Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Id be lying if I say I havnt given it a thought a few times.....

Yup it does:

Joondalup

Karnup

Jandabup

Karrakup

Karrinyup

Mandogalup

Neerabup

BYAP

I would like to Buy Up a franchise of BYAP where do I Sign Up?

Imagine if BYAP had a smart phone Ap and called it the BYAP AP and on the website it said:

BUY BYAP AP

Seriously though I think the BYAP team are doing a brilliant job

I reckon Faye standing out front of the shop with a bikini and a sandwich board would do the trick

It's good to have you back, Food&Fish .

Faye won't think so if he keeps making suggestions like that....

So called 'political incorrectness' gets my vote.

yep..... always...... We're men, it's our job to be politically incorrect.... and then take it back, and apologise later on

Working on my suntan this week guys
By the way, thanks for that Food and Fish.

Rub it in why dont you Faye

Looks like a lovely little spot to spend the day

I realize I don't have a very high post count as I prefer to lurk unless I can add something to the discussion. I feel it necessary to chime in leaning toward Rupert's end of the argument.




You have to define commercial as what would be considered commercial overall in society regardless our feelings on how a system can be improved. Commercial food production in today's society would be to a wholesaler or direct to chain store for distribution.

Yes there are people who make a living off of a scaled up backyard system. They service a niche which only comprises a small portion of the overall food markets. In that sense aquaponics is as viable as the soil based grower that direct markets through a farmers market, csa, restaurant, or other outlet. Those soil based guys doing the same are considered hobby farms too. To give an example I reside in an area with a dense Amish population. Even a lot of the ones that work in construction trades as a main source of income grow crops on a couple acres and sell their wares at the myriad of farm markets and roadside stands that pop up every season. Not one of them considers themselves a commercial operation. It's just an additional income source to them.

TCLynx, Ryan, and others have carved out niches where they are able to earn a living on a hobby scale size ( interestingly that volume would have been considered a "family farm" less than 100 years ago). There are still niche markets out there, But I think of one of Murray's little ecofilms
Podcasts. " it is a premium product and you have to obtain for it a premium price". Realistically that is not going to happen on a large scale when society in general is going to look at the cheap imported industrial head of lettuce that they can buy for a little more than what your target profit margin is on the same (size) head of lettuce out of your system. Producers in the US compete with Tilapia imports coming in for less than what it cost them to raise the fish in some areas. You may be able to get rid of them through developing a good relationship with a client or two but it doesn't take much of an economic squeeze for imported tilapia to make more sense to your clientele.

That said I do think that aquaponics can be a viable commercial model. Qatar comes to mind as a good spot for a start-up with their need to import 80+%, the fact they already pay premium prices for fresh vegetables and a cost-equivalent domestically grown product would increase demand inherently, and the fact that the government is willing to heavily subsidize seemingly viable projects that will increase domestic production.

Ryan's system seems really good, I am not sure how much further he would be able to expand without hitting that point of diminished returns on investment. Maybe the way around that for him is to develope a collaborative project with someone else. A situation where they have a vested interest into that seperate operation with Ryan supplying the mechanical system leaving them responsible for the rest of it and he takes a percentage off the top. The new phase of the business will have someone more than an employee collecting a paycheck, and Ryan's overhead would be for the least expensive/easily repossessed part of the setup. No ground rent, mortgage, building or building maintenance, no electric bill, no finding more accounts, just one guy to get a check from and help along a bit here and there with some advice. And if the guy folds up, load all the equipment on a trailer and truck it over to the next person who dreams of the independance of being self employed. Charging them a delivery fee to cover transport costs of course.

Considering TCLynx already sells aquaponic related items she may have been a better example but Ryan's system popped in my head first.

Thank you EB, this is what I was originally wondering. You explained in depth why many businesses popped up and closed down (which of course I didn't know of) and that sheds some light. I know the discussion got side tracked but this is what I actually meant/wondered