Is Aquaponics the Future of Agriculture?
Summary
TLDRThe video explores aquaponics, a sustainable farming method combining fish farming and hydroponics, as a potential solution to global food and water scarcity. It discusses the technique's ability to reduce water usage by 90%, its scalability, and the challenges of disease, temperature control, and profitability. Despite the hurdles, aquaponics shows promise, especially for regions lacking arable land, and could be a key to future farming.
Takeaways
- đ± The world faces increasing challenges in food production due to growing water scarcity and a rising population.
- đ§ Aquaponics is an ancient farming technique that combines fish farming and hydroponics, gaining recent interest for its sustainable potential.
- đ± By 2050, the global population is expected to reach 9.8 billion, necessitating a 70% increase in food production while facing shrinking arable land and climate change.
- đł Agriculture is a leading cause of environmental degradation, having cleared significant portions of the world's forests and grasslands.
- đ Aquaponics systems recycle water, reducing consumption by up to 90% compared to traditional agriculture, and eliminating the need for synthetic fertilizers.
- đż The technique allows for year-round food production in a controlled environment, with plants and fish supporting each other in a symbiotic relationship.
- đ Aquaponics can be scaled from small home systems to large industrial operations, offering flexibility in food production.
- đ The process involves a cycle where fish waste is converted into nutrients for plants, which then clean the water for the fish, creating a closed-loop ecosystem.
- đč Despite the environmental benefits, aquaponics faces economic challenges, with high initial costs and the need for ongoing maintenance and monitoring.
- đĄïž Maintaining the right environmental conditions for both fish and plants can be complex, with factors like pH, temperature, and population control requiring careful management.
Q & A
What is the main challenge addressed in the video?
-The video addresses the challenge of producing enough food for the growing global population while facing water scarcity and the need for sustainable farming practices.
What are the three promising farming techniques mentioned as potential solutions?
-The three promising farming techniques mentioned are hydroponics, vertical farming, and aquaponics.
Why is aquaponics gaining interest recently?
-Aquaponics is gaining interest because it combines the best features of aquaculture and hydroponics to create a sustainable food production technique that uses less water and space.
How does the United Nations' population prediction for 2050 affect farming?
-By 2050, the United Nations predicts there will be 9.8 billion people, which will require a 70% increase in food production. This puts pressure on current farming techniques to be more efficient and sustainable.
What is the impact of current agricultural practices on the environment?
-Current agricultural practices have led to the destruction of over a third of the world's forests and two-thirds of its grasslands, contributing to increased greenhouse gas emissions and a decline in biodiversity.
How does aquaponics reduce water consumption compared to traditional agriculture?
-Aquaponics can reduce water consumption by 90% compared to traditional agriculture by reusing water through natural cycles within the system, eliminating the need for constant water replenishment.
What are the benefits of aquaponics for urban areas?
-Aquaponics allows for year-round food production in urban areas by utilizing spaces like empty warehouses or rooftops, which can reduce transportation costs and carbon emissions.
What are the potential drawbacks or challenges of implementing aquaponics on a large scale?
-The potential drawbacks include the risk of disease spreading among fish and plants, the need for precise environmental controls, high initial investment costs, and the current lack of profitability in many aquaponic systems.
How does aquaponics address the issue of monoculture in farming?
-Aquaponics does not rely on monoculture as it integrates fish and plant farming, promoting biodiversity and a more natural ecosystem.
What is the role of bacteria in an aquaponics system?
-Bacteria play a crucial role in converting fish waste into usable nutrients for plants, specifically by converting ammonia to nitrites and then to nitrates, which plants can absorb.
What are some of the economic considerations for starting an aquaponics farm?
-The economic considerations include high startup costs, potential low profitability, and the need for diversification of revenue streams beyond just selling food products.
Outlines
đ± Introduction to Aquaponics and Modern Farming Challenges
The video discusses the growing need for sustainable farming methods due to increasing global water scarcity and population. It introduces aquaponics as a potential solution, combining fish farming and hydroponics in a symbiotic system that could revolutionize food production. The narrator, Matt Ferrell, sets the stage by highlighting the challenges of traditional agriculture, such as deforestation, soil depletion, and excessive water usage, and emphasizes the need for innovative approaches like vertical farming and agrivoltaics to meet the food demands of a projected 9.8 billion people by 2050.
đ The Aquaponics System: How It Works and Its Benefits
This section delves into the mechanics of aquaponics, explaining how fish waste is converted into plant nutrients through a process involving bacteria. The video highlights the benefits of aquaponics, such as reduced water usage, no need for soil, and the ability to grow food in non-arable areas. It also touches on the scalability of aquaponics systems, from small home units to large commercial operations, and the potential for increased food production with less environmental impact. The discussion includes the advantages of aquaponics over traditional farming, such as higher plant growth rates and the efficient use of space and resources.
đ Challenges and Considerations of Aquaponics
The final paragraph addresses the challenges and limitations of aquaponics. It discusses the potential for disease outbreaks, the need for careful monitoring and balance of the ecosystem, and the difficulties in maintaining optimal conditions for both fish and plants. The video also raises concerns about the initial high costs of setting up an aquaponics system and the variability in profitability. It cites studies that show mixed results in the economic viability of aquaponic farms and suggests that while the technology holds promise, it may not yet be a fully mature or commercially viable alternative to traditional farming. The narrator concludes by acknowledging the potential of aquaponics for specific regions or small-scale applications and invites viewers to share their thoughts on the topic.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄAquaponics
đĄHydroponics
đĄVertical Farming
đĄMonoculture
đĄWater Scarcity
đĄNitrosomonas
đĄNitrobacter
đĄFeed Conversion Ratio (FCR)
đĄSustainability
đĄEconomic Viability
đĄBiodiversity
Highlights
The necessity of finding new farming techniques due to water scarcity and increasing population.
Introduction of promising farming techniques like hydroponics, vertical farming, and aquaponics.
Aquaponics, an ancient technique gaining recent interest, combines aquaculture and hydroponics.
The potential of next-gen tech to bolster age-old symbioses in aquaponics.
UN prediction of 9.8 billion people by 2050 and the challenge of providing food and water.
Agriculture as the biggest driver for wilderness destruction and its impact on climate change.
The shrinking of arable land and the need to increase food production by 70% by 2050.
Monoculture's negative effects on soil health, pollinators, and water usage.
Agriculture's high consumption of drinking water and the challenges of global droughts.
How aquaponics can help address water scarcity and sustainable food production.
The process of converting fish waste into plant nutrients in an aquaponics system.
Benefits of aquaponics including reduced water usage, no need for soil, and no use of harmful fertilizers.
The scalability of aquaponics systems from small home units to large industrial operations.
Challenges of maintaining a balanced ecosystem in aquaponics, including disease control and pH management.
Economic considerations of starting and maintaining an aquaponics system.
Studies showing mixed profitability of aquaponics farms and the need for further research.
The potential of aquaponics to provide local, sustainably grown food in regions with limited access.
The future outlook for aquaponics as a commercial farming alternative.
Transcripts
A portion of this video is brought to you by Incogni.Â
To live, people need food to eat and water to drink. Thatâs a simple fact. But with growing Â
water scarcity around the world and an ever increasing population, we have to find better Â
ways to produce the food we all need to survive. The solution could lie in one of several promising Â
farming techniques like hydroponics, vertical farming, or aquaponics. That last one has Â
technically been around since ancient times, but has been gaining a lot of interest recently. How Â
is this old technique getting revived? Can nextgen tech really bolster age old symbioses, and build Â
a mini ecosystem that creates more food with less water? Could aquaponics be the future of farming?
Iâm Matt Ferrell ⊠welcome to Undecided.
In past videos Iâve talked about vertical farming, as well as agrivoltaics, and how theyâre changing Â
how we should look at farming in general. Using technology in combination with different farming Â
techniques can unlock a lot of potential, but why should any of us be interested in that?
Well, by 2050 the United Nations predicts there will be 9.8 billion of us on this pale Â
blue dot. All those people need healthy food and clean water, but our current farming and Â
agricultural techniques just arenât up to the challenge. In fact in some cases theyâre making Â
it worse. Agriculture has been the single biggest driver for wilderness destruction. Â
As a species weâve cleared over a third of the worldâs forests and two thirds of its grasslands Â
just for farming. As weâve destroyed these carbon-sequestering biomes weâve released more Â
greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere and seen a sharp decline in our planetâs biodiversity.
On top of that arable land is shrinking. Every year, an area about half the size Â
of Britain turns to desert, and by 2050 the forces of climate change and pollution Â
will have cost us 50% of all currently arable land. And while thatâs happening weâre going to Â
need to increase food production by 70% to meet the worldâs appetite in 2050. Not a great combo.
Then thereâs the common practice of growing only one crop species in a field at a time, Â
which is known as monoculture. This makes it easier on farmers, Â
but monocultures deplete the soil of nutrients and moisture, causing irreversible soil erosion, Â
and necessitating more water and fertilizer. Meanwhile monocultureâs lack of diversity has been Â
shown to harm pollinators like bees, which isnât helped by the increased reliance on pesticides.
To make matters worse, agriculture uses an astonishing 70% of our drinking water Â
in most areas. This is simply untenable when you consider the now regular droughts across Â
the world. For example, the United States Southwest is in the middle of the worst Â
megadrought in 1,200 years. Last year Europeâs drought revealed long hidden Â
âhunger stones.â These hydrological markers were left by humans hundreds of years ago, Â
warning that if the river was low enough for you to read them, then famine was sure to follow.
Thatâs all grim stuff, but aquaponics might just be able to help.
Before I get to that, Iâd like to thank Incogni for sponsoring this portion of today's video. Â
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Now back to how aquaponics may be able to help the future of farming.
Aquaponics is a portmanteau of âaquacultureâ (AKA farming fish) Â
and âhydroponicsâ (AKA growing plants in water), and it combines some of the best Â
features of both to create an innovative, sustainable food production technique in a Â
modest footprint. But how do you actually mix veggie and fish farming together?
Thereâs several subtypes of aquaponics, like the low-maintenance deep water variety, Â
space efficient vertical farming, and the root-protecting nutrient-based beds. Â
Generally speaking they all start with growing plants in a bed and raising fish in a tank. As Â
the fish thrive and grow, they make a lot of ⊠how should I put it ⊠organic waste. Â
Fish poop and food scraps. You donât have to be an ichthyologist to know that swimming around in Â
their own waste isnât good for fish. As the waste breaks down it forms ammonia, Â
which is toxic for most living things. But by using a bacteria called nitrosomonas, that ammonia Â
can be turned into nitrite. The downside is that nitrite is actually even more toxic for fish than Â
ammonia because it binds to the hemoglobin in their blood, preventing it from carrying oxygen. Â
However, this is where our next bacteria comes into the picture, nitrobacter, Â
which converts nitrites to nitrates. Now we have water swimming with fish fertilizer and Â
nitrates that we need to get rid of, and hungry plants who love these compounds. We just pump Â
the fishy water to our plants and they serve as a biofilter â eating up all those compounds and Â
purifying the water, so itâs ready for the fish and the whole process to start again.
The beauty of aquaponics is that it simulates a natural ecosystem, Â
with plants, animals and microorganisms all working in symbiosis to make a self-contained, Â
sustainable and self-managing system (somewhat). Just like a natural ecosystem you rarely need to Â
add more water. The natural cycles at play here mean water in an aquaponics system can Â
be continually reused, which reduces water consumption by 90% when compared Â
to traditional agriculture. Since the fish are continually filling the water with plant food, Â
you donât need to add additional nutrients to the water as you would with hydroponics. However, Â
you do get some of the big benefits of hydroponics, like plants growing Â
larger and faster than traditional soil-based agriculture because of all the room to grow, Â
fresh air, and constant access to nutrient-rich water. And between the fish and lack of soil, Â
thereâs no need to use environmentally harmful fertilizers or worry about soil-borne pests.
Another benefit of soil-less solutions like hydroponics and aquaponics is we donât need Â
to worry about arable land. As long as thereâs room for an aquaponics facility, Â
regions that arenât otherwise suited to agriculture can start growing big, Â
nutritious fish and vegetables. This can cut down on transportation costs Â
and carbon emissions too, as spaces like empty warehouses or rooftops in the heart of population Â
centers can be converted into productive aquaponic farms. And fish are one of the most efficient Â
animal protein sources. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) describes how much feed is required to Â
produce 1 kg of meat. The most commonly eaten animal protein on earth right now is pork, Â
which has an FCR of 4:1, but fish like salmon or tilapia clock in at around 2:1 or less.
But is this technique scalable? Well, it might be the most scalable piece of tech weâve ever Â
explored on the channel. You could create a small system to raise herbs and decorative Â
fish on your kitchen windowsill, but it can scale up to backyard aquaponics systems or Â
all the way up industrial scale ⊠kind of like Superior Freshâs 6-acre industrial Â
agribusiness greenhouse. Combining your protein and vegetable needs into the same footprint (no Â
matter the size) is of course an efficient use of water and space. Just like we touched on earlier, Â
aquaponics can incorporate vertical farming techniques to increase that Â
space efficiency even further. With more food from a smaller footprint, Â
and less carbon emissions and water-use, whatâs the catch of the day?
While aquaponics boasts many of the benefits of a functioning ecosystem, Â
it also suffers from its weaknesses too. Just like a natural ecosystem, one problem can Â
cascade into catastrophe. Even though there may be fewer pests due to a lack of soil, Â
youâre still raising multiple types of organisms that have different disease vectors. And because Â
the fish and crops rely on each other to survive, if a lucky illness manages to take out one half of Â
your aquaponics set up, the other side is doomed as well. And if bugs do get a foothold in your Â
system you canât use chemical pesticides to get them out or you'll risk poisoning your fish too.
Have you ever had to take care of a fish? As anyone who has kept them can tell you, Â
keeping the parameters just right can be a challenge. Most fish species prefer pH levels Â
around 7-8, while plants tend to want more acidic water with a pH of 5-6.5. Of course Â
the bacteria prefer alkaline waters with a pH of 8-9. Making sure every organism gets Â
what they want leaves the caretaker with a slim Goldilocks zone and little margin Â
for error. Complicating things is the fact pH levels oscillate all the time due to an array Â
of natural factors. So while lower maintenance than say, traditional farming or hydroponics, Â
aquaponics requires near constant monitoring. Population control presents another issue. Too Â
many fish and their waste can clog your system or overwhelm your plants and microorganisms. If fish Â
feel too crowded or stressed theyâll stop growing or just drop dead, which isnât ideal for a food Â
source. But too few fish and now your bacteria and plants start to starve. Then thereâs algae, Â
who love an aquaponic ecosystem for all the same reasons that your crops do. If Â
conditions in your aquaponics tank are just right, it can cause a suffocating algal bloom.
Thereâs also temperature concerns. Once again fish, plants and microbes tend to have slightly Â
different preferences here, which leaves you with little margin for error And if your aquaponics Â
system isnât inside of a temperature controlled structure, maintaining the correct temperature Â
poses an even greater challenge. Tilapia is considered the gold standard for aquaponics Â
because it can grow to a mature size in just 8 months, it self regulates its population, Â
and is very resilient to a wide range of temperatures and water qualities. But even Â
tilapia start to struggle in temperatures below 65°F(~18°C), and will die if the water temperature Â
dips below 50°F(15°C). That means the gold standard of aquaponics canât be farmed outdoors Â
all year except in very warm places. There are of course fish better suited to cold temperatures Â
like the trout used in Superior Freshâs massive facility, but theyâre not as easy, quick, or cheap Â
to raise as tilapia. Outdoor facilities face yet more challenges in the form of increased water Â
loss from evaporation, are more vulnerable to outside pests and predators impacting your stock, Â
and are subject to local weather. This doesnât invalidate outdoor aquaponic systems but it Â
certainly makes them more challenging for the types of communities that might need them most.
Aquaponics also may not be as sustainable as they first appear. While we shouldnât discount the Â
water-saving benefits, keeping all that water moving requires precious electricity, as does Â
keeping the grow lights on. This can drive up fish and produce costs compared to traditional farming.
So how does the economic side of the equation look? The initial investment for an aquaponics Â
system can be steep. Aquaponics expert Murray Hallam puts the startup cost of even small Â
aquaponic farms at about $20,000 - $50,000. Something that size would only be capable of Â
earning between $500 to $1,000 a week, but location and market factors can cause your Â
ROI to vary widely. A John Hopkins university study of over 250 aquaponics facilities showed Â
that only a third of them were profitable. Granted, many of the aquaponics facilities Â
studied were newer and expected to be profitable the following year, but still, these arenât the Â
kinds of numbers that excite entrepreneurs or investors. The study also found that the most Â
profitable aquaponics farms didnât just rely on aquaponics, but diversified their ârevenue Â
stream by selling non-food products, services, or educational trainings[sic].â Ultimately, the study Â
concluded more research was needed. A separate 2019-2021 study reached a similar conclusion, Â
noting that the most profitable aquaponics ventures were more likely to have warmer weather, Â
access to high end markets and were selling things beyond the food they produced. And a literature Â
review from Oklahoma State noted that data from the plant side of aquaponics was promising, Â
but the fish side tended to break even or incur a net loss. Cornellâs Michael Timmons, a specialist Â
in Biological and Environmental Engineering also noted, "The aquaponics industry itself is really, Â
really, really, really small⊠They're very, very difficult ⊠(and) they almost always fail."
In all these studies, it was clear that it didnât matter whether youâre talking about soil-based, Â
aquaponic, or any other farming method, the profit margins on farming in general are slim. And while Â
the crops grew faster with aquaponics and could be sold at higher organic-level prices, it's hard to Â
keep up economically with traditional farmingâs cost advantages. Dirt and fertilizer are cheap, Â
and sunshine is free. So while it's hard to state conclusively at the moment, it does Â
seem like traditional, wasteful agriculture has the edge in profitability, at least for now..
Aquaponics has exciting, tangible potential, but the technology isnât mature enough for Â
us to tell if itâs really a commercially viable farming-alternative, or just another cool gadget Â
for the eco-friendly, resilience-minded hobbyist. The challenges are many, Â
but if we can fully realize this technology and bring the costs down? The benefits of Â
healthy fish and veggies farmed sustainably just about anywhere are too good to pass up. Â
Thereâs reasons to be optimistic too. In 2020 Superior Fresh produced 200,000 pounds of salmon Â
and 3 million pounds of salad greens in chilly, landlocked Wisconsin. In traditional agriculture Â
this would have taken over 100 acres of land, but thanks to aquaponics, Superior Fresh did it Â
in only 6 - and it was profitable enough that theyâre expanding their aquaponics operations. Â
If their techniques prove to be repeatable, then Iâll be very hopeful about aquaponics as a Â
commercial avenue. And even if we canât bring the costs down, maybe the price is right for local, Â
sustainably grown, high-quality food in places that just wouldnât have access to it otherwise. Â
Aquaponics may not be the silver bullet for the future of all farming and food production, Â
but it could be a compelling solution for specific regions of the world ⊠or your backyard.
So what do you think? Do you think aquaponics is something to keep investigating and that Â
will impact the future of farming? Jump into the comments and let me know. And Â
be sure to check out my follow up podcast Still TBD where we'll be discussing some Â
of your feedback. If you liked this video, be sure to check out this one on vertical Â
farming. Thanks to all of my patrons, who get ad free versions of every video, Â
for your continued support. And welcome to new Supporter+ member Will Hodges. Â
And thanks to all of you for watching and commenting. Iâll see you in the next one.
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