Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Hi Jarocal

Very good post

cheers Lou

Thank you Lou.

I've lurked on the forums as a guest for a few years. I finally decided to join and add input recently. I am by no means an expert on aquaponics, aquaculture, or hydroponics. I do however have experience growing on hobby farm scale as an additional source of income utilizing a variety of methods until that particular operation either bores me or grows to the point where servicing those clients becomes a burden I don't care to deal with. At that point I either just shut it down or find a person who is eager to take it over and transition the operation to them where I either break even or garner a minor return on my investment. I enjoy my profession as a stone mason and hobby farm type operations let me have a hobby that either pays for itself or gives a return.

My take is people mainly get prickly about their selling a product being termed a "hobby". I find no shame or denigration in any of my past operations being classed as hobby sized. It is more a matter of volume than actually earning a return. A person can be a wood craftsman that makes money selling one heirloom grade piece of furniture per week, make a nice margin on it and it would still really be considered a hobby compared to Ikea or pick another major brand. That does not mean his product is inferior or the money he earns has no value. It just means in the overall market he is more of a hobbyist than a commercial producer.

Aquaponics to me is like permaculture. If you look at the market the majority of the income for it is gained through training, consulting, and designing. That is the reason the methods are marginalized as a viable commercial setup. It does not mean that either are not viable but until actual commercial operations are established and profitable without a significant portion of capital being raised through charitable contributions or governmental funding they will not be taken as more than hobby system. Until either the systems can produce at a supply level society in developed countries are used to having on hand or a societal shift in food habits occur to make bioregionally grown in season crops the norm the label of being backyard/hobby scale will endure.

Ummm I think you got the wrong end of the stick, perfectly understandable when living in a country that is democratic in name only. Right now you don't have a choice (your food labelling laws don't allow you to know what's in your food in the USA) and you don't even have legal recourse if you are poisoned by the food you eat - see http://www.salon.com/2013/03/27/how_the ... _into_law/

Democratising the food system and your individual food choices are two different and complimentary things. Democratising the food system will help your ability to make food choices that suit you.

Anyway, the people's food plan is an Australia discussion document and I think the USA, where 15.6% of the population are on food stamps - that's some 54 million of your fellow citizens btw, should perhaps consider getting her own house in order and develop a food plan - of by and for the people.

I have to say that Jarocal is right. Why do I need the majority of people to tell me what to eat and what not?
I don't like 99% of stuff sold in supermarkets. But that's democratic (in a way only of course). It is said that only 3% of a states population do politics. the rest just walks behind.

Because if it is not democratic, then corporations will continue to decide for you. They are doing that right now, hence the global obesity epidemic, lack of food labelling laws, food deserts in poor neighbourhoods etcetera - which means even if you wanted to you can't make an informed choice. Markets rely on knowledge to operate properly, and atm the vast majority of people can not make an informed decision because corporations won't allow it and their health suffers for it.

Your choice is to allow the situation to continue, or to democratise the food system (or invent something that is better than the least worst option). Doing AP for personal consumption only solves part of the equation - the selfish part.

This is the edit - For some strange reason you have confused democracy (real democracy) with dictatorship of the proletariat. Obviously they are not the same thing. No one is suggesting a dictatorship for our food system, but that is what we have now, a corporate dictatorship, and you appear to be arguing for this to continue - no wonder so called democracies are in trouble.

Before you can feed the world, First Feed Yourself. May sound selfish but before you can feed others, you really must be able to provide at least enough to feed yourself.

AS to the difference between a Hobby and a commercial system. If you are not making a living at it (as in you have to have another job to pay for it) then your system is probably a hobby system even if you do occasionally sell or trade some produce. If you are making a significant amount of your farm income from your aquaponics system produce/fish sales to the point where you don't have to have an off farm job to pay for your ongoing aquaponics obsession, then perhaps it is a commercial system and you probably better be paying your taxes on the income.

About that original post, using aquatic creatures in conjunction with rice paddies. That isn't anything new. I'm not really sure you will get many people to agree it is aquaponics, though you may get people to agree it is integrated agriculture and probably a good thing when done right.

Agreed TCLynx, and as Audrey Hepburn said, "You have two hands, one to help yourself and one to help others."

Actually it is relatively easy for anyone to find out what is in their food here in America. It is true that the agribusiness has blocked having to label foods containing GMO crops as such but if anyone actually takes time to bother reading the labels they will find plenty of other ingredients in most of those foods that would give cause to avoid them. The problem lay in most people only pay lip service to caring where their food comes from. If it were otherwise fast food chains would not be generating the amount of business they are. Organically grown has been here for a while and marketed. The majority of consumers have continued to democratically endorse industrial ag with their patronage even though most people will agree organic is better. And in most cases it is not truly a matter of being able to afford it when you walk in the house to see a large screen tv with the latest game console hooked to it. Two vehicles in the garage that both have bank notes instead of buying a reasonably priced used vehicle they could afford.

I definitely agree with TCLYNX on "first feed yourself". I don't find that mindset selfish at all. Until getting injured at work last year and unable to grow my own I have always grown a large portion of my vegetables, kept rabbits and chooks, and the ocassional pig. People today are very disconnected from where their food come from. Im not even referring to just how it is raised. Why do shoppers pay a premium price for a couple chicken breasts and a can of chicken soup in the same trip to the store? I know at least around here for the price of two skinless boneless breast and a can of chicken soup you can buy an entire bird. If you don't care they are still clucking, you can get them for free around here often.

In regards to paying taxes, I always have as I tend to sell to brokers or businesses not as much of the cash sale out of a farm stand. I set the side projects up as a business well over a decade ago.