Maximum Yield Modern Growing | Canadian Edition | May June 2017

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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
The key advantage of aquaponics is that it offers a crop of fish for the same amount of water that it would otherwise take just to grow the plants also by feeding the fish, you feed the plants. The difference with microponics is that you can access that benefit regardless of the plant growing system. Square foot gardening (SFG), pioneered by American Mel Bartholomew, is as waterwise as any aquaponics system and just as productive when it comes to growing plants. Sheet mulching (as described by the late Bill Mollison and David Holmgren of permaculture fame) is a soil-based option that is both waterwise and very productive. We’ve used square foot gardens and raised sheet mulch beds in conjunction with our aquaponics systems. We also use the nutrient-rich water to irrigate several fruit and fodder trees. Our use of water is leveraged even further given that the water from our aquaponics systems comes from rainwater tanks. Rainwater is better for plants because it is free of toxic substances like chlorine or chloramines. The use of water from an aquaponics system to irrigate plants is also better for the fish. Any accumulation of suspended solids or nitrates is kept in check by regular replacement with fresh rainwater. While microponics is distinguished by its encouragement of a wider variety of plant growing systems, its principal point of difference is its integration of microlivestock and other organisms. The prevailing wisdom in science says that the greater the biodiversity in an ecosystem, the better it is—and that’s where microponics really distinguishes itself. MICROPONICS ELEMENTS Useful microponics organisms include: • Fruit, vegetables, and herbs • Freshwater fish and crayfish • Japanese quail for meat and eggs • Chickens for meat and eggs • Fruit and nut trees • Muscovies and other waterfowl • Bees • Aquatic plants—duckweed, azolla, water spinach, and Chinese water chestnuts • Fodder plants and trees—pigeon pea, amaranth, comfrey, chou moellier, tagasaste, and moringa grow cycle 53
Page 1: MODERN GROWING CANADIAN EDITION UVA
Page 5 and 6: CONTENTS first feed 6 from the edit
Page 8: first feed contributors STEVE CATHE
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Page 45 and 46: By Steve Cather Scrub your pots Whe
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Maximum Yield Modern Growing | Canadian Edition | May June 2017

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