I’d be very interested to hear others thoughts along the thread of aquaponics being “one of the most sustainable” agricultural systems ever created. I really appreciated hearing Darren Doherty’s thoughts about that.
I’ll go ahead and admit my weakness: I haven’t been convinced of aquaponics sustainability. I am convinced that it is an extremely productive system. I currently oversee a small two-tub aquaponics demo that my students built and take care of, so I am familiar with the concept and function. It seems the materials that it takes to set up such a system embody huge amounts of energy (including the greenhouse structure itself). As an urban set-up to use converted warehouse space in overly industrialized areas with toxic soil it makes great sense. Beyond that I am not yet willing to generalize it as an extremely sustainable form of agriculture. Naturally, it probably depends on the methods one uses. It seems particularly subject to power outages and equipment failure though.
I also should note that I’m NOT suggesting aquaponics shouldn’t be done if it is proven to be unsustainable, just that we might want to choose different language when generalizing about it. For example, I love the benefits of a greenhouse, but I’m not going to suggest it is one of the most sustainable forms of growing. It’s just nice to have fresh food all winter!
And aquaponics could be the holy grail of agriculture, but I’m not convinced yet. I’d like to hear about other models, that use gravity more than pumps, soil based media instead of hydroton, or more chinampas like scenarios.
Anybody have thoughts they want to share about this…
Jason