SUMMER 2022 | Page 14

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The benefits of aquaponics are surprisingly powerful ; 95 % less water used than field grown , as much as a two times the growth rate increase , no weeding , less pests and pesticide use , year-round growing , and the most appealing , plants can be grown at waist height ...
from the growing process , which or a pond and wondered , how is it eradicates erosion . But there are that fish can live in that ? Aren ’ t they still some downsides to it , namely excreting waste into the water ? that it isn ’ t a closed loop system , Wouldn ’ t that be toxic for them ? it requires heavy monitoring and The answer is that certain bacteria control , and often the system must convert the nitrogenous waste from be purged of the excess nutrients fish into a form of fertilizer that that can build up . Because it ’ s an plants can readily absorb . The basic artificial nutrient addition driving cycle is fish excrete waste , bacteria plant growth , balancing that can be convert the waste , plants absorb the difficult . Aquaponics on the other waste and then return clean water hand recreates a natural symbiotic to the system , and the cycle repeats relationship among three entities : indefinitely . All three participants fish , plants , and bacteria . are in balance and the overall Have you ever looked at a lake ecosystem and habitat thrives .
Working
with Farmers to Transform Agriculture
In order to sustainably feed the world ’ s growing population
In Maryland , across the United States , and around the world
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Aquaponics is the replication of that same system in a controlled environment of a greenhouse .
The benefits of aquaponics are surprisingly powerful ; 95 % less water used than field grown , as much as a two times the growth rate increase , no weeding , less pests and pesticide use , year-round growing , and the most appealing , plants can be grown at waist height , so the farmer doesn ’ t have to bend over to tend to or harvest the plants ( That alone sold us !).
Vegetables have been the most studied and researched crops in aquaponics systems , for good reason ; we need more food in this world to feed a growing population . But we are flower farmers and so we looked at whether any inquiries had been conducted with flowers in aquaponics . They really had not , which was surprising .
We began writing grants to obtain funding to research this possibility and create the appropriate conditions to produce flowers via aquaponics . In 2021 , we received a small USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education ( SARE ) grant to begin the first phase of the project . Later that year we were awarded an even bigger grant from Maryland ’ s Tech Development Council ( TEDCO ) through the Agriculture Rural Recovery Challenge ; $ 200,000 to build a greenhouse and commercial scale aquaponics system to grow dahlias and lisianthus year-round . This was mind blowing !