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RGJ Aquaponics
Aquaponics produces both fish and organic vegetables, in a dynamic, natural, pond-type ecosystem that can either feed you and your family or scaled up to feed many commercially. It’s the farming of the future! Even if you haven’t farmed or gardened extensively, most can grasp this simply way to grow food. Unlike hydroponics and managing chemical inputs and nutrients, the natural ecosystem of an aquaponics system makes aquaponics an easier choice.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF AQUAPONICS
The concept of using fecal waste and overall excrement's from fish to fertilize plants has existed for millennia, with early civilizations in both Asia and South America applying this method. Through the pioneering work of the New Alchemy Institute and other North American and European academic institutions in the late 1970s, and further research in the following decades, this basic form of aquaponics evolved into the modern food production systems of today. Prior to the technological advances of the 1980s, most attempts to integrate hydroponics and aquaculture had limited success. The 1980s and 1990s saw advances in system design, biofiltration and the identification of the optimal fish-to-plant ratios that led to the creation of closed systems that allow for the recycling of water and nutrient buildup for plant growth. In its early aquaponic systems, North Carolina State University (United States of America) demonstrated that water consumption in integrated systems was just 5 percent of that used in pond culture for growing tilapia. This development, among other key initiatives, pointed to the suitability of integrated aquaculture and hydroponic systems for raising fish and growing vegetables, particularly in arid and water poor regions.
Although in use since the 1980s, aquaponics is still a relatively new method of food production with only a small number of research and practitioner hubs worldwide with comprehensive aquaponic experience.