FarmHub
18.2 Hypothetical Modelling, Small-Scale Case Studies and Surveys Amongst Farmers
Early research on commercial aquaponics focused on evaluation and the development of specific, mostly research institute-led case studies. These first results were highly positive and optimistic about the future of commercial aquaponics. Bailey et al. (1997) concluded that, at least in the case of Virgin Islands, aquaponic farms can be profitable. Savidov and Brooks (2004) reported that the yields of cucumbers and tomatoes calculated on an annual basis exceeded the average values for commercial greenhouse production based on conventional hydroponics technology in Alberta.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems18.1 Introduction: Beyond Myths
Although we have witnessed the first research developments in aquaponics as far back as the late 1970s (Naegel 1977; Lewis et al. 1978), there is still a long road ahead for the sound economical assessment of aquaponics. The industry is developing slowly, and thus available data is often based on model cases from research and not on commercial-based systems. After initial positive conclusions about the economic potentials of aquaponics in research-based settings of the low-investment systems in USA, primarily the system in Virgin Islands (Bailey et al.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems17.5 Treatment Strategies in Aquaponics
Treatment options for diseased fish in an aquaponic system are very limited. As both fish and plants share the same water loop, medications used for disease treatments can easily harm or destroy the plants, and some may get absorbed by the plants, causing withdrawal periods or even making them unusable for consumption. The medications can also have detrimental effects on the beneficial bacteria in the system. If a medicinal treatment is absolutely necessary, it must be implemented early in the course of the disease.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems17.4 Fish Health Management
17.4.1 Fish Diseases and Prevention While fish diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, parasites or fungi can have a significant negative impact on aquaculture (Kabata 1985), the appearance of a disease in aquaponic systems can be even more devastating. Maintenance of fish health in aquaponic systems is more difficult than in RAS, and, in fact, control of fish diseases is one of the main challenges for successful aquaponics (Sirakov et al. 2016).
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems17.3 Hazard Identification
In risk analysis, a hazard is generally specified by describing what might go wrong and how this might happen (Ahl et al. 1993). A hazard refers not only to the magnitude of an adverse effect but also to the likelihood of the adverse effect occurring (Müller-Graf et al. 2012). Hazard identification is important for revealing the factors that may favour the establishment of a disease and/or potential pathogen threat, or otherwise detrimental for fish welfare.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems17.2 Aquaponics and Risk: A Development Perspective for Fish Health
Fish pathogens are prevalent in the aquatic environment, and fish are generally able to resist them unless overloaded by the allostatic load (Yavuzcan Yıldız and Seçer 2017). Allostasis refers to the ‘stability through change’ proposed by Sterling and Eyer (1988). Put simply this is the effort of fish to maintain homeostasis through changes in physiology. Allostatic load of fish in aquaponics may be a challenging factor as aquaponics is a complex system mainly in terms of the water quality and the microbial community in the system.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems17.1 Introduction
The European Food Safety Authority reported a variety of drivers and potential issues associated with new trends in food production, and aquaponics was identified as a new food production process/practice (Afonso et al. 2017). As a new food production process, aquaponics can be defined as ’the combination of animal aquaculture and plant culture, through a microbial link and in a symbiotic relationship’. In aquaponics, the basic approach is to get benefit from the complementary functions of the organisms and nutrient recovery.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems16.8 Conclusion: Aquaponic Research into the Anthropocene
The social—biophysical pressures of and on our food system converge in the Anthropocene towards what becomes seen as an unprecedented task for the global community, requiring ’nothing less than a planetary food revolution’ (Rockström et al. 2017). The Anthropocene requires food production innovations that exceed traditional paradigms, whilst at the same time are able to acknowledge the complexity arising from the sustainability and food security issues that mark our times. Aquaponics is one technological innovation that promises to contribute much towards these imperatives.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems16.7 'Critical Sustainability Knowledge' for Aquaponics
16.7.1 Partiality Despite contemporary accounts of sustainability that underline its complex, multidimensional and contested character, in practice, much of the science that engages with sustainability issues remains fixed to traditional, disciplinary perspectives and actions (Miller et al. 2014). Disciplinary knowledge, it must be said, has obvious value and has delivered huge advances in understanding since antiquity. Nevertheless, the appreciation and application of sustainability issues through traditional disciplinary channels has been characterised by the historic failure to facilitate the deeper societal change needed for issues such as the one we contend with here—-the sustainable transformation of the food system paradigm (Fischer et al.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems16.6 Towards a 'Sustainability First' Paradigm
As we saw earlier, it has been stressed that the goal to move towards sustainable intensification grows from the acknowledgment of the limits of the conventional agricultural development paradigm and its systems of innovation. Acknowledging the need for food system innovations that exceed the traditional paradigm and that can account for the complexity arising from sustainability and food security issues, Fischer et al. (2007) have called for no less than ‘a new model of sustainability’ altogether.
· Aquaponics Food Production Systems