Maximum Yield Modern Growing | Canadian Edition | May June 2017

microponics
INTEGRATED FOOD PRODUCTION
Integrated systems are always more
than the sum of their parts. Integration,
in a microfarming context, is essentially
about value creation. An integrated food
production system should provide for
better quality, greater quantity, shorter
timeframe, and lower cost.
Aquaponics is the integration of fish
and plants through the combination
of recirculating aquaculture and
hydroponics. Aquaponics is an example
of integration on a small scale: the
fish produce waste that is converted to
plant nutrients, the plants take up the
nutrients; and, in so doing, clean the
water for the fish.
Microponics is the integration of fish,
plants, and microlivestock through
the combination of recirculating
aquaculture and other plant and
animal production systems.
We eat the fruit, vegetables, herbs,
and fish from our aquaponics systems
and the wastes from our kitchen go to
the worms or black soldier fly larvae.
The worms and larvae are then mixed
with duckweed to become food for other
microlivestock. In this simple model,
there is no actual waste in a landfill
sense. The so-called waste product of
one organism becomes the feedstock
for another. And the scope of integration
doesn’t stop there. We can add other
small livestock (like rabbits, chickens,
quail, ducks, snails, and bees) and water
gardening for edible plants like Chinese
water chestnuts and water spinach.
In this extended model of integration,
we get fish, quail/chicken/duck meat
and eggs, worm castings/tea, duckweed,
vegetables, herbs, rabbits, skins,
and honey. We also get pollination, pest
control, cultivation, and weed removal.
MICROPONICS ORIGINS
The challenge when designing small
integrated food production systems
is to see every output as a resource,
even waste body heat and expired
carbon dioxide.
When I first set out to describe a concept
of small-scale integrated food production
several years ago, I called it integrated
backyard food production (IBFP).
Like aquaponics, IBFP is a descendant
of the integrated aquaculture work
of the New Alchemist Institute.
With its inclusion of microlivestock,
however, IBFP has retained a more
direct relationship with integrated
aquaculture.
“Integrated backyard food production”
became too much of a mouthful, so
in 2008, it became microponics. The
name suggests its own origins—
the combination of micro-farming,
microlivestock, and aquaponics.
When it comes to fish production,
aquaponics and microponics both start
off in the same place. A recirculating
aquaculture system (RAS), or micro fish
farm, is at the heart of both microponics
and aquaponics.
The connection of a plant-growing
system to the RAS creates a simple
aquaponic ecosystem that, because they
are in the same water column, benefits
both the fish and the plants.
In the past 10 years or so, we’ve
designed and built many aquaponics
systems in which we’ve grown jade perch,
barramundi, silver perch, and Murray
cod. We’ve also experimented widely with
hydroponic growing systems including
nutrient film technique (NFT), raft culture,
tray system, and satellite pots.
52 grow cycle