Jim Miller's List: AQUACULTURE

If you are biodigesting animal manure, using the spent waste from that process as fertilizer is certainly an option. The biodigestion process eliminates a large percentage of potential pathogens in the waste.

There have been pilot projects, particularly in Asia, where spent biodigester waste has been integrated into aquaculture. Farms utilize the waste to stimulate the growth of algae for fish to feed upon. The pools are subsequently drained and used for irrigation since the water has been infused with nutrients from the fish waste.

Similarly some waste biomass is used as a mushroom substrate, which can then be utilized as animal feed after mushrooms have been produced. Integrating these systems not only reduces eutrophication improving water quality around animal feedlots, but also helps diversify the farm economy reducing potential shocks from food price fluctuations.

Posted by: Jakub Olesiak on August 13, 2008 1:14 PM

Sustainability is indeed coming to the midwest. One project (mine) is a facility which will incorporate two commercial size greenhouses with a Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) into an "aquaponic" system which will produce organic vegetables and "organic" fish (the quotes are there because the rules for calling fish "organic" have not been finalized). The facility will get most of its power needs from biomass and solar energy, and the manure from the fish will be easily routed to field crops. The fish will be fed insect larvae which will be grown using food waste from the local community.

A primary goal of the facility will be to instruct others in this "industrial permaculture" concept, and to spread it as far and wide as possible. To that end we will host interns from all over the world, and have an online educational division.

Anyone interested in learning more about this facility, which will be in southern Illinois about 90 miles east of St Louis, feel free to email me at aquaponicdave(at)gmail(dot)com. We are currently taking investor inquiries for the second phase of construction