Alright folks, I introduced myself here before and perused this site a good bit and am coming out with a quite serious question/discussion. So, (as you know) my name is Chris and I am a 27 year old 'Mercan who was been travelling abroad for about 3 years now. I have been working in aquaponics (hands on) since 2011 and have became a self-proclaimed expert on urban agriculture. I have a bit of a fancy in hydroponics and aeroponics as well, but have really kept my heart in aquaponics ever since I first saw the system and put a very poor model together using spare parts to start seeds. Now, i am living in Iceland and am ending my second semester in my Masters program for environment and natural resource mgmt with my focus in... yup... urban agriculture. And for this thesis I am working in... yeaaaah... aquaponics.
The first semester was a little rough getting me feet off the ground, pushing hard to get my finger on the local "pulse" and assessing potential and community dynamics, but I can say that I am finally getting some momentum. I have a thesis adviser who works professionally in aquaponic development and we are getting a sweet plan together to do a lot next semester. Well, I will be doing a bit of travelling June-August, and when I get back we will be doing some set ups (potentially up to 16 tanks!), but I am getting ahead of myself. What I will be doing in the meantime/have done so far is a local food identification map. So I rummaged through statistic databases on food production, energy costs, import and export cycles and all kinda of cool info on consumer habits and made a neat little chart and graphs and Excel sheets showing the habits. From there, what we are doing is taking all that produce and making a viability assessment of what can be made in greenhouses, what is already produced locally, and what is in high demand but can't be made (without greenhouses) for farmers. Using that we will determine (4) products that aquaponics can facilitate and use that to start showing how efficient and awesome AP systems are and able to help fulfill niches in the current market using the aforementioned systems.
We are still debating on the niceties of this operation, but hopefully (space provided) we will be using (4) products in (4) different setups with tilapia as the fish in all four systems. In other words we will have four NFT systems, four raft systems, etc. etc. Once more, this is still emerging as we speak and I can barely contain my excitement! That said, I just really wanted to talk to ya'll about this. I would love to get more communities involved, more people engaging and always looking for collaboration, pooling ideas, sharing resources and increasing exposure and awareness. If you guys have any questions, resources, suggestions, (sponsors or funding opportunities that I am too shy to ask for), or anything else under the sun, I would be so happy to chat together about this. I really am trying to build a community and help provide models for more sustainable lifestyles and alternative paradigms to food production that can facilitate niches and help alongside conventional agriculture.
Let me know what you think and DEFINITELY let me know if I can help you in any way! Hopefully I will catch you all soon
The first semester was a little rough getting me feet off the ground, pushing hard to get my finger on the local "pulse" and assessing potential and community dynamics, but I can say that I am finally getting some momentum. I have a thesis adviser who works professionally in aquaponic development and we are getting a sweet plan together to do a lot next semester. Well, I will be doing a bit of travelling June-August, and when I get back we will be doing some set ups (potentially up to 16 tanks!), but I am getting ahead of myself. What I will be doing in the meantime/have done so far is a local food identification map. So I rummaged through statistic databases on food production, energy costs, import and export cycles and all kinda of cool info on consumer habits and made a neat little chart and graphs and Excel sheets showing the habits. From there, what we are doing is taking all that produce and making a viability assessment of what can be made in greenhouses, what is already produced locally, and what is in high demand but can't be made (without greenhouses) for farmers. Using that we will determine (4) products that aquaponics can facilitate and use that to start showing how efficient and awesome AP systems are and able to help fulfill niches in the current market using the aforementioned systems.
We are still debating on the niceties of this operation, but hopefully (space provided) we will be using (4) products in (4) different setups with tilapia as the fish in all four systems. In other words we will have four NFT systems, four raft systems, etc. etc. Once more, this is still emerging as we speak and I can barely contain my excitement! That said, I just really wanted to talk to ya'll about this. I would love to get more communities involved, more people engaging and always looking for collaboration, pooling ideas, sharing resources and increasing exposure and awareness. If you guys have any questions, resources, suggestions, (sponsors or funding opportunities that I am too shy to ask for), or anything else under the sun, I would be so happy to chat together about this. I really am trying to build a community and help provide models for more sustainable lifestyles and alternative paradigms to food production that can facilitate niches and help alongside conventional agriculture.
Let me know what you think and DEFINITELY let me know if I can help you in any way! Hopefully I will catch you all soon
