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I'd rebuff your hydroponics idea, and add that it's worth considering aquaponics. You drastically reduce the amount of growth and nutrient additives, as the sys

I'd rebuff your hydroponics idea, and add that it's worth considering aquaponics. You drastically reduce the amount of growth and nutrient additives, as the system becomes effectively a closed-loop with fish (and aerobic bacteria in the growing medium) creating the nutrients required. Setup costs are generally large, but aquaponics scale very well.

busterarm 9y ago
And they don't have that fucking oily taste that hydroponically grown stuff does. Plus you get to eat lots of tilapia.
- King-Aaron 9y ago
  We ran Rainbow Trout, Silver Perch and Barramundi :)
roel_v 9y ago
So, if such a system is feasible and profitable (at scale), where are the farms that are killing off 'traditional' farms left and right? I'll tell you where all the aquaponics farms are: in bankruptcy court, because very few of them have managed to figure out how to make this system work at a scale bigger than home production, and even less how to do so while still being economically competitive. It's not a coincidence that most tilapia production is not in aquaponics farms. And it's not like it hasn't been tried; people try to do so every day and have been doing so for 30. But saying "but aquaponics scale very well." just screams 'I read some blog posts about this so now I know they scale well', because the technology simply isn't there.
- King-Aaron 9y ago
  I've been running aquaponics on a hobby farm scale for more than a few years now, but thanks.
  - roel_v 9y ago
    Also, it's unlikely anyone will ever still see this, but coincidentally this research paper came out a few days ago about this exact issue: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860917300821 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860917... .
  - roel_v 9y ago
    OK my post probably could have done without the last sentence, but my point stands: aquaponics doesn't scale with current technology. Numerous attempts have shown and are still showing it.

busterarm 9y ago

And they don't have that fucking oily taste that hydroponically grown stuff does. Plus you get to eat lots of tilapia.

King-Aaron 9y ago
We ran Rainbow Trout, Silver Perch and Barramundi :)

roel_v 9y ago

So, if such a system is feasible and profitable (at scale), where are the farms that are killing off 'traditional' farms left and right? I'll tell you where all the aquaponics farms are: in bankruptcy court, because very few of them have managed to figure out how to make this system work at a scale bigger than home production, and even less how to do so while still being economically competitive. It's not a coincidence that most tilapia production is not in aquaponics farms. And it's not like it hasn't been tried; people try to do so every day and have been doing so for 30. But saying "but aquaponics scale very well." just screams 'I read some blog posts about this so now I know they scale well', because the technology simply isn't there.

King-Aaron 9y ago
I've been running aquaponics on a hobby farm scale for more than a few years now, but thanks.
- roel_v 9y ago
  Also, it's unlikely anyone will ever still see this, but coincidentally this research paper came out a few days ago about this exact issue: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860917300821 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0144860917... .
- roel_v 9y ago
  OK my post probably could have done without the last sentence, but my point stands: aquaponics doesn't scale with current technology. Numerous attempts have shown and are still showing it.