Instead of shipping pre-packaged food around the world, imagine a farm in a shipping container. Nature in a box: self-contained, solar-powered, using a fraction of the water and space of a traditional farm, and bringing fresh food. More: alive.
This is the vision of FarmPods , a US startup trying to improve the availability of fresh food using automation and a vertical farming method called aquaponics.
“Large-scale agriculture has pesticides, uses a huge amount of fossil fuels and is really terrible for the planet,” he says Mike Straight, creator and CEO of FarmPod.
With automation software to make their container aquaponics system as simple as possible, Straight wants to provide a fresh food source with the least labor and the lowest carbon footprint.
Aquaponics, for those who don't know what it is yet
Aquaponics combines raising fish in tanks (aquaculture) and growing plants outside of soil using only water, known as hydroponics. When working properly, aquaponic systems can produce both high-quality plant and fish, fresh food, quickly and efficiently.
You have to think of an aquaponic system as a whole food cycle. Inside a tank of water, fish or other aquatic creatures, such as shrimp, are raised. The waste they produce is transformed into nutrients by bacteria within the water, and that nutrient-rich water is then pumped to the plants, providing a natural, renewable, localized source of fertilizer.
What can be grown with aquaponics?
Among the most commonly grown fish in aquaponics is the tilapia: Its combination of size and rapid growth makes it ideal for these tanks. Hybrid striped bass, perch, catfish, trout and shrimp also thrive in aquaponic systems.
The end result is essentially a pond ecosystem in a box. Fish food enters (automatically) and fertilizer exits; the rich water "fertilized" by fish excrement is used to grow plants, then it is recycled and returned to the tank.
Secondo Allen Patillo, fisheries and aquaculture specialist, aquaponics can significantly reduce the time needed for crops. Lettuce can be grown using an aquaponics system in 30 days, half the time it takes conventional methods.
Always fresh food and many benefits
Because it is a closed system that recycles its water and requires no external synthetic fertilizers (which require many fossil fuels), aquaponics is considered more environmentally friendly and sustainable than traditional agriculture.
Its ability to grow both plants and fish quickly and in any conditions can also provide strong economic benefits: you could grow fresh food all year round, even out of season. The waste products of plants and fish could be converted into fertilizers and sold, or used to irrigate crops even outside the aquaponic system.
Advanced aquaponics
The main disadvantages of aquaponics lie in the start-up costs, the relative complexity of the system and the energy required to ensure that the pumps are always running.
FarmPod addressed these problems by creating a shipping container that holds a farm. Inside each of them there is everything: tanks, reservoirs, sensors. You can get it up and running to start producing fresh food in just two days, and it only takes two people to do it. Once in motion, the container-farm begins to work. The sensors power a fully automated system that performs all daily activities. Check water PH levels, fish feeding, fish 'waste' management and energy management.
I believe it. Such a product must be extremely simple to use: if it is not, it will never be adopted.
How much fresh food can you produce?
The company's rough estimates say that a FarmPod can work around five hours a week of work and produce over 45kg (100lbs) of fresh food in those five hours. For energy we think of solar panels that allow the module to work without electricity and without carbon emissions.
In summary: urban farms that move and deliver fresh, freshly grown food anywhere, anytime. Lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries, cabbage and other plants. Catfish, tilapia, shrimp, perch and more.
