Posted on 07/28/2018 2:24:22 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
On a 13-acre plot of land located a mile north of Holyoke, Jose Varela is quietly pushing the boundaries of both agriculture and aquaculture.
The career trucker and operator of EVD Trucking is setting up an aquaponics operation on his familys property, and has his sights set on providing sustainable, locally-grown produce for Holyoke businesses.
Were the only ones I know of that are doing this locally, he said.
Aquaponics combines hydroponics a technique that grows plants in a nutrient-rich water solution, sometimes among rocks or gravel, rather than soil with traditional aquaculture, creating a system of food production that is both market-flexible and environmentally sustainable.
In an aquaponic environment, wastewater is cycled between a hydroponic planter system and one or more fish tanks. The plants are fertilized by the waste produced by the fish, and the fish are benefitted by the clean water that is routed back from the plants.
Large-scale commercial aquaponics has only come into existence recently, even though hydroponic technology has been around for decades, and primitive aquaponic setups have existed since antiquity.
Varela will be breeding male Wami tilapia with female Mozambique tilapia to obtain a hybrid tilapia variety that is overwhelmingly male. He currently has about 600 fish, but plans to be raising five times that many, distributed across six 1,000-gallon tanks when the operations new aquaponics facility is completed.
The facility will include a 3,400-square-foot greenhouse and a 680-square-foot fish habitat. Construction has already begun, and the steel skeleton of the building currently stands on the west end of Varelas property.
I bet fish poop makes for fantastic tomatoes.
And theres nothing better than true love and home grown tomatoes.
i wish him luck ... but unless he’s feeding fishmeal to his fish, they’ll have zero omega-3 fatty acid content, and you might as well just eat chicken instead from a health perspective ...
Yessir! Home growed 'maters! Eat em with grits, eat em with gravy, eat em with beans, pinto and navy!
Better idea than growing pot
In two years theyll be giving it away
You are right about the zero omega-3 fatty acid content-but it sounds as if the fish are not intended for eating-just as fertilizer producers for the veggies...
I did the tour on advice from a co-worker.
The one drawback with Tilapia is that they can’t take cold water conditions for long at all.
People in cold areas go with trout, etc.
I recall reading about similar ventures by preppers ten years ago. I wonder how they’re making out or if they ran out of steam?
Ive been working on plans to do something similar for a while. Ive been having trouble figuring out a good way toget around tilapia. They don’t sell for much and with tilapia being about one of the worst tasting frewshwater fish Id like to raise something that would sell faster.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.