the same

    time the filter is producing an ancillary cashcrop. Although this does work to grow plantsand crops it does have some drawbacks. Forone thing, soil based plants such as tomatoesand lettuce are not the best plants that can beused to filter fish water. If the initial purpose isto filter the water with plants then waterhyacinths would do a much better job. Theproblem is, the water hyacinths are not a goodcash crop and produce no fruit for market. Thisfiltering system will indeed grow good

    vegetable crops, but the fish system will sufferto a degree because the returning water qualityis lower than a good regular filter wouldprovide. Another problem is the crop can neverreally be considered AOrganic@ under thestrictest definition of the term. In order for atraditional land farmer to have his cropscertified as being organic, the animal waste, i.e.cow manure, must have been applied to thegrowing area at least nine months prior toplanting. This is to allow for the organic break

    down of the manure to nitrates. It alsoguarantees that any virus such as e-coli isremoved from the fertilizer and can not betransplanted to the crop. Obviously, when theplants are being growing in raw fish waste themanure has not been fully converted.

    A different type of design is planned for theBrown operation. In this facility theaquaponics is treated as a different entity fromthe fish, even though they are, to a degree,

    connected. First the fish rearing tanks havetheir own filtration system containing a solids

    filter and biological contactor (bio-filter) toremove ammonia and nitrites. Only the wastetrapped in the filters is sent to the aquaponics.When the fish waste leaves the fish growingarea it first enters a digestion unit. This digesterbreaks the waste down from a solid into anutrient rich liquid through aerobic andanaerobic processes. This liquid is then sent,

    through a recirculation system, to the plants.The plants are actually being grown in a moistmedia. At certain times during the day timersturn on pumps that send the fertilizer to theplant roots and this moistens the media. After ashort period of time the water is returned to thedigester. This allows the plants roots to grow ina condition similar to the moisture found isnormal garden soil thereby allowing for theproduction of any regular garden plant variety.Because the plant is grown using natural

    fertilizer the flavor is similar to that grown insoil instead of chemicals. The nutrient load ofthe fruit is maximized and the quality of theproduct far superior to hydroponically growncrops. Furthermore, this product can becertified as being organic and locally growngreatly increasing its market value.

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    Aquaponics Production with tomatoes in the back

    And lettuce in the front

    Growing under carefully controlled conditions

    Massive yields can be obtained with aquaponics

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    AQUAPONICS PROVIDES A MARKET BASKET

    When talking aboutaquaponics greenhouseproducts, usually thefirst thing that comes tomind istomatoes. While they are abig crop,a complete market basketvarietyof vegetables can be raised.From snap

    beans to kale tostrawberries, everything canbe considered.

    Lettuce growing on floatsAll forms of lettuce can beproduced using the floats system

    Snap beans growing inloose gravel fed withnutrient rich fertilizer madefrom fish waste

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    Lettuce

    In the United States the per capita consumption of lettuce in 2010 reached a high level of15 pounds. While iceberg lettuce is still the mostly widely purchased of all lettuce

    varieties, the more leafy types like Romaine have increased in demand by over 500% iepast tens years because it has more nutrient value and is much preferred by healthconscious buyers.

    For aquaponics growers Romaine and Butterhead lettuce are the best types to raisebecause they not only bring a high price in the markets than iceberg lettuce, they standmore heat. Butterhead and leaf types can stand even more heat and have a longer seasonof production. This is ideal for greenhouse operators in the Northeast who experiencehigh summer temperatures. These varieties also grow well in the moderate roomtemperatures of 70-75 degrees which means the Northeastern growers can extend theirgrowing seasons well into early winter and perhaps year around.

    There are several ways to produce lettuce crops using aquaponics. One is the Raftsystem whereby the plants are grown on sheets of foam board floating on pools of water.

    LETTUCE IN A FLOATING FOAM RAFT SYSTEM

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    Other methods include troughs made by manufacturers. In these devices the nutrient richwater flows through a shallow trough that has a cover over it that contains holes for thelettuce plants. As the water flows through the roots of the lettuce extend down ward andthey get both the moisture they need as well as the nutrient.

    Lettuce in a Commercial NTF System

    Which is the best system use depends on who you talk to. Of course the manufacturers ofthe MTF system say theirs is, while people who have used both methods say they canpack more product per sq. ft. on a raft.

    In talking to a grower in Racine WI who has used both methods, we have learned thefollowing.

    The NTF system keeps the plants about 8 apart allowing for only 2 heads per sq ft. Onehis raft he was able to grow 3 heads per sq ft. This is significant because that is a 50%increase in production from the same floor space.

    After the seed is planted in the seedling area it is 21 days until placed on the growing raft.

    After the seedling is placed on the growing raft it is 25 days to market.

    One the average each Hole will yield 11 heads per year.

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    ASSUMPTIONS

    Based of the information of the preceding page we can make the following assumptions.

    For these calculations we are using a single standard 30 foot by 100 foot greenhouse

    containing 3,000 sq ft. of floor space. We have to allow 500 sq ft of this space as beingunusable to allow for isle ways and other open areas including the seedling area. Thisleaves 2,500 sq feet for crop production.

    Using the 3 plants per sq. ft. density we could have as many as 7,500 plants growing atone time.

    In the real world not every plant will be ready at exactly the same day, nor would afarmer want them to be, however, for this analysis we will assume they are.

    Based on the 11 turns per hole per year we can expect to grow about 80,000 heads of

    lettuce per year in this one 3,000 sq ft greenhouse.

    Profitability in aquaponics, like most all farm production, is based on scale of economies.The larger the operation and the more you grow, the higher the potential profit becausesome things are fixed cost that do not necessarily in crease with increased production.

    A good example is the volume produced by just the one greenhouse. Because we had toallow some space for the seedling production area we lost some market crop productionarea. If a second 3,000 foot green is added we would now be able to use an additional 200square feet for production allowing this building to produce an additional 1800 heads oflettuce per year or a total production of 81,800 heads.

    It is the same with the labor. While the first greenhouse will probably have about 6employees, 1 for seedling production and 5 for management, packing, shipping, etc., thesecond green house may only require an additional 3 employees.

    The packaging of fresh organic aquaponics products like lettuce, basil and other leafygreens is different than the traditional method where the product is just cut from the rootsand then placed in shipping containers. Fresh organic products are removed from thesystem, roots and all and then packaged in special containers that add water to the roots.If allowed to sit in the sunlight the plant actually keeps growing. When the consumerpurchases the product it is as though it was freshly picked from the garden.

    As side from having the ability to provide the consumer with the freshest possibleproducts, there is another advantage of packaging the products this way in favor of thegrowers, the product will last longer in his storage prior to shipping.

    As a result of the special care giving to the harvesting and packaging of the product, thepacking cost will be able $.05 higher than normal large farm cost or about $.15 per head.

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    BASIL

    Basil is grown exactly like the lettuce either in the raft system or in the NFT trays. Themain difference is, with basil you can get 9 basil stalks per sq. ft on a raft tray. Also basil

    can be harvested two different ways. It can be removed root and all and placed in Livingbags, as shown below to keep the leaves growing for many days, or it can be clipped andsold by the bunch. When the basil is just clipped, the roots will continue to produce morestalks. The down side to clipping is the product does not bring as much money in themarket place.

    While lettuce has been reported to bringing the farmer prices between $1.30 to a $1.45per head, basil brings about $1.25 per package holding about 5 stalks. This would meanthat per square foot of green house space the basil could yield higher profits. Mostgrowers produce both crops since the same buyers purchase them both.

    Living containers for organic Lettuce and Basil

    Basil is placed in living tubes to keep itfresh.

    Notice in the picture of lettuce aboveand the basil to the left that both plantsstill have roots attached.

    A little bit of water has been added atthe bottom to keep the plant living.

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    AQUAPONICS SYSTEMS

    Aquaponics systems can be developed several ways. One is to purchase all of thematerials from a manufacturer. While these systems work well and are nice, it is notalways necessary for a farmer to spend this money. AS was described above, a simple

    home built raft system works just as well, and in some cases, depending on who you talkto, they work better and can cost about as much.

    For the sake of this report we have included the following information. Not all of thisequipment is necessary. For instance, when using the S-09 system you will not need thenutrient delivery and return system as this can be built in place for about this cost.

    The following is the cost listed for a single greenhouse complete with NTF growingsystems supplied by Crop king.

    Free Standing

    30' x 128'

    6,192 plant spaces

    Description Items Pricing

    Structure&

    Covering

    Greenhouse StructureGreenhouse Covering

    $ 9,962

    CoolingVent Door

    Air CirculationHeaters

    Environmental ControlsElectrical Panel

    Technical Support

    Cooling SystemVent Door

    Air Circulation SystemOverhead Unit HeatersEnvironmental Controls

    Electrical PanelTechnical Service $ 16,781

    NFT Lettuce System

    CropKing NFT GrowingChannel

    Nutrition Delivery ReturnSystem

    CropKing NFT FertrollerSystem

    $ 22,034

    http://cropking.com/free30#structurehttp://cropking.com/free30#coveringhttp://cropking.com/free30#coolinghttp://cropking.com/free30#venthttp://cropking.com/free30#circulatinghttp://cropking.com/free30#heaterhttp://cropking.com/free30#iGrowhttp://cropking.com/free30#panelhttp://cropking.com/free30#techhttp://cropking.com/free30#systemhttp://cropking.com/free30#systemhttp://cropking.com/free30#techhttp://cropking.com/free30#panelhttp://cropking.com/free30#iGrowhttp://cropking.com/free30#heaterhttp://cropking.com/free30#circulatinghttp://cropking.com/free30#venthttp://cropking.com/free30#coolinghttp://cropking.com/free30#coveringhttp://cropking.com/free30#structure
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    Nutrient TanksNursery Seedling System

    NFT Support System

    Testing & MiscellaneousEquipment

    Growing Supplies

    Testing and MiscellaneousEquipment

    Growing Supplies $ 7,388

    Growing Package Total $ 56,165

    Additional Options:

    CO2 Enrichment &Control System

    CO2 Enrichment and ControlSystem

    $ 1,100

    Shade ClothShade Cloth

    $ 755

    Insect Exclusion System Insect Exclusion System $ 3,153

    FISH BARN WITH AQUAPONICS ATTACHED

    http://cropking.com/free30#testinghttp://cropking.com/free30#supplieshttp://cropking.com/free30#co2http://cropking.com/free30#clothhttp://cropking.com/free30#screenhttp://cropking.com/free30#screenhttp://cropking.com/free30#clothhttp://cropking.com/free30#co2http://cropking.com/free30#supplieshttp://cropking.com/free30#testing
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    AQUAPONICS PROJECTIONS

    Since the fish waste (fertilizer)is already present the cost of operating this part of thefacility is very low. Labor can be spread out between the fish growing and the aquaponicsoperation.

    The Following chart shows the cash flow for aquaponics crop production. The chart onthis page deals only with tomatoes while the chart on the next page is for lettuce. It isimportant to understand that a complete market basket of vegetables can be raisedincluding lettuce, cucumbers, peppers, melons as well as herbs like basil. Some may havea higher market value per square foot of greenhouse production.

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