Leaving university isn’t always as much doom and gloom as James Hyde makes out, in fact Cal Hudson, one of our very own Bowlanders, went on to co-found The Life Aquaponic organisation in January of this year.
The organisation is currently focusing on building a large scale aquaponics system in the Kopila Valley in Surkhet, Nepal, to grow food for members of the community, as well as educating local residents in aquaponics so that they will be able to continue growing their own food.
Aquaponics is a simple, yet underused system, combining aquaculture (growing fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil). The self-contained systems recreate the natural relationship between plants and wildlife. In aquaponics, fish and plants develop side-by-side and are harvested to produce a healthy high-protein and nutrient rich diet.
Plants grow a lot faster in these systems because they have 24 hour access to nutrients. Lettuce, which takes two months to mature when planted in soil, has been shown to mature in just one month when grown in an aquaponics system.
A simple aquaponics system grows six times more per square foot than traditional farming, allowing any surplus vegetables and fish 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’s no soil or weeds involved, so there’s no labour required for tilling, cultivating, fertiliser spreading, or irrigating. Starting an aquaponics farm would only require planting once and waiting for harvesting, allowing much more time to focus on continuing education.
These systems are easy to build, almost entirely self-sustainable, and use 90% less water compared to conventional agriculture.
You can show your support for Cal and The Life Aquaponic organisation by donating to their Kickstarter fundraising page here:
kickstarter.com/projects/1475250437/sustainable-aquaponics-systems-in-surkhet-nepal
The Bowland Lady 