Question: How does a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System work?
Answer: The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems is a closed loop, water-based fish and organic vegetable production system. It utilizes insulated and heated fish tanks to grow Tilapia, and then runs the warm water from the fish tank (laden with nutrient-rich fish waste) through a settling-tank clarifying system, and then the water flows through gravel-filled trays to feed and water growing plants. The entire system is built in modules; each module contains one fish tank, one settling tank, and up to 200 sq. feet of growing space and these modules are enclosed in a climatically adapted growing structure, usually a greenhouse. The structure keeps out pests and helps maintain temperature.
The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems is specifically designed to utilize currently unused urban or near-urban space to grow food as close to the end consumer as possible. It is not designed to replace regular land-based agriculture. The main function of the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems is to produce nutritious food, on site, using a minimum of space, electricity, water and labor. Yearly production from a 10,000 square foot Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems unit is 60,000 vegetables and over 20,000 pounds of fish and only requires one person to operate.
Question: Why is Aquaponics superior to either hydroponics or aquaculture?
Answer: The main difference between aquaponics and hydroponics – besides the absence of fish – is that in hydroponics, the water eventually becomes toxic and must be disposed of properly. During the growing phase, while the hydroponic system has relatively clean water, both technologies (aquaponics and hydroponics) cycle water very efficiently. In fact, both technologies have been shown to utilize vastly less water than the amount required in traditional in-ground agriculture; estimates range from 5-10% of the water required to grow an equivalent amount of produce in soil, outdoors. In hydroponics, however, the nutrient solutions eventually become so out of balance that they are unusable and the growers must discard them.
The disposal of this nutrient-loaded (effluent) solution is a major environmental concern. Improper hydroponics wastewater disposal can over-nourish water bodies and produce poisonous toxins damaging to aquatic life, animals and humans. To the best of our knowledge, current business models built around hydroponics exclude the cost of treating the wastewater appropriately. We believe that as water becomes increasingly scarce and more research is performed (showing watersheds are increasingly at risk and our oceans,rivers, lakes and streams are becoming more polluted), public pressure on government will increase and additional environmental regulations will occur. As a result, scaling up produce production in the manner suggested by Portable Farms, Inc., but using only hydroponics, is likely to prove both cost-inefficient and environmentally unsustainable.
With the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System, regardless of the size of the commercial unit, the wastewater generated (which includes solid fish waste that is drained out of the settling tank at regular intervals) can be used agriculturally or even dumped into a local sewage system because it contains no toxic waste, nor does it have toxic levels of phosphorus or nitrates. The Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems is akin to a self-contained wetland system (where nitrates are removed by plant uptake and biological conversion), and end-users never have to replace the full volume of water. Even under the hottest operating conditions, when the fish are largest, including variables for plant transpiration, end-users are still only replacing 20% or less of the total water volume in the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems every 2 weeks. Under normal operating circumstances, additional water requirements will be substantially less.
In an effort to meet worldwide demand for fish, aquaculture is widely practiced, which does lessen the demand for over-fishing the oceans, rivers and lakes, but is not without its own significant problems. For example, environmental concerns in Scandinavia are growing in light of the increased deployment of fish farms within coastal embayments and fjords, which has led to concern about localized eutrophication from excess nutrients and organic matter via fish gills, feces, and unconsumed fish pellets. Increased eutrophication is frequently a result of nutrient pollution, such as the release of sewage effluent, urban stormwater run-off, and run-off carrying excess fertilizers into natural waters. Eutrophication generally promotes excessive plant growth and decay, favors certain species over others, and may cause a severe reduction in water quality. In aquatic environments, enhanced growth of choking aquatic vegetation or phytoplankton (e.g., algal blooms) disrupts normal functioning of the ecosystem, causing a variety of problems such as a lack of oxygen in the water, which is needed for fish and shellfish to survive.
Worldwide, commercial aquaculture practices have created serious and adverse socio-economic impacts. Aquaculture, on a large scale, has the potential to destabilize local ecosystems. From an economic standpoint, very strict water purity regulations create significant costs for compliance.
Question: How do you express the value proposition for a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System?
Answer: Food security (access and availability to fresh food) is an important issue facing all organizations and communities in the world today. Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems (PFAS) offers an ideal solution to address the issue of food security for prisons by providing a constant 12-month supply of fresh, healthy and nutritious vegetables and home-grown fish (protein source). Our systems use very little energy to operate and use 90% to 95% less water than farming and in-ground growing.
Question: How long does it take to install a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System?
Answer: Of course it depends on the size of the installation. Smaller systems can be installed in less than a week. The larger commercial installations require approximately six to eight weeks. Upon completion, the system will contain the plants and the fish and the operators will have been trained.
Question: What is the cost of energy be to run a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System?
Answer: Smaller farms require about $2 per day in electrical cost. 10,000 square foot farms require about $48.00 per day in electrical costs.
If you choose to use solar power, you will need to size your solar panels appropriately.
Question: How can our non-profit group help feed the poor in our area using a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System?
Answer: If you have the space for a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems (even a parking lot or side yard) you can have a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System installed by our company in a few days. A 600 square foot Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System can grow in excess of 3,600 plants and 1,400 pounds of fish per year. This sized farm can give you a year round supply of food to offer to your group.
Question: How can a medium-security prison facility with 3,600 inmates, in a remote location, utilize Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems?
Answer: There are two ways Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems can serve your prison:
1) With 3,600 inmates in your correctional facility, we assume that you are serving 10,800 meals every day, or nearly 4,000,000 meals a year. Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems can have a major impact on your institution’s food budget: A 90' x 120', 10,800 square foot (930m) Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System, provides 60,000 heads of lettuce per year or other vegetables, (5,000 heads per month or 166 heads per day) on a year round basis, and 23,000 pounds (10,400 kg) of fish per year. Other vegetables can be grown depending on your needs. This sized unit produces 400 side-salads twice a day and two, four-ounce filets of fish five times per month.
2) If the inmates in your medium-security prison work on the Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems, they will also be learning valuable vocational skills.
Question: Can I put a Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System in the garage or in my basement?
Answer: Yes. You'll need to provide Grow Lights for 14 hours per day instead since you don't have sunlight. And, since you won't have a greenhouse structure, the heaters in the fish tanks will run more often because there is no heat gain from the sun. On the other hand, if you live in a very cold climate, your basement will provide more protection from the cold than an exterior building will provide.
Question: I like the idea of Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems, but I'm a vegetarian and I don't eat fish. Can I have Portable Farms™ Aquaponics System without fish?
Answer: No, to work correctly, Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems requires fish of some type in the system to provide the essential nutrients for your plants. If you do not want to eat your fish, you can give them to friends who do eat fish, sell them, or simply enjoy them. Some species and individual fish live for years. You can also put goldfish or koi in your Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems. We suggest naming them and keeping them as pets! :) Then consider selling the koi when they've reached a large size.
Question: How long does it take to grow lettuce or greens in Portable Farms™ Aquaponics Systems?
Answer: If you plant your seeds in the peat pots when they arrive, you can enjoy your first lettuce in about 40 days. That is about as fast as you can produce edible food. The different lettuces, tomatoes and other vegetables will tell you on the seed packet how long they take to mature. The time listed on the packets will be shortened somewhat because the plants have optimal growing conditions inside the greenhouse which is warm at night and the plants always have a fresh supply of water and nutrients. And, if you want to, you can add additional grow lights (to add another 4 hours of sunlight) during winter months (like we do) to allow for optimal growth from November to March.
