Is it time for a new way to produce our food...
more sustainably?
Changing to a method so effective
that NASA thinks of growing veggies on space missions with it?
It tastes amazing!
What if we could forget about conventional farming,
and grow our own food in our own neighborhoods
and reduce the carbon footprint of our diet?
It’s called aquaponics
and some scientists see it as the way to unburden our ecosystems.
How that could work out is what we're checking out today —
with the help of an old warehouse, a salad and some fish.
But why does our current way of growing food need to change again?
Monocultures and the excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides
lead to enormous degradation of entire ecosystems and biodiversity.
For one thing, agriculture contributes to roughly one fifth of all
emitted greenhouse gases globally.
And roughly half of the world’s population experiences severe
water scarcity during at least one month of the year.
Agriculture currently accounts for 70% of all freshwater withdrawals globally.
But there is a farm in Eindhoven, Netherlands –
that claims to be able to tackle all of these problems.
“This looks amazing!”
“You don’t expect that in an old milk factory.”
"It looks like a spaceship, actually."
"What is this?"
"This is an aquaponic farm."
This is Tim Elfring, co-founder of the start-up Phood Farm.
In this small greenhouse in the middle of the city,
Phood Farm is currently growing three types of salads —
up to 200 kilos per week.
But using 90% less water than conventional farming.
"On a hot day on the countryside, we have this water cannon
that shoots water like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And so much drinking water, gets lost or spills.
And in this system, because it's so closed, the water gets recycled."
In the indoor-greenhouse, water is only lost through evaporation
or through the amounts the plants need.
This is how it works:
First the seeds have to sprout, like any seed in typical soil.
"Oh, the tiny ones."
"Yeah, the little babies are ready...
and then they stay in here for four or five days.
They get enough water.
And then after four or five days, they go inside of the regular farm."
The plants grow on these styrofoam plates
with only their roots in the water, and without any soil.
After six weeks, they’re ready to be eaten.
“Tastes amazing, no?“
“Yeah, it's amazing and the beautiful thing is, it’s hyper fresh.”
So that’s it? Of course not. The secret of this farm literally swims in the water.
The reason why we’re here is that this is a very special farm,
not just a usual greenhouse.
All these leafy greens grow in symbiosis with fish.
Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture, meaning fish farming,
and hydroponics, which is the
cultivation of plants without soil.
And the ingenious thing about it:
The two systems form an almost perfect ecological cycle.
180 fish produce a lot of poo, but this also contains a lot of nutrients.
These carps nourish the vegetables.
The water, which is rich in fish manure,
is pumped through these pipes into a tank.
Here bacteria, which occur naturally in water and soils, are cultivated.
They convert the potentially toxic ammonia from the fish poo into nitrate,
a natural fertilizer plants need to grow.
Here the plants absorb the nutrients, filter the water,
and return the clean water to the fishpond.
Tomatoes, lettuces, eggplants and a wide variety of vegetables
and plants can be grown this way.
In theory even growing cereals like wheat and corn is possible,
but due to the high investment needed for such production,
it’s not profitable replacing the production of these crops
with aquaponics at the moment.
Multi-annual crops like apples, oranges, tee, coffee or cocoa
don’t grow in this system.
But there are still many others that potentially do grow here.
Depending on the type of fish and vegetables,
some of them need little or no fertilizer.
"Ok, now little salad, come on!"
"We don't need to have any pesticides.
So, yeah, there's no natural predators coming in,
because it's so controlled over here.
That's why it's all without stuff that is unhealthy for our body,
for example, that sometimes comes in when we consume other vegetables."
The reduction or potential elimination of pesticides use
comes as the system is highly
controlled and separated from the outside.
If pests occur, experts recommend organic pest control
as synthetic chemicals can hurt the fishes'
and the system's ecological balance.
Since the production of synthetic fertilizers makes up to 50%
of energy use in commercial agriculture,
its reduction has an immense impact on the environment.
Because energy for artificial lighting —
especially in northern countries —
is a main factor in terms of costs,
as well as electricity for ventilation and water pumps;
growing in energy efficient greenhouses and using renewable energies
is of utmost importance for profits and long-term sustainability.
As technical as it may seem, the idea of a water and nutrient cycle between fish
and plants is thousands of years old.
One of the first artificially built environments using
aquatic-ecosystems for agriculture can be found among the Aztecs in Mexico.
In shallow rivers, they built chinampas –
floating multi-crop fields of piled up earth and rotting vegetation.
In the middle of the 20th century,
corn farming with this system was estimated
to be three times more productive
than conventional farming in the U.S. at the time.
In China and Southeast Asia as well,
growing rice and fish on the same land
has a tradition that goes back centuries
and is still being used in some places today.
Some scientists describe it as one of the most “ecologically sound and efﬁcient”
food production systems there is.
"So basically, you don't need antibiotics at all?"
"No. We don't need it over here because the water gets cleaned so well."
By creating a closed water loop and giving the fish four times more space
than in organic fish farming,
Tim says the creation of a healthy environment for the fish is much easier –
making pests less of a problem and easier to handle if they occur.
Unlike in other aquaponic systems, these koi carps are not bred to be eaten.
They will be sold to koi carp collectors
who are willing to pay considerable sums for the animals.
After a pilot phase,
Tim and his partners might change to large-scale production
and edible fish in the future.
This is where the most of the potential of this circular system lies.
Along with livestock, fish are a major source of animal proteins worldwide.
At the same time
overfishing is one of the biggest threats to ocean ecosystems.
Aquaculture could be a solution to this.
Over 50% of global fish consumption already originates from aquaculture,
but its wastewater is not used, which puts a lot of pressure on the environment.
Making aquaculture more efficient by growing mostly vegetarian fish
like Tilapia and creating value with their excrement instead of waste is key.
"If you have 10 liters of water,
you can usually produce 2,5 grams
of fish in a closed re-circulation system.
With a fully equipped aquaponics system,
nowadays you can go for up to
one hundred grams of fish,
and you can at the same time produce
five hundred grams of tomatoes."
This is Werner Kloas,
aquaponics research veteran at the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology
and Inland Fisheries.
In his view, Aquaponics is not the only way to
make major changes in our industrial and highly specialized food production.
Even low- tech, small-scale set ups can make a difference for families or communities.
For example, in developing countries in Africa, Asia or Latin America
where resources are scarce and climate change is worsening the situation.
"This system works fine
in our environment, in our countries."
This is Abdus Salam,
he’s researching on aquaponics at the Bangladesh Agricultural University.
On his rooftop he’s growing some Tilapia fish,
his own papayas, eggplant, spinach, okra and oregano.
"The people who have got a roof,
supposedly hundred square feet only,
You can supplement almost
70% of vegetables around the year, 70%!
Around 70% of the global population is going to live in urban areas by 2050.
Growing in our cities would unburden our soils, cut down transport emissions
and lead to less food being lost on its way from the field to our markets.
So far 14% of all food is lost due to insufficient cooling during transport
or bad infrastructure.
With a 100 USD system Salam already sees a lot of potential
for self-sufficient urban farmingin his country,
giving them access to more sustainable food, produced with clean water
and little to no use of fertilizers and pesticides.
"I had a system [in which] I produced four crops
in a year and one fish crop. We can get five to seven kg of fish and we can have
almost 30 to 40 kg [of] vegetables."
“Lift off of the space shuttle Atlantis — on a mission to build,
resupply and to do research on the International Space Station.”
The potential for growing very efficiently on small spaces
even led scientists from NASA to investigate the opportunies
to use aquaponics for food production on future long duration space missions
on the moon, the International Space Station ISS or on Mars.
To sustain life in space, food and water must be grown and recycled
using the elements found within the system.
Even though there are still many challenges and questions
that haven’t been answered, some scientists believe that this technology
could potentially contribute to creating a sustainable presence
beyond Mother Earth.
Back in the greenhouse, plants are already growing.
They’re harvested on the same day they're needed,
and they’re delivered directly to organic food stores and restaurants
all over the city.
Through a much more resource efficient production,
here prices can compete with conventional produce.
Since their production started recently,
Phood Farm is not yet making big profits.
But demand is picking up and they have plans
to increase their production in the future.
Globally, the market for aquaponic products
is currently around 600 million USD
Compared to a global agribusiness industry worth five trillion USD
it’s still relatively small.
Major hurdles to starting mass production include high initial
investment requirements,
the necessity of specialized technical know-how,
knowledge in microbiology and fish farming expertise.
Even though many species potentially can be grown with aquaponics,
it’s not yet a solution to growing everything we need.
"I think for food security for all of us,
we need some big facilities.
That's my vision that you will not have a systems just producing
one part or the other part, only fish or plants,
so that we will have some big combination systems."
Let’s see if one day there will be an aquaponic farm on my roof top.
By the way, if you like farming there are plenty of DIY options
on social media on how to build your own aquaponic system
in your own apartment or outside, on the balcony or in your garden.
You can find some examples in the description below.
So what do you think?
Is it realistic to see aquaponic systems where you live soon?
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