Baltimore-area aquaponic farmers raise seafood and vegetables in a quest for self-sustainability and better health.

By Timothy B. Wheeler
The Baltimore Sun via LA Times
January 28, 2012

Excerpt:

The aquarium in the living room of Meir and Leah Lazar’s home isn’t just for decoration. The tilapia and bluegills packed into the 50-gallon glass tank are waiting their turn to wind up on dinner plates.

Out back, Meir Lazar is putting the finishing touches on a bigger new home for the fish inside a plastic-covered greenhouse. There, he hopes, the waste from the fish he’s tending will help him raise enough lettuce, tomatoes and other produce to feed his family of five year-round.

Sustainability is more than a buzzword for Lazar, 32, a computer systems administrator and teacher who’s pursuing aquaponics in his small suburban backyard off Greenspring Avenue. He said he’s inspired in part by news reports about food tainted by pesticides, bacteria and even radiation from the Japanese nuclear disaster last year.

“I think it’s incumbent on every person to start growing their own food so they can take back some of the control over their health, over what’s in their food,” he said. “Plus, you have a deeper appreciation of what you’ve grown and what you’re about to eat.”

Read the complete article here.

Aquaponics is ideal for schools, community projects, household self sufficiency and if scaled up, for commercially viable mixed crop food production.

Charlie Price from the social enterprise Aquaponics UK, explores the role aquaponics can play in the future of our collective food supply. He provides an insight into both the applications for aquaponics but more specifically a new approach to urban agriculture, turning wastes into resources and transforming disused urban spaces to provide not only food, but resilient communities.

Case Studies – United Kingdom

Urban Aquaponics, Shoreham

Aquaponics UK, designed an urban aquaponics system for a household in Shoreham Sussex, the system is de signed to incorporate their requirements for fresh herbs, salad crops and duck’s eggs as well as fish for ornamen tal purposes. The system is also intended to provide a learning re source for afterschool clubs and classes as well as dem onstrating sustainable urban food production.

The Able Project, Wakefield

The ABLE project provides an outdoor learning facility for young people whose needs are not met in mainstream education as well as community service participants. The ABLE project combines areas of willow coppice, with a wood chip biomass boiler, a recirculation aquaculture system growing tilapia, carp, sturgeon and catfish, out door vegetable plots, an orchard, beehives, a BMX track and aquaponics greenhouses to provide an interdiscipli nary learning environment catering for a wide variety of interests. Aquaponics UK designed, supplied, helped build, and commissioned the aquaponics greenhouse systems as well as providing training and continued support.

See Aquaponics UK here.

“Give a person some fish, and you start a self-perpetuating cycle of education and growth.”

By Jon Schuppe,
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
January 18, 2012

Excerpt:

HUNTS POINT — Christopher Toole sees the future of urban farming at the bottom of a 50-gallon garbage bin in the South Bronx, where a pale foot-long fish does lazy loops in dark water.

The fish is one of dozens of tilapia Toole keeps in trash and recycling containers, “aquaponic” tanks and traditional glass tanks in Hunts Point, where he is conducting an ambitious experiment. His plan is to create a network of homes, restaurants and cooperative farms where millions of people in the metropolitan area will raise and eat what he calls Bronx Best Blue Tilapia.

Toole knows it sounds a little quixotic, but he is undeterred. A disillusioned ex-banker and scientist’s son, he now sees himself as a “Johnny Appleseed of fish.”

“I’ve been part of the parasite economy for so long, so it would be nice to be part of the productive economy,” he said.

Read the complete article here.

People interested in self-sustainability, trustworthy food sources turning to aquaponics

By Timothy B. Wheeler
The Baltimore Sun
December 26, 2011

Excerpt:

The aquarium in the living room of Meir and Leah Lazar’s Baltimore County home isn’t just for decoration. The tilapia and bluegills packed into the 50-gallon glass tank are waiting their turn to wind up on dinner plates.

Out back, Meir Lazar is putting the finishing touches on a bigger new home for the fish inside a plastic-covered greenhouse. There, he hopes, the waste from the fish he’s tending will help him raise enough lettuce, tomatoes and other produce to feed his family of five year-round.

Sustainability is more than a buzzword for Meir Lazar, 32, a computer systems administrator and teacher who’s pursuing aquaponics in his small suburban backyard off Greenspring Avenue. He said he’s inspired at least in part by news reports about food tainted by pesticides, bacteria and even radiation from the Japanese nuclear reactor meltdown earlier this year.

Read the complete article here.

Rid-All Green Partnership – An urban farm

By Dave Davis,
The Plain Dealer
November 28, 2011

Excerpt:

CLEVELAND, Ohio — It’s called The Forgotten Triangle, a sparsely populated no-man’s-land on the edge of Cleveland’s Kinsman neighborhood where the few remaining residents joke that the population doubles at night, when outsiders come to dump garbage, debris and tires.

It is in this most unlikely of places, on roughly an acre of land that itself had become an illegal dump, that three childhood friends came to form a business that is, as co-founder Keymah Durden says, more a “mission to transform the city of Cleveland.” They started a farm.

Their goal: to produce healthy, tasty vegetables, farm-raised tilapia fish and jobs for inner-city residents the economy has passed by.

“The big story here is that Cleveland is emerging as a real leader in urban agriculture,” said Randell McShepard, 47, another co-founder and vice president of public affairs for RPM International Inc., the Medina-based coatings and sealants conglomerate. “I think that this kind of facility is one of the last, best chances that we have to help low-skilled workers find employment opportunities.

Read the complete article here.

International team recognizes Milwaukee’s ‘high potential’ to improve access to healthy food, revitalize neighborhoods and create jobs

By Karen Herzog
Journal Sentinel
Sept. 19, 2011

Excerpts:

Milwaukee could become more economically viable and help the world feed itself through urban agriculture and aquaponics – water-efficient systems that can transform abandoned factories and vacant lots into urban farms that raise fish and vegetables, a report released Monday says.

Milwaukee already has the base investment and model to improve access to healthy food while revitalizing neighborhoods and creating jobs, says the report, which lays out a game plan for the city to take urban food production to the next level.

The IBM team recommends that the city:

Form an Urban Agriculture and Aquaponics Council, based on the successful model of the Milwaukee Water Council. The new council would advance science and business success through sharing of knowledge, innovation and technology by for-profit, nonprofit and public sector stakeholders.

Establish an Aquaponics Innovation Center to help area universities and K-12 schools transfer technology and develop skills. The center also would evaluate new aquaponics technologies and help develop aquaponics businesses by analyzing best practices and economic impact.

Do a market analysis of aquaponics production, supply chain expansion and market opportunity to guide industry expansion.

Expand the city’s Office of Environmental Sustainability to advocate urban agriculture and aquaponics.

Read the complete article here.

See the IBM Report here.

They were recently awarded 20 fruit trees through a grant sponsored by the Missouri Department of Agriculture

By Jill Wendholt Silva
Sep. 24, 2011
The Kansas City Star

Excerpt:

Jason and Candy Fields’ backyard in the Lykins neighborhood — one of the most blighted areas in Kansas City — is a patchwork quilt of urban farming ventures.

There are a vegetable garden fertilized with nutrient-rich fish waste and a lush swath of bamboo stalks waiting to be dried and used to stake tomato plants or to build a tree house or a lightweight bicycle.

Towering sunflowers wear paper grocery sacks draped over their heads, an effort to keep the birds away so the mature seeds can be roasted, then eaten as a snack. There’s a playhouse-turned-chicken coop for heritage breed hens.

On the driveway, tilapia swim in an aquaponics system fashioned from recycled, food-grade plastic drums that takes up as much space as an average living room. Fragrant basil grows in rock beds above the drums, cleaning the water for the fish while the nutrient-rich fish waste fertilizes the basil, all without the use of soil.

Read the complete article here.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Vegetables and Fish Together

by Sylvia Bernstein
New Society Publishers
Oct 1, 2011

Aquaponics is a revolutionary system for growing plants by fertilizing them with the waste water from fish in a sustainable closed system. A combination of the best of aquaculture and hydroponics, aquaponic gardening is an amazinglyproductive way to grow organic vegetables, greens, herbs and fruits, while providing the added benefits of fresh fish as a safe, healthy source of protein. On a larger scale, it is a key solution to mitigating food insecurity, climate change, groundwater pollution and the impacts of overfishing on our oceans.

Aquaponic Gardening is the definitive do-it-yourself home manual, focused on giving you all the tools you need to create your own aquaponic system and enjoy healthy, safe, fresh and delicious food all year round. Starting with an overview of the theory, benefits and potential of aquaponics, the book goes on to explain:

System location considerations and hardware components
The living elements — fish, plants, bacteria, and worms
Putting it all together — starting and maintaining a healthy system.
Aquaponics systems are completely organic. They are four to six times more productive and use 90 percent less water than conventional gardens. Other advantages include no weeds, fewer pests, and no watering, fertilizing, bending, digging, or heavy lifting – in fact, there really is no down side! Anyone interested in taking the next step towards self-sufficiency will be fascinated by this practical, accessible and well-illustrated guide.

Link to book here.

See the Aquaponic Source here.

Milwaukee: An Emerging Model for Smart Water and Food Management

By Steve Hamm
Building a Smarter Planet
August 4th, 2011

Excerpt:

The IBM team spent the first half of their stay in Milwaukee interviewing government officials, scientists, community organizers and the leaders of the aquaponics outfits. They visited some of the test sites, helped harvest fish and ate meals at restaurants that served the fish and salad greens. “It was really good,” says Carey Hidaka, one of the team members, who is a water management specialist.

The team concentrated on fashioning a set of recommendations during the final days in Milwaukee. They encouraged the city leaders to continue with their initiative. The recommended that the city set up a Council on Urban Agriculture and Aquaponics, which would be similar to the Milwaukee Water Council. And they urged them to create an innovation center for the technology in a building on a former industrial site. “I wanted to know if we’re on a fool’s errand or does this make sense from an economic standpoint. Their answer is it does make sense. It’s viable,” says Marcoux.

He’s passionate about the impact that this project can have–and not just on Milwaukee. “This could bring major health benefits if we can bring this to a lot of American cities,” Marcoux says. “We’re going to change the world.”Read the complete article here.

Read the complete article here.

Above the streets of Berlin

July 26, 2011 Reuters – Urban farming is a trend catching on in cities around the world and now residents of Berlin, Germany are embracing the hobby as a way of bringing calm to the hectic city life. Jim Drury reports.

The Urban Farmers box contains vegetables grown in a glasshouse on top of a tank of fish, which provide nutrients for the plants through their waste as it is taken up with the water through the roots of the plants.

by Anna Tuson
swissinfo.ch
July 9, 2011

Excerpt:

Swiss entrepreneurs Urban Farmers are pushing the concept of local production and have come up with a pioneering solution to many of the problems of conventional farming methods.

Urban Farmers attended the International Federation of Landscape Architects’ World Congress at the end of June. The event drew around 850 participants from around the world to Zurich’s Kongresshaus to discuss issues including the integration of agriculture into an urban environment.

Using an almost closed-loop aquaponics system – that combines raising aquatic animals with cultivating plants in water – to produce fish, vegetables and herbs, the firm has developed one of the most ecologically friendly ways to eat. They believe the technology can soon be commercialised.

Top retailers Migros and Coop have expressed an interest in the company’s plans and the firm has been awarded a prize by environmental organisation, WWF Switzerland.

The Swiss Farmers Association said it approved of the idea as a complement to traditional farming, but that it was hard to know how workable it was.

“The concept of urban farming sounds like a good idea to us. Actually, it is a form of Swiss agriculture and our goals in miniature: Produce locally, ecologically food for the local population and pay attention that the circulation of nutrients is closed,” spokeswoman Sandra Helfenstein told swissinfo.ch.

“Unfortunately, we cannot judge the potential and the viability of a production like this in the city. Are there enough suitable places and are the consumers interested to buy this product for a higher price?”

Read the complete article here.

“The people I spoke to seven or eight years ago — their eyes used to glaze over — are now hearing me speak again and they’re saying, ‘Oh, I get it now,’” he says.

By Brent Baughman
NPR
July 3, 2011

Excerpt:

His utopian city is one with Jacuzzi-sized fish tanks on every roof, giving locavore owners more than 100 pounds of fish a year.

Schreibman further sweetens the deal with something called hydroponics. By tweaking his filtration system to leave a certain amount of fish waste in the water, plants can be grown in the same tank.

“We’re talking plants floating on the surface of the water, using the fish waste as nutrition,” he explains.

Lettuce, herbs, bok choi and kale can all be grown this way. The plants float on a foam sheet, their roots dangling into the water below.

“Fish poop a lot,” Schreibman says. “People would be amazed at how much product you can produce in a certain area.”

He says lettuce heads, for instance, can be grown six inches apart and cut in about six weeks. Herbs can be snipped for cooking and continue to grow.

Read the complete article here.

Conference to be held in Brisbane in 2012

Integrated Urban Aquaponics
Conference and Workshops
in Brisbane in July, 2012.

May 26, 2011.

The world’s first conference and workshops focused on integrated urban aquaponics in “protected cropping” systems producing organic food, will be held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from July 25 to 27, 2012.

The conference and workshops will be organized by the Aquaponics Network Australia (ANA), solely-owned by Brisbane-based Aquaponix Pty Ltd., in conjunction with the Green Infrastructure Network Australia Inc. (GINA Inc).

The conference will be held at Whites Hill State College (WHSC), at Camp Hill, Brisbane, Queensland, which will soon begin developing Brisbane’s fourth aquaponics unit for better teaching science, maths and integrated sustainability to high-school students.

Geoff Wilson, director of ANA and president of GINA Inc., said: “The three-day Integrated Urban Aquaponics Conference will be promoted to about 2,500 high school science teachers and about 150 high-school curriculum developers and trainers in Western Pacific countries.

“Aquaponics is the modern name for a technology used thousands of years ago by the Chinese (fish in rice paddies) and the Aztecs (chinampa structures that are still serving Mexico City). It combines intensive fish farming with intensive growing of plants from fish wastes converted to plant nutrients..

Over the last 30 years aquaponics technology had been refined mostly via universities or researchers and investors in the United States and Canada. It is now starting to become popular in Australia for better teaching of high-school science and technology, and for hobby growing of organic food at home,” Mr Wilson said.

Three key speakers/workshop leaders at the Urban Aquaponics Conference will be:

• Sarah Kaatz, education director of Nelson & Pade Inc., Wisconsin, United States. She has a Master of Science in Fisheries Biology and Aquaculture from Iowa State and a Bachelor of Science in Biology from University of Wisconsin, United States. Sarah is involved in workshops, the extended stay learning program and working with schools to integrate aquaponics into existing curriculums for students of all ages.

• Professor James Rakocy, who recently-retired from 30-years of aquaponics teaching at the University of Virgin Islands – the world’s first aquaponics education unit.

• Dr Wilson Lennard, the first Australian to complete a doctorate degree in aquaponics, who is now developing commercial aquaponics in Australia and New Zealand.

Other expert speakers are being recruited from Australia and New Zealand.

The world’s first Integrated Urban Aquaponics Teaching Unit is proposed as one of five parts of the Whites Hill State College’s proposed Sustainability Education Pilot Project.

Geoff Wilson said: “We plan to develop this Integrated Urban Aquaponics Teaching Unit with all speed so that teachers, students and parents – plus community groups – can be quickly shown many aspects of what we are trying to achieve.
Over an estimated five years of development, the WHSC aquaponics unit will integrate and teach on:

* Three styles of aquaponics.
* Water harvesting (rain, dew and solar-powered air moisture harvesting).
* Water cleaning (via greenery and new pervious paving technology).
* Non-carbon electrical power supply (solar panels cooled by greenery for 10% increase in electrical power).
* Solar powered and wood-waste water heating for both fish and plant growing efficiency.
* Recycling of clean organic matter into fish feeds (via worms and insects).
* Algae production for fish feeds containing both protein and omega-3 oil.
* Wall and roof greenery for improving the psychological and air-cleaning benefits of the structure.

The integrated teaching unit is planned to be fully operational by July 25 and 27, 2012, when Whites Hill State College will be the venue for the Integrated Urban Aquaponics Conference aimed at helping Western Pacific high school science and maths teachers learn how to better teach their subjects.

The conference is the first event proposed for the Whites Hill State College’s proposed Sustainability Education Pilot Project. The WHSC event in 2012 is expected to be on the psychological and air cleaning benefits of greenery in classrooms, offices and homes..

Further Information and pictures:

Geoff Wilson,
Director, Aquaponics Network Australia,
President, Green Infrastructure Network Inc.
32 David Road,
Holland Park 4121, Qld.

Phones: 0412 622 779 or 3411 4524
Email: wilson.geoff@optusnet.com.au

See Video here. Take a tour of an aquaponics farm with Professor Alison Gise Johnson of Chicago State University and Frank Lockom of the Plant. Both help run research farms, growing leafy greens such as mint, basil, chard, and lettuce with waste water from aquaculture.

Aquaponics is an ancient idea. The Aztecs practiced a form of it.

Bu Emily Gadekand, Michelle M. Schefer
Medill Reports
Feb 25, 2011

Excerpt:

Snow falls outside a nondescript one-story warehouse on Chicago’s South Side. But inside, it’s the growing season. Hundreds of fish swarm and fight for food in tanks surrounded by beds of basil, rainbow chard, and mint. The scene may hold the key to creating a year-round source of fresh, local food in Chicago.

The warehouse is Chicago State University’s Aquaponics Facility, the first urban aquaponics farm in Chicago. The facility may be the first step in spurring a whole new type of urban farming in the city.

“Aquaponics is a combination of aquaculture, which is the raising of fish, and hydroponics, which is the raising of plants using water. The system is a closed system in that the water from the fish which is enriched by their waste is actually used to fertilize the plants,” said Dr. Alison Gise-Johnson, director of outreach for the Aquaponics Facilty.

Read the complete article here.

Nigeria has to import fish to make up for the short fall in their domestic catch. But in downtown Lagos there is solution: farming lungfish, also know as catfish

Excerpt from: “Nigeria: Catfish Farming – a Reliable Investment”

By Taiwo Bernard
Vanguard
14 April 2009

Lagos — Many species of fish are farm produced all over the world, but Catfish is taking the lead because of its uniqueness.

Data available shows that 260 million kilogrammes of Catfish was produced compared to five million kilogrammes of Tilapia, 7.7 million kilogrammes of Crawfish/ Crayfish/Shrimp; 2.68 million kilogrammes of Trout; and 50 million kilogrammes of Salmon in the United States of America alone.

The demand for Catfish in Nigeria is unprecedented so much so that no matter the quantity supplied into the market is consumed by ready buyers. This is so because of its low caloric value, low carbohydrate content, high in protein, low in fat, it is quick and easy to prepare and above all , it tastes great.

Catfish is responsible for a multi-billion naira industry, which is big business for both the grower and the consumer. They are raised in controlled environments that help ease the increased demand for improved, quality protein sources to feed our ever increasing population. Farm-raised catfish is consistently high in quality and is available all-year round at a price unaffected by external environmental conditions.

The importance attached to the culture of Catfish in Nigeria is not only because it is a highly esteemed species that command high market value, but it is hardy and can survive where most other cultivable species cannot.

These qualities coupled with its low bone content, fine flavour, high growth rate and its ability to feed on virtually anything make this fish the bride of most fish farmers in Nigeria

Methods of rearing Catfish can be based on a number of criteria such as number of species cultured, technology of production and cultivation stages among others. They can however be cultured under the following methods.

Read the complete article here.

Watch the video here.

See Catfish Farming in Nigeria.

Aquaponics

Aquaponics, a method of growing fish and plants together, creates a closed loop system that some say could help to address food shortages in places without access to fresh produce. NBC’s Anne Thompson reports.

See Part 2 on next page.

Part 2 NBC Nightly News.

Emmanuel Pratt, of Sweet Water Organics, explains how he engages children in aquaponics, the science of growing fish and plants together, and why it’s important kids are engaged in making and growing healthy food.

See Sweet Water Organics here.

Also see: Project Milwaukee: opportunities for urban agriculture
By Bob Bach November 19, 2010

His 1000 litre tank can hold 10-20 perch or 40-60 crayfish

By Liina Flynn
Northern Rivers Echo
21st October 2010

Excerpt:

Wayne believes if more people can produce food in urban areas then rural land could be used for growing large-scale grain crops, or crops to make products currently made out of oil such as bioplastics, or hemp for clothes.

In the backyard in his 1000 litre tank, Wayne currently has a few perch, but said it can hold 10-20 perch or 40-60 crayfish. There are plant pots sitting in the pipes running around the tank, which are watered with the nutrient rich tank water. Deep-rooted plants are planted in the garden to pick up nutrients deep in the soil and are even used in the tank to filter the water. He has created a biological cycle where everything is used: from food scraps which feed the worms, which in turn feed the garden and the chooks.

On the roof of the house, Wayne has installed a three kilowatt solar energy system and said the household only uses half of the power generated from it, with the rest being fed back into the grid and generating about $3000 a year in income. Next to it is an efficient solar tube-style hot water system that only needs two hours of sunlight to generate hot water for showers and washing clothes.

“For a $20,000 investment, people can have a sustainable house,” Wayne said

Future plans include installing more water tanks and a grey water system to reuse kitchen and shower water in the garden.

Read the complete article here.

Aquaponics research at Chicago State University

By Hosea Sanders
ABC News
Sept 10, 2010

Excerpt:

Fish farming is making a splash with students at a South Side university. They are hoping it will inspire others in their community to eat locally grown, healthy foods.

Chicago State University is the newest home to an aquaponics facility. Administrators say it will not only provide a new teaching tool for students, but may also help ease the grip of a food desert on their South Side neighborhood.

Hundreds of tilapia are getting their daily feed at Chicago State University. The aquaponics facility features four 750-gallon tanks. There are also six hydroponic grow beds, where fruit, vegetables and herbs are planted in water instead of the ground.

“The nutrient-enriched water from the fish actually serves as the fertilizer for the plants. So it’s very, it’s organic,” said Alison Gise Johnson, PhD, director of science outreach.

WTTW Chicago Tonight. Sept. 27, 2010

All of the nutrients as well as the waste products that the fish create are absorbed by the plants. Then, the clean water is recirculated back into the fish tanks. Nothing is wasted, but so much is gained.

“The reason we think this is necessary is because we live in what we call a ‘food desert.’ … As part of our mission as a university serving the community, it’s to involve the community in developing food, producing food and consuming food that’s highly nutritious and to know what nutritious food is,” said Floyd Banks, PhD, CSU Dept. of Biological Sciences chair.

One of the people helping to spearhead this project was 6th Ward Alderman Fredrynna Lyle.

“Chicago State serves a community and the community is the South Side and the south suburbs and so young people…they’ll all be able to come over here and take the opportunities to volunteer, to help in the growing of the vegetables,” Lyle said.

Read the complete article here.

See Aquaponics Facility Debuts at Chicago State University here.

Aquaponics — a combination of aquaculture, or fish cultivation, and hydroponics

By Genevieve Roberts
New York Times
September 27, 2010

Excerpt:

In Australia, where farmers have struggled with drought for the past decade, backyard aquaponic systems have grown in popularity. Joel Malcolm, who opened the world’s first aquaponics retail store, Backyard Aquaponics, in the Australian city of Perth, sells about 300 systems a year.

“With water restrictions enforced in almost every city around the country, people just can’t have their traditional vegetable garden,” he said. “Being able to produce your own chemical-free fish and vegetables in your own backyard not only saves money but also provides enjoyment and satisfaction. Lately there have been quite a few schools installing systems here as learning tools for the kids.”

While backyard systems are in their infancy in the United States, they are growing in popularity, with estimates that there may be 800 to 1,200 aquaponics setups in American homes and yards and as many as 1,000 more in schools, according to the Aquaponics Journal.

Could this almost-waste-free food production method be the miracle solution to tackle worldwide food shortages that some expect? Brett Roe, who investigated ecologically integrated production systems at the University of Queensland in Australia, cautioned that it might not be a cure-all. “Aquaponics offers decentralized food security on a small scale, and reuse of resources,” he said. “Every little bit helps. But in developing countries it may make better sense to culture fish in ponds and use the wastewater on land-based crops; a simple linkage of aquaculture and crop farming that has the same general effect of reusing resources and can be practiced in a larger scale of economy.”

Read the complete article here.

Agropolis combines hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic farming

By Alyssa Danigelis
Discovery News
Sept. 1, 2010

Excerpt:

There’s a big push lately for eating local. Restaurants like to promote menus with ingredients harvested locally and grocery stores advertise produce grown on nearby farms.

A concept for a grocery store that actually grows its own fruits and vegetables on site is taking the “local” adage to an entirely new level.

The do-it-yourself grocery store concept called Agropolis combines hydroponic, aeroponic and aquaponic farming to grow vegetables without soil in an urban environment. Shoppers will come in and see all the produce growing on-site and point to what they want. Nutrients from fish in aquaculture tanks goes to feed the plants, and the whole place becomes an ecosystem. A restaurant there will also serve produce from the urban farm.

Agropolis was just presented this week at the Nordic Exceptional Trendshop 2010 conference an annual event that showcases technology taking place through September 3 in Arhus, Denmark. As conference attendee Augustus Schraven writes in Tech the Future, the concept came about as a solution to a challenge laid down by Rob Nail, a VP of corporate development at the interdisciplinary Singularity University on the NASA Ames campus.

Read the complete article here.

Agropolis

AGROPOLIS is a concept for the next wave of hydroponic, aeroponic, aquaponic farming – growing vegetables without the use of soil. Initially, it will be a combined farm/restaurant/concept store, where people come to eat food they can see was grown on the premises. You walk into the store and on all the walls, and through the back wall into a room beyond, you see nothing but green – the vegetables sold in the store being grown on site.

Underneath your feet you will see tilapia swimming in the aquaponics fishtank, the nutrients they process going directly to feed the plants. The store is an ecosystem unto itself.

What we offer to consumers is a different experience with food. You will never have a tomato fresher than one you just saw being picked, or a lettuce more local than one where you stand next to the room in which it was grown. That is the value we offer.

Unlike other urban farm efforts, we are aware of and will integrate new and emerging technologies.

Our technological contributions are threefold:

(1) In collaboration with NASA, we will combine sensor and robotic innovations into the state of the art hydroponic systems.

(2) We will research genetically modified organisms made specifically for a controlled agricultural setting.

(3) We will integrate new advances in artificial lighting like LEDs into controlled agriculture.

Finally, our farm, unlike urban farms to date, will be a powerful consumer experience – aiming urban farming not simply at the environmentally conscious but also to those who simply enjoy fresh food.

See the AGROPOLIS website here.