Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

I'm curious to know how many folks are actually making money (full or part time) with AP. I know of course the BYAP folks - Joel, Faye - how many employees do you have. C1 has done some concrete work for systems. I've read of folks doing workshops and whatnot. Chime in with your experienced! Would love to figure out a way to do this full time.

HI DV
I have successfully operated several business (none in AP) and before opening the doors was told by friends and Rellies that I was crazy, foolish or stupid, but have always believed that if you have a go things will work out. Having said that I think you need to do your homework and most importantly dare to be different and creative in your approach.
You may not become $ rich but you will be richer in many other ways
I think there are 3 main principles in business
#While most work is essentially repetitive and sometimes boring you cannot change that but what you can change is your attitude that you bring to your work
#Have fun and play (you still need to be professional)
#Give genuine undivided attention to your customers or clients.
Hope this helps and good luck

AP is a something that is taking off, Joel was ahead of his time but now has to beat the cowboys trying to make a fast buck, i think you could make it work in the US but don't bullshit, know what you're talking about, cowboys will *frack* it up, I don't think you're going to make a million overnight (joel will probably agree) and if you think you are then it's the wrong business, in the US you have a bigger market, from what I have seen of US AP promotion 90% is a joke, your mission would be to prove why and prove that the methods and principles promoted here work, promote the fact that you can get fish and veggies with minimal work, sure infrastructure is a cost, that you want to sell, but then promote the benefits after set up, push home made simple systems maybe, this always causes addiction and leads to bigger things, try and push the BYAP magazine, strike something up with Joel/Faye to get the mag happening in Texas, you would have a big Job organizing molds for GB's and tanks, BYAP have the best GB and plumbing system so again see if you can work out something with him, may all seem like dribble as way into beer o'clock but if your serious the joel is then man to talk with

Totally agree Nocky

Sadly, as Nocky said... 90% of the recent plethora of aquaponic website registrations, blogs, e-books, and other internet template marketing schemes in the US... are just as he said "cowboys out to make a quick buck"... from what they perceive as the "latest good thing"....

Most lack any aquaponics experience... hence any credibilty... and most likely ... any real committment to aquaponics... and/or customer support...

If you're seriously going to promote yourself, and aquaponics... then IMO... you need to establish and demonstrate... that you not only "talk the talk".... but actually "walk the walk"....

Develope your systems and knowledge... build your profile by genuine hard graft, workshops, networking, store front, advertising etc...

Anything else, wont differentiate yourself from the rest of the health tonic, cosmic jewellry, good vibration snake oil salesmen, who will hide behind the anonimity of the "net".... and muddy the water for everyone else.... while they make a "quick buck"... and disappear... on to the "next best thing"....

As I read the first post here I automaticly thought we were talking about the application of AP as a farming alternative. Was I the only one? I just put my first 50 fish in my tank, so I am no guru, but I occasionally look out at about 2Ha of paddock near the house (or the 15Ha on the other property) and imagine it covered in green houses and fish tanks. Or are we talking just the retail of domestic systems?

Well there are a few different ways one might turn this fab hobby into a business.

One angle is of course to come up with a product and sell systems to people who want to grow food in their own back yards, which is the thing that many people have commented about here.

And then there is the become a farmer side of things. Selling the veggie produce of a system could be fairly easy but may not bring in a huge income. Selling the fish probably becomes far trickier with all the laws to do with food safety here in the USA but I'm sure it's possible if you figure out how to jump through all the hoops without running out of money in the process.

Finally, there is the side of workshops, and other education which is probably a big part of either of the above business plans for some extra income.

I've got ideas along all these lines but my current paying jobs have been getting in the way of late and I can't go without them during any start-up as bills still need to be paid.

It seems to me supplying aquaponic systems would be the more logical way to go. Besides having a storefront, I think you'd need to promote yourself to the sustainable living community. They have fairs and multi-day meetings you can rent a booth at. You'd be a pioneer and as they say pioneers get the arrows, but they also have the experiences.

As for the food production side, well I am not trying to discourage you, but I am a realist (an optimist with experience.) A few weeks ago the NY Times had an article about hydroponic tomatoes. To be viable, in other words to produce at a volume and price where you can supply grocery and restaurant supply, you need to measure your greenhouses in square miles. No joke. Needless to say that requires a bit of a capital outlay. To supply local farmer's markets and chefs who believe in locally sourcing ingredients you need to spend a lot of time in cultivating customers and delivering produce. I've read a lot of wonderful articles about community supported agriculture and organic farmers, and sometimes they even mention how one of the spouses needs to hold down a job while the other one finds part-time work. So if you want to be a farmer, I think part-time is the key word. If I wasn't so far north, I'd definitely be looking at part-time farmer. As for the fish, you can sell them whole on ice without needing a certified facility. If you are going to produce a lot of fish, don't let certified facility scare you. I have a tenant who makes frozen pizzas and then markets them to local bars. The pizzas have meat on them, so he had to be certified. At first he was only certified by the state Ag Dept, but we're on a border and he wanted to sell in both states so he got his USDA certification. Your county should have a small business department, and the state should also have a local office, that can help you with all the rules and regulations. Handling food and food processing is probably the biggest category of small business. One thing though, you need a separate building. You can't do it in your home. If you don't have an outbuilding, and don't have the volume to rent someplace, get friendly with a local butcher, maybe you can work something out with him.

I was kind of thinking store front/consulting type thing. My wife and I just failed at one retail store, so we are no strangers to hard work. We ended up closing after a few years. We just opened at the wrong time and the economy crushed us just as we were starting to turn a profit. Now I have a house and garage full of party supplies...

There is an empty comercial property that backs up to my back yard - would be the perfect spot - and no HOA to deal with! I figure by the time my second system is up and going, I should have a fare amount on knoledge built up to start helping other get started....just wondered if anyone else was thinking along similar lines.

I know there are others thinking along these lines. Maybe they are not all very active on this forum but I can think of at least 4 start up's that have either jumped into the pool just lately or are planning to very soon.

No doubt you have to be carefull and realistic, but most business owners, including farmers, shouldn't bulk at capital outlay. I'm just running around locally in my head, there would be lots of businesses with 7 figure outlays. Machine shops, a couple of car yards and some big sheds going up that I don't what they're doing yet, but the building looks expensive. The point is, all these family businesses find and spend this money because they expect, and most get, a return on it. What I'm curious about is any indication that there might be a return to be had from AP and, if I get that far (just starting remember) I'll be testing with my own small scale experiments and experiences and following people like OBO on here and so forth. If it looks a goer, then the money can be found. As a fulltime farmer, the outlay is already there.

Hi DV
I think it would be wise as others have said to focus on the supply, selling and installation of backyard systems coupled with educational and information workshops.
Large scale food production by whatever means will become and is already a dinosaur business mainly because it is primarily oil based. What this means is that there will be a need and opportunity to produce food both locally and in our backyards.
Small AP system are a great choice for people who want fresh food and want to know where their food comes from.
It is therefore important to identify who these people are, IMO there are several groups that will be interested in AP those that are on this forum who will build there own systems from their own ingenuity or purchased components (preaching to the converted), the other group are in the middle to high salary bracket and want you to install, setup and even maintain their systems.
Understanding this will be an important strategy in the success of an AP business along with the advice that Rupe stated


and I didn't even mention yuppies once!

Dunno - I started CapitalAquaponics December last year - I still work as a Software Engineer part time, but I was showing 2 or 3 groups through my systems every month so I figured I could actually do more than just show them, if they didn't want to do it themselves then they could hire my services to setup and install them.

So far I have but one client. Lots and lots of interest though. I'm not worried, if I wanted to make money, I'd just work my job full time, but as TCL says - it's more than about making money, it's covering costs and doing something you really enjoy. Plus it is so damn different to my normal job that it does a good job of balancing my life.

We make a decent amount of money growing out and selling live tilapia direct to the consumer. We also make a fair amount of money selling small amounts of live tilapia stock to aquaponics and backyard fish farming folks, but we spend a huge amount of time answering questions and educating people on tilapia via phone and email. We don't begrudge that, as it is simply what you are obligated to do when in this line of work, but it is incredibly time-consuming for sure. We do a pretty large amount of revenue selling live tilapia stock to larger operations, but the margin is extremely low as you might expect, and making sure you meet your production schedules can be quite stressful at times. As far as plant/veggie sales, we have focused more on aquatic ornamentals versus typical edibles recently because of the better returns. Edibles that we produce are mainly reserved for the household.

We used to vacation a lot "pre-AP", but it's become fairly difficult to leave our AP investment in the hands of someone else while we're gone. All in all, it's a lot of work for not a lot of pay, but it's a great life, and we love it.

If you are doing what you love, why take a vacation? Unless there are some bits that drive you nuts....

Seems that ornamental plants and fish might be most effective, but I haven't run numbers. Edibles might work if you are producing retail specialties and selling locally rather than trying to sell commodities on wholesale market.