OK...So...What the Hell is "Aquaponics" Anyways? And Why Should I Care?

in #foodsecurity7 years ago

Hello Everyone,

Further to my introductory post, I had promised to describe the science of aquaponics and how my Canadian company is developing the technology to have a meaningful impact on food security on an international scale...So here we go!

According to Wikipedia, "Aquaponics refers to any system that combines conventional aquaculture (raising aquatic animals such as snails, fish, crayfish or prawns in tanks) with hydroponics (cultivating plants in water) in a symbiotic environment. In normal aquaculture, excretions from the animals being raised can accumulate in the water, increasing toxicity. In an aquaponic system, water from an aquaculture system is fed to a hydroponic system where the by-products are broken down by nitrifying bacteria initially into nitrites and subsequently into nitrates, which are utilized by the plants as nutrients, and the water is then recirculated back to the aquaculture system. As existing hydroponic and aquaculture farming techniques form the basis for all aquaponics systems, the size, complexity, and types of foods grown in an aquaponics system can vary as much as any system found in either distinct farming discipline." (Interesting side note: I looked up the reference from Wikipedia and found that this is actually Dr. James Rakocy's definition - one of the scientists that created the earliest version of our aquaponics tech...so that's pretty cool... :))

Right...so what does that mean...lol...

In our commercial system, that somewhat dry definition is graphically expressed as follows:

And a link to our brief animation video can be found here:

A link to NutraPonics' global mission can be found here:

By now, some of the more savvy techies are already calling vaporware "bullshit" on all this...I can just hear it... ;)

So here is a link to a high-def drone fly-through one of our facilities just outside of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada: https://www.dropbox.com/s/b47yb2gheyni5fa/NutraPonics%20Fly-Through.mp4?dl=0

I hope the Community here at Steemit finds some of this interesting...I know that I always enjoy sharing what we do with others. In my next post, I'll begin describing where our technology is being deployed, both domestically and internationally. You might be surprised at where we're actually going with all this...

Til next time,

Cheers to all and have a great weekend!