Erik, Jacob and Andreas

-Aquaponics NU has joined forces with Creature DK, an innovative group of young professionals with an interest in urban agriculture and sustainable development.

Computer rendering done by our friend Martin

-We have also been working hard on creating interest in aquaponics as an urban intervention. We’ve been invited to join the “Social Capital Markets” conference “Designing the Future,” being hosted in Malmo, Sweden where we received a sort of “scholarship” to attend and meet others interested in green technologies and potential investors.

-We’re excited about this great opportunity and will be live blogging from the event to keep everyone informed.

-Co-partner Jacob has recently been accepted as a PhD student at the University of Iceland where he’ll be examining the relationship between aquaponics, localized production and economics.

- On May 12, we head south to Køge, where we’ll be exhibiting our new system and hopefully attracting some interest in using aquaponics as a tool for community development in Køge’s new waterfront development.

IBC Chopped tank. Recycled materials model.

Call for Papers and Instructions for Abstract Submission
Ninth International Conference on Recirculating Aquaculture
Roanoke, Virginia, August 24-26, 2012

“The International Conference on Recirculating Aquaculture (ICRA) is requesting abstracts for papers to be presented at the Ninth International Conference on Recirculating Aquaculture. In addition to publishing a 1-2 page abstract in the conference proceedings, authors will share their research through an oral presentation, or as a poster. For consideration, abstracts (1-2 pages in length) must be received by Friday, March 16, 2012. Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by March 31, 2012. Abstracts will be edited in house and published in a volume of proceedings which will be available at the conference.”

http://www.recircaqua.com/abstract.html

A tilapia processing facility in Costa Rica just bought a machine that can process 20,000 tonnes of tilapia annually. Fish goes in a fish, comes out a cube. Scary and exciting. Scary because this is evidence that the aquaculture industry is hopelessly entangled in the centralized food system. Exciting because it means people want tilapia.

Here is an excerpt from an article on www.theseafoodsource.com

“This sale represents another step in Marel’s strategy of focusing increasingly on the rapidly growing markets of Central America and the Far East for farmed fish species such as tilapia and pangasius, and we have been establishing a growing presence in both regions,” said Jón Haraldur Haraldsson, Panama-based sales manager. “Faster processing times, better management tools, increased yield and better product handling mean that the system will pay for itself in a very short time, and this was a major factor in Terrapez choosing Marel as its processing partner.”

20,000 tonnes of tilapia has a market value of roughly USD 90 million. That is one machine in one company processing USD 90 million a year. Hopefully there are some socially equitable organizations that involved in this chain of production, processing and distribution.

While the benefits of a growing market for tilapia on the global scale, can be great, the regulations for sustainable production in emerging economies are non-existent or relaxed. At Aquaponics NU we want to develop a system that collectively produces USD 90,000,000, but that will be distributed to many producers and no one will require a metal detector to process their tilapia fillets.  Imagine distributing this amount of production to several hundred, or thousands of little producers scattered around dense urban areas. Attach education and a sustainable business model to the producers and soon we’ll have a food revolution on our hands.  

This guy is great. Purely open-source ecology here, recycling common materials, achievable without power tools, suggestions for methods. It’s so simple it is criminal. I see a small problem if we are going to adapt an aquaponic system to be based in these barrels, and that is that the reservoir is too large, and there could be a problem with spillage. With such a large reservoir we are adding unnecessary weight and the need to pump more water which means more energy to move the water and more water use. However it is a novel idea. It can be aptly used as a method of raised bed agriculture to redevelop an urban space with contaminated soils and can be adapted to incorporate vertical growth by stacking the barrels. Furthermore it is neat. Everything is contained in a barrel with a predetermined size can make planning a garden much easier.

Let’s work on sustainable economic business models to create the foundation for new economies. In this classic for Aquapons, Murray Hallam, the unchallenged godfather from Down Under, tells us about aquaponics production for profit.  giving us insight into the planning of a deep-water-culture, nutrient film technique set-up in Australia. Deep-water-culture is a very effective system for implementing aquaponic projects because of its ability to regulate temperature and balance pH. This system is inside a greenhouse, but let’s imagine it inside a 200 sq/m building in an unused warehouse in a marginalized neighborhood on the outside of an urban center. Let’s also imagine there is a team of professionals behind it ready to draft grant proposals and provide expertise (Aquaponics NU)… now we have a vision of what Aquaponics NU is working toward. The sustainable revolution is here. Educate and innovate!

http://podcast.dr.dk/P1/VITA/2011/vita_110926.mp3.

Master’s thesis by Jacob Waltman, founding partner, on Urban Agriculture.  Examine this for more information on closing the nutrient-loop in urban areas and how aquaponics can help. http://issuu.com/jakewaltman/docs/mathesis_urban_agriculture

Rooftop gardens are ideal for aquaponics.  Harnessing the power of the sun can completely close the aquaponics loop, negating the necessity to use grow lamps.  Here at Aquaponics NU we are utilizing highly-efficient LED grow lamps, that significantly reduces energy inputs, but where there is an opportunity to utilize rooftops, we always take it.

Spatially speaking, rooftops are ideal as they are a conventionally underutilized surface. By growing vegetables on rooftops we can also reduce heating and/or cooling expenses as the biomass creates a valuable insulating quality.

Aquaponics NU has experience in utilizing rooftops for agricultural ventures, starting with the roof of their office at Bryggen 93.