AQUAPONIC MICRO AND MACRO FARMS FOR RESOURCE PRODUCTION YOUR ONE-STOP GUIDE TO AQUAPONICS

As people migrate to cities, more and more of the 60+ million people in the UK live in those cities and they also live in small spaces. With current or looming economic, food safety and security issues, and high costs of energy, textiles and other resources, many today are in favour of producing the resources they consume, but feel that they do not have the space to do so. Aquaponics is the combination of aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants using water rather than soil. The waste products from the fish are treated and then used to fertilize hydroponically growing plants. This method can also be blended with wormeries and the worms both digest the vegetable scraps and compostable material of the household/ community and worms also feed the fish! Aquaponics is ecologically sound and sustainable. Scalable designs for systems are available online.

IMPORTANT FACTS Aquaponics is sustainable and organic, does not require fertile soil, Aquaponics can be powered off the grid by solar or wind, normally on between 12 to 60 watts A 6 foot x 8 foot (1.8m x 2.5m) unit can produce 400 vegetables & 100 lb (45 kg) of fish per year A 90 foot x 120 foot (30m x 30m) unit can produce 60,000 vegetables & 23,000 lb (10,400 kg) of fish per year One full-time trained worker can operate and maintain over one quarter (1/4) of an acre Because the water is re-circulated; Aquaponics uses between 90% and 95% less water than many other agricultural methods.

Labour is reduced as much as 40% and many useful by-products can be used to farm other crops, trees, or soil A permaculture inspired system produces all of the system's needs: water, energy, fish feed, heat, etc. on site. It is an incredibly productive means of growing food. People with large systems growing 5000 plants a week have reported that, once their system is set up, they earn 850 a week spending 2 hours a day at work. Aquaponics has eight to ten times more vegetable production in the same area and time. DID YOU KNOW Aquaponics has been used for thousands of years to fertilize rice fields and keep them pest free in Asia. Aquaponics is popular in Australia due to its high production and low water consumption Conclusioncombining the plant and fish production of Aquaponics with elements of the tree production of Agroforestry, the worm production of Vermiculture (wormeries) and production of worm castings from composting fish waste in one system produces high yield organic crops in small spaces, this could be of great assistance in the agriculturally uncertain climate we are being told we live in. There are of course many beautiful methods we can adopt to feed our people and nurture the land we live upon, Aquaponics can be seen to be clean, efficient, fairly low impact and useable for many different types of communities. FURTHER INFORMATION BEST BOOKS 1. Aquaponic Gardening: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables & Fish Together- Sylvia Bernstein 2. Aquaponic Food Production Nelson and Pade, Inc. http://aquaponics.com 3. Urban Farming: Sustainable City Living in Your Backyard, in Your Community, and in the WorldThomas Fox 4. Search for Aquaponics and Urban Farming on Amazon.com BEST WEBSITES http://aquaponicplans.info/ http://diyaquaponics.com http://video.google.com (search for Aquaponics) www.aquaponics.net BEST FILMS Murray Hallam: Aquaponics Made Easy, Aquaponics Secrets, DIY Aquaponics, Aquaponics the First Twelve Months A Farm for the Future Olomana Gardens Permaculture and Aquaponics Glenn Martinez CREDITS THIS INFO WAS COMPILED BY MATHEW PHILLIPS OF MOLECULAR SYNERGY NONPROFIT COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: http://www.molecularsynergy.com +44 20 3286 0788 molecularsynergy@gmail.com AND WAS PUT OUT TO THE PASSING CLOUDS NETWORK FOR FEEDBACK BEFORE COMPLETION DISCLAIMER [This info has been produced to the best of our research capability at the time of printing. All research has been sent to a number of independent researchers and experts in the field for feedback before printing. However, this is a document in development and we welcome all contributions. If you have information you think we should include, please email we@passingclouds.org so that we can consider it for inclusion in subsequent print runs]