Professional Documents
Culture Documents
aquaponic growers
BRIGHT
Copyright © 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CONCLUSION.................................................................21
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IS THIS EBOOK RIGHT FOR ME?
The learning curve of aquaponics is littered with the remains of failed aquaponic ventures
and millions of dollars in lost investments. This e-book acts as a guide for beginning aquaponic
growers who are interested in operating successful aquaponic systems- whether commercial or
hobby systems.
This guide will detail 10 of the obstacles which I have encountered again and again on this
learning curve and through various consulting experiences with other aspiring aquaponic
farmers.
Because let’s face it, we learn a heck of a lot more through our mistakes and failures than we
do through our successes. And, the most successful farmers see mistakes as opportunities to
learn and improve their farms.
I encourage you to learn from these mistakes and keep them in mind when starting or scaling
your own aquaponics system. Doing so will save you a lot of heartache and/or financial
despair associated with these 10 mistakes.
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ABOUT NATE STOREY
Nate Storey earned his Ph.D. in Agronomy from the University of Wyoming researching
aquaponic production, novel produce sales, and distribution models.
BRIGHT
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BRIGHT AGROTECH
Leader in Volumetric Farming & Live Sales
At Bright Agrotech, we’re all about educating, equipping, and empowering people to take
more control over their own food. From our educational resources to our ZipGrow™ Technol-
ogy, we aim to make farming accessible to everyone from the backyard gardener, to the
high school teacher to the commercial vertical farmer.
We love seeing someone start with an idea to use space-saving vertical hydroponic produc-
tion to grow better for themselves, their schools or their communities.
While the media likes to pander to the fearful and freaked out, we try to share stories of
innovation, hope, and small-scale success. It’s important to remember that change usually
doesn’t take place (i.e., almost never) on a large scale. From the guy tinkering in his garage,
the chef growing greens in her kitchen, and the Upstart Farmer growing incredibly fresh herbs
a few blocks from a local grocery store, change and innovation takes place on the individu-
al level, one step at a time.
These relatively non-traditional farmers and innovators may seem small today, but they’ll be
the ones feeding us tomorrow.
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GROWERS DESIGN UNUSABLE OR HARD-TO-USE FARMS
Designing an unusable farm is a mistake of inexperience more than anything else.
Many growers haven’t grown before (at least not on a large scale), so they don’t think
about work flow and efficiency. Often beginning growers don’t effectively use their
available space to increase labor efficiency and lower labor costs in general.
Remember: labor is the largest variable cost of production on any farm - aquaponic or
otherwise!
Growers who ignore this variable tend to design systems that are hard to harvest, that
require lots of transplanting and tending work, or that are not conducive to pest control.
In troubled systems, access to important system components is limited, making the space
not only difficult to use, but dangerous!
The cure for this mistake is to think carefully from the start about how you will use your system,
how you will harvest fish and produce alike, and how you can plan your system to be user-
friendly and efficient.
Consider all of your variables, from growing needs (light, water, nutrients, pests, etc.) to
user needs (access, convenience, automation, redundancy, etc.) from the start, and only
begin to design your system after you’ve seriously considered these variables. Talking to
established growers and touring their system designs can be a great help as well. Be sure to
ask questions and find out what they would do differently if designing their systems today.
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INADEQUATE CIRCULATION, SOLIDS REMOVAL, AND
BIOLOGICAL SURFFACE AREA (BSA)
An aquaponics system needs to supply plants and fish with three things they both need
to survive and flourish:
Something that seems so simple is surprisingly tricky if we look at the number of fish-kills, plant
disease outbreaks, and dead systems out there.
Remember: aquaponic production is not something that you can just “wing,” especially with
raft systems where everything depends on circulation.
This is a fundamental problem with many systems, and often it’s disguised as something else.
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THE 3 CULPRITS OF THE POOR DESIGN SYSTEM
Solids Removal
Disease outbreaks can also be caused by
oxygen consumption by plants, fish, and
microbes followed by inadequate replenishment.
This problem can be further complicated with
poor circulation patterns or “pockets” in systems
where solids and waste accumulate, consuming
oxygen as they decompose.
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GROWERS START WITH POOR QUALITY WATER
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PRODUCERS UNDERESTIMATE PRODUCTION/SYSTEM COSTS
Budget to Finish
Many growers get started, invest in large facilities, expensive utilities and equipment, but never
get the chance to fully utilize them because the budget is consumed by unanticipated taxes
and fees, incidental costs or even the costs of getting the first crop to market!
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PRODUCERS CONFUSE BIOLOGICAL VIABILITY
WITH ECONOMIC VIABILITY
Know Before You Grow
There is a misconception that starting a farming or aquaponic production business is 90%
growing and 10% selling. In our experience it’s just about the opposite. Most farmers don’t
take into account the time and financial costs of getting their produce to market once it’s
grown, and as a result, they don’t budget enough time or money to effectively sell their
produce. In the worst-case scenario, growers implement production methods that are not
productive or have exorbitant operational costs.
Herbs Zuccini
Beginning growers can easily be tricked into investing their time and money into systems
that look productive in a photo, or because they have been told the system is productive
by whomever is selling it to them. This is unfortunate because many pretty farms lose money,
while the less attractive farms (usually operating with lower costs) often have the greatest
potential and return on their investment.
Herbs Zuccini
Another mistake commonly made by new growers is relying on the wrong metric for produc-
tion estimates. A common misleading metric is the number of plants that a system is capable
of producing. A more useful and financially accurate metric is pounds per period of time. This
is why it’s so important to use actual metrics when performing your cost analysis.
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s
Grower Beware
I, like many novice growers, have been seduced by the flowery descriptions of exotic
new crops that populate so many seed catalogs these days.
If I had every dollar back that I’ve wasted over the years trying to grow crops that are
either:
a) not suited to aquaponic production, the climate or production method or...
b) not in demand in my local markets,
I’d have a hefty chunk of change back from the seed companies.
The crops you grow need to be appropriate to the technique you are using. Similarly, the
crop should be suited to your climate and location.
If you live in the Northern Hemisphere, trying to grow long day length crops in an eight-
hour day won’t work well for you. If you’re in the South, and constantly battling the heat,
attempts to grow a cool weather crop like rhubarb would be a terrible decision.
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GROWERS CHOOSE THE WRONG CROPS
Assess the Competitive Landscape
Consider what your competitors are growing. If you live in an area where summer compe-
tition is fierce from field producers, then concentrate on something they can’t grow during
that period.
Most likely, if a restaurant customer wants local organic lettuce and a field producer will sell it
at $0.50/lb. you won’t be able to keep that customer over the summer. Figure out what you
can do to make ends meet in light of this seasonal competition, or lock your customers into
long-term purchasing contracts.
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GROWERS OPERATE SYSTEMS WITH POOR TRACK
RECORDS, AND EXPECT DIFFERENT RESULTS
Do Your Homework
When you’re thinking about implementing a system, don’t be sold on the supposed
profitability. Ask for references for system users that have been in business for several years.
If they can’t provide them, walk away. Interview references carefully to find out whether or
not they’re profitable and doing well.
Farming is hard, and there are very few farmers of any variety who make boatloads of cash,
so if someone is promising you lots of easy money, he’s probably not being honest with you.
The key offenders when it comes to non-functional systems are stacked bed systems (i.e.
systems that position one bed above the other) and raft systems in areas where labor is
expensive and greenhouse production is required. Neither of these system types has ever
been very profitable, and both have tricked folks into investing life savings, then failing out of
the market.
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Raft Production is Labor Intensive & Space Inefficient
Raft designs can be very productive and profitable in areas where greenhouse production
is not required for most of the year and where labor is fairly inexpensive. In northern climates,
greenhouse raft production is simply not cost effective, as evidenced by the lack of
established commercial raft growers in the Northern United States. Although many are drawn
to raft production because of the low startup costs, the poor productivity per square foot of
greenhouse space means that expensive resources are not used as efficiently as they must
to be a viable business.
ZipGrowProduction Calculator
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GROWERS USE SYSTEMS WITH NO PEST
CONTROL STRATEGY
One bad insect outbreak can ruin four crop generations at once, putting you out an entire
production cycle or more. If a pest control strategy isn’t in place when you restart the
system, the same problem can arise and the cycle can start all over again.
If you are growing on a larger scale, be it a large family system, a market system or a large
commercial system or farm, you must have a pest control strategy in place before you start.
No excuses. A pest breakout on a large-scale production mean your customers lose access
to your product.
Design Matters
For aquaponic producers this can be challenging because of the risk of exposing their fish to
the pesticides - especially with raft and gravel bed systems.
Therefore, you’ll need to think about designing pest control into a system early on so that
you have the freedom to spray without worrying about fish. This means that you’ll either
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In our greenhouse we apply both strategies. We have the ability to decouple our fish from
our plants, although we haven’t had to use it much because using towers limits pesticide
exposure.
CULTURAL BIOLOGICAL
PHYSICAL CHEMICAL
You will need to know what to use and how much you can use before it becomes a
concern. We use a host of OMRI certified organic controls in our greenhouse, including
ones that other aquaponic practitioners simply can’t use (one of the benefits of using
towers with contained media).
I use a variety of bio-controls and chemical controls depending on the insects that seem
to be on the rise in the greenhouse. It is a constant battle but one that can be consistently
won with a good pest control strategy and good controls. I will detail this later, when more
time can be devoted to this subject alone.
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GROWERS GET GREEDY
Growers that grow too fast also seem to have catastrophic failures more often. These are
failures that threaten the entire enterprise - often because the build and establishment costs
were higher than expected.
When this happens these customers begin to look elsewhere, and by the time the grower is
back on line, he’s often lost many valuable clients.
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GROWERS FAIL TO APPROACH THEIR MARKETS CREATIVELY
Most aquaponic farmers fail to recognize that the cost structure inherent in aquaponic
farming puts them at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to traditional markets
and competition with conventional products. In these markets, aquaponic produce simply
cannot compete. So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets where their
produce can be marketed to people who want “aquaponic” produce or “local organic”
produce.
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So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets
where their produce can be marketed to people who want
“aquaponic” produce or “local organic” produce.
Click to enlarge
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CONCLUSION
Knowing the Common Errors Will Save You Time and Frustration
These are the top ten mistakes new growers and small commercial farmers encounter when
getting started.
While focused on aquaponic farmers, there are also some takeaways for the emerging
classes of urban farmers and market gardeners looking towards the local food movement for
income. This includes our elite group of Upstart Farmers, an innovative and collaborative net-
work working hard to make a living as vertical farmers and make an impact on their commu-
nity (or the food system as we know it!) in the process.
I’d love for you to meet some of them and find out more about the Upstart Farmer move-
ment here.
That being said, the culture of food is changing this rapidly, and
more people are wanting quality, local food. And, I don’t know
about you, but I’m really excited about what our food and farm
innovators will do next.
Looking Forward
I hope that this short e-book gives you something valuable to con-
sider. If you are embarking on the adventure of a large aqua-
ponic or hydroponic system or even a small backyard garden,
consider some of these mistakes as you plan and build. While
there are many more mistakes to be made out there, these are the most expensive ones.
Don’t be afraid to ask the advice of someone who is already doing this - sometimes, even if
you have to pay for advice or consulting it’s much less expensive in the long run.
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WHO IS BRIGHT AGROTECH?
Our ZipGrow vertical farming/gardening towers help small hobbyist growers and
commercial producers everywhere see maximum yields and economic profit.
We want to help farmers live better, increase their margins, and give their
consumer the most high quality produce possible.
CONTACT US
We would love to help you get started. Call us and we can guide you through
the planning and ordering process as well as addressing any concerns you
might have with growing.
307-288-1188
Info@brightagrotech.com
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