Aquaponics is the future of sustainable and affordable organic food.
It is a combination of aquaculture (fish growing), and hydroponics (growing plants without soil) and microbiology for algae and bacterium's primarily for probiotics to compliment prebiotics.
These are self-contained systems which recreate the natural relationship between plants and wildlife. Fish and plants with inclusion of microbiology develop concurrently and can be harvested to produce a healthy high-protein and nutrient rich diet.
Allowing plants to have 24 hour access to nutrients help them grow significantly faster and at four times the density. Lettuce, which take 2 months to mature when planted in soil, have been shown to mature in just one month when grown in an aquaponics system.
An advanced aquaponics system ecosystem can grow up to ten times or more per square foot than traditional farming, allowing any surplus vegetables and fish or algae to be sold for extra income. Planting and harvesting can be done standing and working at waist level, meaning aquaponics uses 70% less energy than traditional farming.
There is no soil or weeds: so there is need for herbicides or pesticides thereby no labor is required for tilling, cultivating, fertilizer spreading, or irrigating. The system design to fully enclosed and automated to enhance food security and food safety and strictly control optimal environmentals . This enclosed ecosystem and automation is to avoid contamination from all the harmful bacteria and algae that cause too many recalls it seems almost on a weekly basis. This also isolates the system from external toxic contaminations and heavy metals or pesticides.
These systems are complex yet balanced symbiotic ecosystems, designed to be almost entirely self-sustainable, they use roughly 90% less water and a fraction of the nutrient input requirements compared to conventional agriculture.