Traditional Small Scale Aquaponics Cannot be Scaled Up!
If you want to grow some lettuce and tilapia in a small hobby farm and sell a few heads and a few fish - fine! But do NOT expect to make a profit
All we have seen are failure after failure and still the
same myth persists. New aquaponics
systems, small, modular pre engineered NFT systems claiming that simply ganging
a hundred or more of these will give you a commercial aquaponics facility. IT
IS NOT TRUE! I don't know about
Australia, or South Africa, or even the Caribbean islands but I can tell you
with confidence that no commercially successful aquaponics operation exists
here in America, nor have there ever been any!
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| Perfect Hydroponic Tomatos - This is the Model |
Why? Anyone with commercial farming experience knows why. How do they know why? Because they are not academic researchers,
they are professional growers I have not come to this conclusion lightly. I preparing to invest 3 million dollars in the creation of a network of automated
aquaponics growing units across America.
For the last three years I have been studying, interviewing experts, and
comparing existing operations. I am
giving you a synopsis of that work here.
Even though we have repeatedly told the tale on our Commercial Aquaponics Linkedin Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=4121735&trk=hb_side_g on this
group and still ... grower after grower, after grower keeps talking about how they plan to start with a 1,000 sq ft site and scale it up to a
commercial venture. WRONG ! If you want to experiment with the chemistry
and reinvent aquaponics one more time, then that's fine. If you are a researcher in an academic
institution and you are doing research into growth issues, or plant ecology, or
aquatics, whatever -Fine!
Just don't fool yourself into thinking you can build a small
system and scale it up. You cannot! It's a bit like making cookies for
friends. The recipe for baking a dozen
cookies is totally different, even the equipment used is difference from baking
10,000 cookies. So it is with commercial
aquaponics. If you are looking for a
model to emulate use commercial hydroponics.
Look at the scale, look at the equipment. look at the automation.
You can do hobby, or backyard, or experimental hydroponics
but it is not the same thing as commercial scale! Not at all!
Stevens Point, Murry Hallum, Dr.Racocy, Nelson Pade, Tree
Frog ... No one has been able to make a
profit purely from operations in the continental USA. No one has been able to
survive more than a few years. All of
the above have turned to seminars/workshops, consulting, and/or equipment
sales. Believe me if they could have
made money growing food, they would have continued to do so.
IF you cannot sell to
the large purchasers of greens etc, then you will NOT be profitable. One more thing! The Fish are not the profit drivers in
aquaponics. The fish are a fertilizer
factory. Keep the fish alive but focus
on the greens! Lots, and lots, and lots
of greens
My advice: Automate to the max, not to save labor costs but
to assure, quality dependability, and volume!
It is what we plan to do: I'll
keep you posted on the outcome! Watch
this space and/or visit our blog at: www.familyfishfarms.blogspot.com
