Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Just a very simple question from someone (entirely new to anything even vaguely agriultural or garden related) who is curious about this concept:

Given current food prices and the price of materials, once running costs are taken into account, how much time will an aquaponics system take to earn in savings the same as its initial capital investment? Or, in better grammar and simpler language, How long will it take for an aquaponics setup to pay for itself?

I'm sure that some of the more business minded out there have already done the maths, and I'm also sure that it depends significantly on the scale and quality of the initial outlay, also combined with the food prices wherever it is you are living... I imagine there's some sort of expenditure vs farm output curve, with the big added X of the expertise and experience of the operator... But I was curious to see just how worthwhile this would be as a cottage industry style investment, in terms of economics of an individual family in easy times, and in terms of food security for tougher times.

So if anyone could give out some estimates, in their experience, in terms of capital investment and agricultural dividends, that would be awesome.

Thanks

It is difficult to just consider these things in terms of pure dollars. The reason I say this is that it is difficult to put a dollar value on the added freshness of the food that you produce in the backyard and pick just in time to eat.

Depends on how hard you push your system too.. At one stage we worked out that one of our 4 bed systems would pay for itself in just over 2 years if you grew two fish crops a year. This included all input costs and initial set up cost..

feinstar, by cottage industry do you mean selling your produce to the market, or do you mean consuming your own produce and offsetting the cost against what you would have bought from the market?

I think steve answered the latter question.

If you are looking to sell to the market, you will have several interacting factors. I've done a little research in this area and assume that your produce will fetch the same premium as organic & hydroponic crops get. In that case, your profit will of course be your sales minus your costs. Your costs will be dependent on what kind of setup. Indoor/Outdoor? Heated? Lit? Power usage? How many crops per year? Buying fish? Buying seeds? All of those will be variable costs on top of your fixed capital outlay.

I was thinking about this the other day after I paid almost $6 for a bunch of spring onions from the veggie shop

Here are my rough figures...

I reckon I've spent close to $2,000 in the setup of my system (very rough, includes all the little items too; pumps, kits, pipes, landscaping, fish, seed cost and a bit of fish food etc..)

If I was spending $40 a week buying vegetables prior to setup, the system pays itself back in 1 year.
If I was spending $20 a week in veggies then the system pays itself back in 2 years.

This doesn't include any fish eaten, my view is any fish out of the system is a bonus! Also doesn't include power to run the pump.

I was surprised that the payback was so quick.

Do remember that power to run the pump could easily be costing $20 a month.

There are so many other factors involved in knowing how much it will cost to build an X sized system too. One guy might have a perfect climate and a good location to build a pretty much all in/on ground pond liner system needing to only buy some pond liner, plumbing bits and a pump and be using on site gravel. Another person might have to spend a lot more money on a prefab system with stands and add a greenhouse because of less than perfect climate etc.

Another bonus that I'm not sure how to put a price tag on is the gratification of eating a meal that was totally home grown!!!!!! That is a really good feeling

Sorry I don't have any budget type numbers to throw out to ya but I have never really gotten around to adding up all the little costs that have gone into my system.

There are to many variables cost of building [new or second hand stuff] time you run your pump [i run 3 min per hr cost $40.00 a year] how hard you push the system[stocking rate ] size of system [very little different running a small system as a large one ] it does not cost double to run a 4000 litre system as a 2000 litre one The fresh produce must be a bonus
Becides what else would you do with your time

And what price all your new friends?

On a less wholistic point, It's difficult to calculate cost when you can't get accurate inflation figures in our debt-based monetary system. You know that getting $1k/year for produce is not the same as getting the same amount in the future, but how much less? and how much have your costs gone up in real terms?
Even the price of an oz. of gold relative to a barrel of oil is not stable.

Another point regarding consuming your own produce is the reduction in waste, if you only pick what you need for a meal, nothing gets thrown out at the end of the week like limp, store-bought vegetables. Any waste that is generated is probably used locally, very few AP'ers don't have a gardening/animal husbandry bent.

Also, if I were to look at the cost of my system, it would take me years to get the cost back, but I also now have power in my shed, and extra irrigation water for the garden, extra sheeting to extend the chook shed, etc.

For a lot of us here it is the sense of achievement we all get when the first sprout shoots or we catch our first fish. For those who are conscious of the food they place in their bodies it is the satisfaction of knowing what is in and on their produce.

look at it in terms of an investment, a decent system will pay itself off in less than 24 months, which is an acceptable time frame in the business world. it's expensive in terms of inital captial compared to just buying the food, but because your running costs are so low after that it very quickly pays itself off with minimum effort. and where food is only going to get more expensive (especially post carbon tax fiasco, mark my words) your running costs are so insignificant you won't need to make any kind of financial sacrifices to keep it running.
there is also a certain comfort in knowing you have the ability to survive on what you grow yourself. in the last great depression people with land to grow their own food survived the best. with AP you don't need the land, if you got desperate you could run NFT pipes anywhere there is sun.

Also, environmental pressures will continue to cause price rises. Oil has settled a bit now, but we all saw the flow on effect of that. With AP you don't use fuel going to the buy vegies, not to mention the time it takes.

Sure, AP also takes a lot of time, but it's much more fun the waiting in line at the supermarket.

Hell this is the cheapest hobby I have. And if it happens to pay for it self, bonus.

I was thinking something similar while I was reading down this thread. I'm actually saving money not doing some of the things I used to do because I'm happy just to tinker with the system and watch the fish. But these savings dont make it onto the budget sheet.

My system has cost less than $2000 to put together. Thats less than a large fridge/freezer and costs alot less to run. It's alot cheeper than a plasma TV. I'm not able to reduce much of my weekly grocery bill, but I can save maybe $20 dollars on some salad and veg, and supply an occaisional fish meal which might have cost $20-40. Officially its going to take a few years to pay it off. But AP provided my sanity last year while I was working + renovating the house, and also this year while I am working + studying.

agreed on that, there is are lot of non tangible benefits to AP (if your into this sort of thing that is)