Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Does anyone know if an "Aquaponically Grown" standard exists in Australia or any other country. If not, why not? I think it would be great for commercial aquaponic farms to have a standard with a logo that the buying public could recognise and trust.

Check out the organic certification thread for further infos.
Problem I see with "aquaponically grown" is that the public doesn't know a thing of what aquaponic is, and they are afraid if the plants are not grown in the ground. But education could and would change that on the long term.

Until aquaponics becomes very widely recognized, it wouldn't help much. Much better to label your stuff as Hydroponic (since it is) and latch into the benefits of that. Or, you could call it Fishy Hydropnic... no wait, that just doesn't sound right.

It could be possible to get aquaponics certified organic contrary to hydroponics that can't get that kind of certification because it doesn't grow in soil. Soil is mostly bacteria, organic material decomposing and inert material this reminds me of something.... And it is highly recommended that the aquaculture effluents are purified by plant beds. This is what i found in the organic certification document in the download file part of the forum. It would maybe even be possible to convert hydroponic farms to aquaponics to get the organic certification, as it is the future of the food production.

Organic Hydroponics - 100% buzzword compliant!

Organic Hydroponics, mmm, I like it.

seriously though, soooo much talk about certifying AP as organic..........

i know mine is as organic as it can be (fish feed is left wanting)

i know my veggies are better than anything i buy.

anyone who UNDERSTANDS AP will know that by simply BEING AP it is going to be a long way down the organic track.

who really cares for a rubber stamp.

Those who grow for themselves don't need the rubber stamp but if you are developing a market you probably will want to be able to brand it in some way so that people know what you are selling.

CRTreeDude, that's my point. Why don't we (as a forum) design a logo, set our own standards so that we can tick off a check list annually as a self-audit or even verified in a peer-review system and market our produce. I don't even mind paying an annual fee that could go towards research or funding a school system or something. I'm not interested in trying for organic certification because I don't even think they know a thing about AP.

I may be wrong - but I do think that is outside of the scope of the group here - this is Backyard Aquaponics though a few of us a probably bending the definition a bit - mine might grow into the "Back 40 Aquaponics"

I agree that it is probably outside the scope of the forum itself but that won't stop any like minded indivduals from within this forum from getting together and doing exactly what you are suggesting synaptoman.

Do keep in mind, if you want this idea to happen, you will probably have to chair it and push it through.

It is likely that there have been other attempts at exactly this and many people on this forum that will bristle at anything that sounds like regulation.

I will say I don't have much need for it here - my aguaponic system is almost like magic down here - and that is enough.

The special thing about aquaponic is that it is not known so that if you are nice with the certifying body, you can present the system the way who want them to understand it. Don't that a certifying company is there to certify not to cause problems because if they don't certify or create to harsh conditions they won't earn any money.
There are no gouvernemental regulations on aquaponics so it is quite easy to be in conformity with it, this is the first point checked on an audit.
The second is that organic cert on fish is pretty easy on a low fish density, and for the veggie part there is no way you can use another product than an organic one, so i really think it is very easy to have it certified but it will ask hours and hours of paper work to prove it.
I do certification paper works, it's my job, the farm were I work is the first in Europe to be certified ISO 14001 and ISO 22000 and they are more difficult to have than organic. Organic is just adapting production techniques, not constant evolution and proving all you do.
If any one wants to start a group work on certification for aquaponic I'm on it.
Cheers

Mmm, let me mull on that. I really didn't mean regulation, just thought some guidelines and standards that could qualify our products as (our own term) "Aquaponically Grown".

Here in the states organic really does not mean a thing.. Just add some compost to your grow bed/soil and do not use more pesticide than necessary to ensure delivery to market. Thats "organic"..