Why Aquaponics?
What if there was way to produce an abundance of organic food using 98% less water, while producing up to ten times more food in the same amount of area and time? What if you could achieve this using 1/4 the amount of energy. Imagine producing organic food in a system that does not require fertile soil, saves you labor, makes you a good living and is incredibly sustainable? Well the exciting news is that such a system of growing food exists! It's called Aquaponics. Aquaponics is a combination of Aquaculture and Hydroponics. It is one of the most sustainable and productive farming systems in the world!
Does all this sound too good to be true? Want to know more?
Explore this website and learn about this incredible system and its successes and applications around the world!
At a time of global climate change, depletion of resources, pollution of water and huge losses of top soil worldwide, there has never been a more important time to learn about Aquaponics!
Some more facts about our systems:
- Our systems use up to 98% less water than conventional farming methods!
- They produce up to ten times more vegetables and crops in the same amount of space and time!
- They use up to 75% less energy than almost any other farming method!
- They are guaranteed to be free from chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and other chemicals!
- They require only about 1/2 the labor required by almost all other food production methods!
- They virtually eliminate weeds, pests, diseases, viruses and pathogens for both aquatic and plant life alike!
- They can be used in almost any situation and can be any size, from desk top systems to large scale commercial farms!
- They save time, money and labor in all stages of production!
- No soil is required in Aquaponics enabling otherwise “undesirable” sites or land to be used to produces fish, vegetables, fruit and more!
- Many useful byproducts are created in our systems that can be used to produce other crops, trees, soil, gas and energy!
- By fusing Permaculture and Aquaponics truly sustainable closed loop systems are created that provide all the needs for the system with in the system itself!
- Meyers systems produce virtually all of the system’s needs (water, energy, fish, feed, heat, gas, etc.) onsite! Products of the Meyers systems include; Solar electricity, Solar heated air, Solar heated water, fish, prawns, vegetables, fruit, aquatic plants, algae, minnows, snails, worms, dry and liquid fertilizers, even methane gas!
Growing our food in closed systems that require no soil allows us to farm soil and water outside the system! We plant soil and water in our damaged and depleted landscapes which not only aids in the restoration of the soil, groundwater and native forests, but has the added benefit of offsetting greenhouse gases by removing carbon Dioxide from the atmosphere. This is one of the practices used in what we call "Carbon Farming".
Soils contain approximately 75% of the carbon pool on land — three times more than the amount stored in living plants and animals. Did you know that 1" of healthy top soil spread over 1 acre of land sequesters the same amount of carbon a healthy forest of the same size does annually? It is estimated that our crop and range lands lose 4 tons of topsoil every year for every person alive! That's 21 gigatons of soil washed or blown out to the sea and lost for productive use on land, releasing vast amounts of carbon in the process (New Scientist, December 2006).
Being able to use land considered "Undesirable" by conventional farming; Aquaponic farmers have the added benefit of access to cheap lands and lease agreements. Often using otherwise unused space such as fill, gravel, concrete, abandoned commercial sites, even roof tops.
As we say in Permaculture "the only limit to our designs is in the mind of the designer"!
Click here to register for a training or make an appointment for a consultation and system design.