Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
IS THIS EBOOK RIGHT FOR ME? This is an ebook for beginning aquaponic growers interested in large or commercial scale systems. In this ebook I will detail problems that I have encountered again and again, both along my own learning curve as well as with systems that I’m called in to help build or fix. These mistakes represent millions of dollars in lost investments and many failed aquaponic ventures. It is important to consider all of these mistakes as you embark on your own aquaponic or small-‐farm adventure. Although this ebook is focused on aquaponic producers, some of the mistakes can be lessons for small farms and those looking to start farms as well.
So heed my advice and save yourself some Bme, money and heartache. If you’re sBll confused by the end of it, shoot us an email and we’d be happy to try and help you figure your problem out.
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nate Storey, Ph.D Nate Storey earned his Ph.D from the University of Wyoming in Agronomy researching aquaponic production and novel produce sales and distribution models. Nate, along with his business partner Paul Bennick operate Bright Agrotech, one of the only independent and profitable aquaponic farms in the world in Laramie, Wyoming. To do this they use ZipGrow™ Towers, developed as part of Nate’s Ph.D. research. Nate continues to research the use of tower production techniques to increase productivity and reduce costs for hydroponic and aquaponic growers.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
BRIGHT AGROTECH The Leader in Ver,cal Aquaponics & Live Sales Distribu,on Bright Agrotech is passionate about growing healthy, sustainable food for our local community and helping small farmers everywhere do the same. One of our biggest goals is to shrink the distance between farm & plate for the health of our children, our communi>es and our country. It's >me to take back our health with healthier, more nutrient-‐dense produce! We've seen the farms of our families, friends and neighbors suffer from drought and financial issues. We're also all too familiar with our current centralized, fossil-‐fuel dependent food system and nutrient-‐deficient food it produces. These unsustainable farming prac>ces give us a bleak picture of the future. One we're not comfortable knowing our children will inherit.
That's why we're striving to create a beBer, brighter and healthier future.
Check out our helpful aquaponics, vertical farming and soil agriculture videos on YouTube.
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
The Top 10 Mistakes 1) Growers design and implement unusable, or hard to use farms 2) Growers don’t design systems with adequate circula,on, solids removal or biological surface area (BSA) 3) Growers start with poor quality water 4) Producers underes,mate produc,on & system costs 5) Producers confuse biological viability with economic viability 6) Growers choose the wrong crops 7) Growers operate systems with poor track records but expect different results 8) Growers build and operate systems with no pest control strategy in place! 9) Growers get greedy 10) Growers fail to approach their markets crea,vely Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
To Err is Human... Growers make many mistakes-‐ some of which are related. Most originate in inexperience, either with the systems, or with the markets. Either of these can be fatal for new businesses. Many other beginning growers fall prey to system designers who peddle decades old technology with poor track records. These growers enact the same business plan as dozens of other small businesses and expect different results -‐ the definiBon of entrepreneurial insanity. They all fail sooner or later, and in the last seven years as a commercial aquaponic grower, I’ve seen dozens come and go, all with bigger budgets and larger markets than our company. Why, then, are we s,ll around? And, not just around, but prospering and growing our aquaponic farm everyday?
Speaking From Experience... For one, we’ve been fortunate enough to make some of these mistakes when the stakes were small. We’ve also been fortunate enough not to have a big budget. That’s right. Big budgets hurt beginning aquaponic growers. By starBng with nothing, we’ve been able to grow into our market slowly, explore demand organically, and learn with low risk, about what crops to grow and how to sell them. There may be a Bme when big money and big moves are important, but they’re almost always aJer you’ve had Bme to explore and experience your local market.
“That’s right. Big budgets hurt beginning aquaponic growers.”
So here they are, the TOP TEN mistakes that aquaponic growers make... Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
1
Growers design and implement unusable, or hard to use farms
This is more of a mistake of inexperience than anything else. Many growers haven’t grown before (at least on a large scale), therefore, they don’t think about work flow and efficiency. That is, beginning growers don’t effec>vely use their available space to increase labor efficiency and lower labor costs in general. Remember: labor is the largest variable cost of produc>on on any farm -‐ aquaponic or otherwise! Because of this, they design systems that are hard to harvest, require lots of transplan>ng and tending work, or are difficult to control pests on. In the worst systems I’ve seen, access to important system components is limited, making the space not only difficult to use, but dangerous to use! Our system designs take into account all of these variables, and use ZipGrowTM Towers both to increase produc>vity, but also to help with access, reduce our post-‐harvest and labor costs and various marke>ng costs. So, before you start designing, make a list of all your variables and be sure you incorporate each into your system’s design. Ac,on Item: Make a list of ALL of your variables.
ZipGrowTM Towers not only maximize space, they allow for easier accessibility, maintenance & transportation
PLANNING AHEAD WILL SAVE YOU MANY HEADACHES The cure for this mistake is to think carefully from the start about how you will use your system, how you will harvest fish and produce alike, and how you can plan your system from the start to be user friendly and efficient. Consider all of your variables, from growing needs (e.g. light, water, nutrients, pests, etc.) to user needs (access, convenience, automa>on, redundancy, etc.) from the start, and only start to design your system aQer you’ve seriously considered these variables. Talking to established growers and touring their system designs can be a great help as well. Be sure to ask ques>ons and find out what they would do differently if designing their systems today. Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
2
Growers don’t design systems with adequate circulation, solids removal or biological surface area (BSA)
An aquaponics system needs to supply plants and fish with two things they both need to survive and flourish: 1) Oxygen rich water 2) A method for removing toxic substances/waste
Something that seems so simple is surprisingly very tricky if we look at the number of fish-‐kills, plant disease outbreaks and dead systems out there. Remember: aquaponic produc>on is not something that you can just “wing,” especially with raQ systems where everything depends on circula>on. This is a fundamental problem with many systems, and oQen it’s disguised as something else.
PROBLEMS WITH POOR CIRCULATION Systems with poor circula>on will oQen be prone to plant and fish disease outbreaks, facilitated by plant and fish stress from poor dissolved oxygen content and/or ammonia accumula>on. This is caused by lack of nitrifica>on (either by poor delivery of ammonia rich waters to nitrifica>on sites/ biofilters, or by lack of oxygen for aerobic nitrifying bacteria). It can also be caused by oxygen consump>on by plants, fish, and microbes with inadequate replenishment. This problem can be further complicated with poor circula>on paVerns or “pockets” in systems where solids and waste accumulate, consuming oxygen as it decomposes. Ac,on Item:
THE IMPORTANCE OF BSA IN YOUR MEDIA
Think strongly about your grow media.
These circula>on, solids removal, and biological surface area (BSA) issues can be prevented by beVer understanding the role of [grow] media and by using a media based system where it’s easy to maintain aerobic condi>ons. We use ZipGrowTM Towers (with specially designed Matrix Media) for this purpose, and others do just fine using media beds. While ZipGrowTM Towers are really the only realis>c media based aquaponic technique for commercial growers, both towers and media beds illustrate the benefits of high rates of oxygen exchange and high biological surface area. (See a video on Dissolved Oxygen HERE) The more BSA a grower can have in their aquaponic system, the be^er, and opera,ng a high-‐ BSA system is much easier in the long run. Having a very high ra>o of BSA to nitrogen input results in great biofiltra>on, solids breakdown and mineraliza>on. Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
3
Growers start with poor quality water
GOOD WATER IS KEY As with all farming and gardening, water is essen>al! Many growers embarking on journeys into aquaponics start with basic (high pH) water or water containing carbonates that prevent the pH of the system from dropping for quite some >me. Because of this, growers have a hard >me ge]ng their system down into the pH range where most crops plants are most produc>ve. Fundamentally, this is a water quality problem that can be corrected with an RO filter; however, most growers never correct this issue because they think that pH ranges above 7.0 are perfectly fine for commercial systems. This is a common problem that is complicated by tradi>onal aquaponic thinking and many aquaponic “experts” who, to this day, will claim that 7+ pH ranges are great for commercial systems. Let me correct this for you. The proper pH for a produc,ve commercial system will typically be in the range of 6.0-‐6.4. Tradi>onally, aquaponic systems ran at much higher pH ranges, and this prac>ce s>ll perpetuates today. This is u^er nonsense. The thinking behind this “rule” is that nitrifica>on will slow or crash at lower pH values. This is patently false and based on a number of aquaculture studies that didn’t take the requisite >me to lower pH slowly and by increments, allowing the nitrifying bacteria to adapt and the bacterial popula>on ecology to change. Acid soils around the world have healthy popula>ons of nitrifying bacteria that operate in much lower pH ranges than this, with high efficiency. Ac,on Item:
WHY IS LOW pH PERFECTLY FINE?
Concentrate on introducing high-‐ quality water from the start -‐ Consider an R.O. filter.
There, now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll explain why it’s important. Many plant nutrients are only available to the plant for uptake within a certain pH range. Outside of that range, the plants have a difficult >me up-‐taking that nutrient, or are simply unable to take it up at all. This means that outside of that pH range, plants begin to show nutrient deficiencies even though that nutrient is available in the solu>on! This can be very frustra>ng for aquaponic growers and results in lower yields, plant stress, disease and pest suscep>bility and unsalable/blemished crops. By the >me these deficiencies rear their ugly heads, the grower is oQen too late, and adding micronutrients or acids are oQen an ineffec>ve and poor use of resources. Share This Ebook!
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Instead, growers should concentrate on introducing high-‐quality water on the front end. This will allow pH to be easily manipulated in the system, and makes system acidifica>on with nitrifica>on possible from the start. © Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
4
Producers underestimate production and system costs
OVER-‐BUDGETING IS NEVER A BAD THING If there’s one thing that’s certain about building things, it’s that it will always cost more than you originally plan! Most growers star>ng out in aquaponic farming, or even tradi>onal market farming for that maVer, fail to completely understand their costs. The large costs are easily accounted for. It’s the boxes of screws that will send you over budget. This is one reason that there are so many unfinished aquaponic systems out there.
BUDGET TO FINISH Many growers get started, invest in large facili>es, expensive u>li>es and equipment, but never get the chance to fully u>lize them because the budget is consumed by unan>cipated taxes and fees, incidental costs or even the costs of ge]ng the first crop to market! Ac,on Item: Think seriously about what costs you’ll incur don’t be afraid to over es,mate the cost of each.
THINGS ADD UP QUICK
Produc>on costs play a role here too. Most producers don’t an>cipate the need for packaging costs, or pest control costs (organic insec>cides are expensive!). Most don’t think about the cost of insurance or printed marke>ng materials, or ongoing maintenance costs. These are major costs that add up! And the cardinal sin is this: Most beginning growers vastly underes>mate the cost of labor -‐ whether it’s their own, or someone they’ve hired.
RAFT SYSTEMS ARE NOTORIOUS FOR HIGH COSTS This is especially true with raQ produc>on -‐ the most spa>ally inefficient and labor-‐intensive hydroponic produc>on technique that is s>ll commonly used. Common cost composi>on places labor costs around 35-‐45% of total produc>on costs. For raQ systems, the labor costs can be significantly higher, as much as 45-‐60% of total costs. Most producers don’t even consider this in their labor es>mates, so when the cost of harves>ng and processing comes in, the boVom line quickly drops from the black to the red.
The famous raft system is the most spatially inefficient, labor-intensive hydroponic growing technique on the market.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
5
Producers confuse biological viability with economic viability
KNOW BEFORE YOU GROW There is a misconcep>on that star>ng a farming or aquaponic produc>on business is 90% growing and 10% selling. In my experience it’s just about the opposite. Most farmers don’t take into account the >me and financial costs of ge]ng their produce to market once it’s grown, and as a result, don’t budget enough >me or money to effec>vely sell their produce. In the worst-‐case scenario, growers implement produc>on methods that are not produc>ve or have exorbitant opera>onal costs. Beginning growers can easily be tricked into inves>ng their >me and money into systems that look produc>ve in a photo, or because they have been told the system is produc>ve by whoever is selling it to them. This is unfortunate, because there are oQen many preVy farms losing money, while the less aVrac>ve farms (usually opera>ng with lower costs) oQen have the greatest poten>al and return more on their investment.
Especially if you’re not using a Live Sales model, cutting produce , washing and transporting can take a significant portion of a grower’s time and budget.
This is why it’s so important to use actual metrics when performing your cost analysis.
THE BOTTOM LINE The bo^om line is that it doesn’t ma^er how pre^y your crops are if you can’t afford to harvest them, or don’t have the ability to sell them.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Growers choose the wrong crops
6
GROWER BEWARE I, like everyone else has been seduced on occasion by the flowery descrip>ons of exo>c new crops that populate so many seed catalogs these days. If I had every dollar back that I’ve wasted over the years trying to grow crops that are either: A. Not suited to aquaponic produc>on, the climate or the produc>on method or... B. Not in demand in my local markets, I’d have a heQy chunk of change back from the seed companies, and a few extra months added to my life.
Before you choose crops, you need to understand a few things: What are your local condiBons? What growing technique will you be using? Is it appropriate for this type of producBon? DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES FOR DIFFERENT CROPS Different crops have different needs and some can only be cultured in certain ways. Folks using raQs should not be trying to grow tomatoes. Similarly, folks using crushed granite media should not expect to be able to produce marketable root crops. What you try to grow needs to be appropriate to the technique you are using. Similarly, the crop should be suited to your climate/loca>on. If you live in the North, trying to grow long day length crops in an 8 hour day won’t work well for you. If you’re in the South, and constantly baVling the heat, then trying to grow a cool weather crop like rhubarb would be a terrible decision. Share This Ebook!
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So be thoughcul about what you grow.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
ASSESS THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE Consider what your compe>tors are growing. If you live in an area where summer compe>>on is fierce from field producers, then concentrate on something they can’t grow during that period. Most likely, if a restaurant customer wants local organic leVuce and a field producer will sell it at $0.50/lb, you won’t be able to keep that customer over the summer. Figure out what you can do to make ends meet in light of this seasonal compe>>on, or lock your customers into long-‐term purchasing contracts.
DON’T BE A ZUCCHINI DUMPER
Ac,on Item: Do everything you can to fully understand your market & it’s weakness.
Another thing that must be considered is your market. Now whether you’re growing for your family or for the Farmer’s Market, you’re s>ll directly or indirectly selling your produce, and growing a crop that no-‐ one wants is a waste of your >me and money.
When I was growing up, and zucchini season hit, everyone was trying to unload zucchini on unsuspec>ng neighbors, and supposed friends. The home gardeners in our neighborhood had made the mistake of growing an easy to culture, but ul>mately unwanted crop. There’s only so much zucchini a human can consume. So, analyze your market carefully. If your children don’t like spicy things, then don’t grow wasabi. Even though it will grow well in your system, you don’t have a market for it. Similarly, if you’re growing for local markets, analyze what is most commonly consumed and start there. Choose a crop with a guaranteed market. Taking gambles on new varie,es or on exo,c crops is fine -‐ just make sure it’s in small enough quan,,es the first year that you won’t lose your shirt.
“There’s only so much zucchini a human can consume.”
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
7
Growers operate systems with poor track records but expect different results
DO YOUR HOMEWORK When you’re thinking about implemen>ng a system, don’t be sold on the supposed profitability. Ask for references to system users that have been in business for several years, if they can’t provide them, walk away. Interview references carefully to find out whether or not they’re profitable and doing well. Farming is hard, and there are very few farmers of any variety who make boatloads of cash, so if someone is promising you lots of money, they’re probably not being honest with you.
The key offenders when it comes to non-‐func>onal systems are stacked bed systems (i.e. systems that posi>on one bed above the other) and raQ systems in areas where labor is expensive and greenhouse produc>on is required. Both of these system types have never been profitable and have seen their fair share of folks who invested life savings and failed out of the market.
STACKED BEDS EXCLUDE LIGHT & HAVE LIMITED BIO FILTRATION Stacked bed systems have usually failed because they require ar>ficial light to light the bed res>ng in the dark below the top bed. Plants need light to grow, so any technique that excludes most of the light from the crop is denying Ac,on Item: your crop plants of the most fundamental need. While this shading Ask for references to can be counteracted by ar>ficial lights, this typically means a very system users that have large investment in ligh>ng on the front end, and con>nuing been in business for several investment in electricity every month. This type of produc>on is years, if they can’t provide poorly designed, and the lack of biological integrity of the system them, walk away. excludes the possibility of a func>onal system, let alone business.
RAFT PRODUCTION IS LABOR INTENSIVE & SPACE INEFFICIENT RaQ designs can be very produc>ve and profitable in areas where greenhouse produc>on is not required for most of the year and where labor is fairly inexpensive. In northern climates, greenhouse raQ produc>on is simply not cost effec>ve, as evidenced by the lack of established commercial raQ growers in the northern United States. Although many are drawn to raQ produc>on because of the low startup costs, the poor Share This Ebook! produc>vity per square foot of greenhouse space means that expensive resources are not used as efficiently as they must to be a viable business. www.brightagrotech.com
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
8
Growers build and operate systems with no pest control strategy in place!
SUCCESSFUL AQUAPONICS REQUIRE PROPER PEST MANAGEMENT This is a common problem for both aquaponic and organic farmers. In aquaponics the aversion to pest control stems from a lack of fish-‐safe controls, while in organic farming the aversion stems from a desire to be pes>cide-‐free. Regardless of the reasoning, opera>ng without a pest control strategy is playing Russian rouleVe with your farm. One bad insect outbreak can ruin four crop genera>ons at once, pu]ng you out an en>re produc>on cycle or more. If a pest control strategy isn’t in place when you restart the system, the same problem can arise and the cycle can start all over again. If you are going to grow on a larger scale, be it a large family system, a market system or a large commercial system or farm, you must have a pest control strategy in place before you start. No excuses.
DESIGN MATTERS For aquaponic producers this can be challenging because of the risk of exposing your fish to the pes>cides -‐ especially with raQ and gravel bed systems. Hanging ZipGrowTM Towers in tightly stacked zones not only maximizes production but also contributes to a more accessible and strategic pest management regiment.
Therefore, you’ll need to think about designing a system early on so that you have the freedom to spray without worrying about killing fish. This means that you need to have a means to decouple your plant produc>on Ac,on Item: Think strategically when designing from your fish produc>on momentarily to deal with the your system -‐ Be sure to build in overspray and the insec>cide that gets into your system mechanisms & procedures to solu>on, or you could use combat pests from the start. ZipGrowTM towers, or both.
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VIDEO: Setting Up A Vertical Farm
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
In our greenhouse we apply both strategies. We have the ability to decouple our fish from our plants, although we haven’t had to use it much simply because of the limited pes>cide exposure using towers.
TYPES OF PEST CONTROLS You also will need to know what to use, and how much you can use before it becomes a concern. We use a host of OMRI cer>fied organic controls in our greenhouse, including ones that other aquaponic prac>>oners simply can’t use (one of the benefits of using towers with contained media).
VIDEO: Vertical Farm Tour
I use a variety of bio-‐controls and chemical controls depending on the insects that seem to be on the rise in the greenhouse. It is a constant baVle, but one that can be consistently won with a good pest control strategy and good controls. I will detail this later, when more >me can be devoted to this subject alone.
PEST MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Ac,on Item: Understand what pest controls measures you can use that will kill insects without harming your fish.
To summarize: to start without a pest control strategy jeopardizes your en>re opera>on. A viable pest control strategy is a small but essen>al piece of the aquaponic puzzle.
Regardless of the reasoning, opera,ng without a pest control strategy is playing Russian roule^e with your farm.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Growers get greedy
9
SLOW, SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ENCOURAGED This is a common one. Beginning growers try to go too big too fast with too li^le experience. This leads them to take out loans from a bank, or seek out venture capital for large expensive facili>es before they fully understand their cost structure or the market they’re aVemp>ng to service. Growing slowly requires pa,ence, but it allows growers to grow into their market organically, mee,ng local needs and demands with products. Large entrants tend to flood the market with products that they believe are desired, oQen with mixed results. Growers that grow too fast also seem to have catastrophic failures more oQen. These are failures that threaten the en>re enterprise -‐ oQen because the build and establishment costs were higher than expected. Failures with big systems mean big money, but more importantly they cause a gap in supply to customers who want consistent delivery. When this happens these customers begin to look elsewhere, and by the >me the grower is back online, he’s oQen lost many valuable clients.
BIG SYSTEMS EQUAL BIG SURPRISES Growing too big also sets you up for surprises that you could have learned less expensively on a smaller system -‐ surprises like seasonal compe>tors who can undercut you on price, increased energy costs during certain months, or sudden and massive disease outbreaks because of a system flaw or human error. Surprises Ac,on Item: are usually bad in this business, and typically mean that you’re losing Fight the urge to money on something, so minimizing them is important. Unfortunately grow too big too fast. for large producers, surprises typically represent very large losses. Grow organically and make mistakes while you’re small.
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So reign in the need to overwhelm the market. Grow slowly and be thoughuul about how you approach your market and how you operate your system. Make mistakes when they cost you li^le and learn, so that when it is >me to build your 10 million dollar greenhouse complex you’ll have goVen all of the expensive mistakes out of your system.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
10
Growers fail to approach their markets creatively
CHOOSE YOUR MARKET AND THINK BIG Many growers assume that the best they can do is the tradi>onal market instead of thinking about new markets and new ways to access those markets. At the same >me, growers should be thinking about how to reduce costs and increase revenue while accessing these markets. If you’re trying to figure out how to do this but coming up blank, it’s for a reason. Figuring out new markets and new ways to reach them is hard! All of the easy or obvious things are already being done. Now all that are leQ are the non-‐obvious and difficult. Most aquaponic farmers fail to recognize that the cost structure inherent in aquaponic farming puts them at a compe,,ve disadvantage when it comes to tradi>onal markets and compe>>on with conven>onal products. In these markets, aquaponic produce simply cannot compete. So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets where their produce can be marketed to people who want “aquaponic” produce or “local organic” produce.
Ac,on Item: Get crea,ve! Think outside the tradi,onal agriculture sales structures and use your aquaponic produc,on methods to your advantage.
DEVELOP A MARKETING NICHE This is called niche marke>ng, because it requires you to sell your product to a small market with specific demands. Niche markets are nice because you may oQen be the only ones compe>ng in this type of market! Big companies cannot afford to market their produce to these types of markets, especially small niche markets. The needs of these markets are simply too specific and the payout is too small. Niche marke>ng is fine, but it poses hurdles to scaling. That means you can only grow so big, since the thing that makes niche markets niche is the fact that they want very specific products and are a rela>vely small, unaddressed sub-‐sector of the main marketplace. This raises the ques>on of whether or not the niche is big enough to support you in the first place. If it is not, or if it is just big enough, it means that you either cannot survive in that market, or you won’t be able to grow.
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So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets where their produce can be marketed to people who want “aquaponic” produce or “local organic” produce.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
FINDING AND SELLING TO YOUR MARKET So, while niche marke>ng is a great place to start, you must figure out a way to sell enough to live, grow and operate a successful farm. If your niche markets are large enough to accommodate this, then great! Most folks have to find alterna>ve markets for their produce though.
GET CREATIVE AND GIVE VALUE This is one of the reason I started doing live sales using ZipGrowTM Towers. We supply niche markets, but in order to supply the larger market, we had to figure out a way to reduce our costs in order to compete with conven>onal growers while simultaneously standing out in the grocery aisle. Live sales was the answer that we hit upon, because it both reduced our costs (elimina>ng the handling and packaging costs, which are 60% of the average growers budget) and stood out as remarkable.
Dr. Nate Storey adjusting the Live Sales display operated by Bright Agrotech in Laramie, WY.
BRIGHT AGROTECH’S LIVE SALES MODEL Using this model, towers are transported from our greenhouse and clipped into displays at the market to form edible greenwalls. Customers harvest the produce that they want from the display and pay by weight, making the purchase experience fun and scalable to the customer’s needs.
A customer cutting a few ounces of sweet basil from the Bright Agrotech Live Sales display at the Big Hollow Food CoOp in Laramie, WY.
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To this date, as far as I know, we’re s>ll the only business in the country doing this type of sales. As a result, we have a valuable and loyal customer base, both in the local foods and organic and health foods niche markets, but also among conven>onal customers who are drawn to the experience of harvest and quality of our produce.
This is just one example, but there are thousands of different sales and marke>ng models wai>ng to be explored. It just requires crea,vity, marke,ng ability, and the ability to be flexible and adapt to the market’s needs. © Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Conclusion KNOWING THE COMMON ERRORS WILL SAVE YOU TIME AND FRUSTRATION These are the top ten mistakes new growers and small commercial farmers encounter when ge]ng started. While focused on aquaponic farmers, there are also some takeaways for the emerging classes of urban farmers and market gardeners looking towards the local food movement for income. Regardless of your par>cular form of agriculture, there are major challenges associated with trying to compete in an industry that has for so long been ruled by price-‐focused compe>>on and “survival of the biggest.” That being said, the culture of food is changing this rapidly, and more people are wan,ng quality, local food.
This is a huge opportunity for us as small producers.
LOOKING FORWARD I hope that this short ebook gives you something valuable to consider. If you are embarking on the adventure of a large aquaponic garden or even a market garden, consider some of these mistakes as you plan and build. While there are many more mistakes to be made out there, these are the most expensive ones. Don’t be afraid to ask the advice of someone who is already doing this -‐ some>mes, even if you have to pay for advice or consul>ng it’s much less expensive in the long run.
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© Nate Storey 2013
IS THIS EBOOK RIGHT FOR ME? This is an ebook for beginning aquaponic growers interested in large or commercial scale systems. In this ebook I will detail problems that I have encountered again and again, both along my own learning curve as well as with systems that I’m called in to help build or fix. These mistakes represent millions of dollars in lost investments and many failed aquaponic ventures. It is important to consider all of these mistakes as you embark on your own aquaponic or small-‐farm adventure. Although this ebook is focused on aquaponic producers, some of the mistakes can be lessons for small farms and those looking to start farms as well.
So heed my advice and save yourself some Bme, money and heartache. If you’re sBll confused by the end of it, shoot us an email and we’d be happy to try and help you figure your problem out.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nate Storey, Ph.D Nate Storey earned his Ph.D from the University of Wyoming in Agronomy researching aquaponic production and novel produce sales and distribution models. Nate, along with his business partner Paul Bennick operate Bright Agrotech, one of the only independent and profitable aquaponic farms in the world in Laramie, Wyoming. To do this they use ZipGrow™ Towers, developed as part of Nate’s Ph.D. research. Nate continues to research the use of tower production techniques to increase productivity and reduce costs for hydroponic and aquaponic growers.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
BRIGHT AGROTECH The Leader in Ver,cal Aquaponics & Live Sales Distribu,on Bright Agrotech is passionate about growing healthy, sustainable food for our local community and helping small farmers everywhere do the same. One of our biggest goals is to shrink the distance between farm & plate for the health of our children, our communi>es and our country. It's >me to take back our health with healthier, more nutrient-‐dense produce! We've seen the farms of our families, friends and neighbors suffer from drought and financial issues. We're also all too familiar with our current centralized, fossil-‐fuel dependent food system and nutrient-‐deficient food it produces. These unsustainable farming prac>ces give us a bleak picture of the future. One we're not comfortable knowing our children will inherit.
That's why we're striving to create a beBer, brighter and healthier future.
Check out our helpful aquaponics, vertical farming and soil agriculture videos on YouTube.
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
The Top 10 Mistakes 1) Growers design and implement unusable, or hard to use farms 2) Growers don’t design systems with adequate circula,on, solids removal or biological surface area (BSA) 3) Growers start with poor quality water 4) Producers underes,mate produc,on & system costs 5) Producers confuse biological viability with economic viability 6) Growers choose the wrong crops 7) Growers operate systems with poor track records but expect different results 8) Growers build and operate systems with no pest control strategy in place! 9) Growers get greedy 10) Growers fail to approach their markets crea,vely Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
To Err is Human... Growers make many mistakes-‐ some of which are related. Most originate in inexperience, either with the systems, or with the markets. Either of these can be fatal for new businesses. Many other beginning growers fall prey to system designers who peddle decades old technology with poor track records. These growers enact the same business plan as dozens of other small businesses and expect different results -‐ the definiBon of entrepreneurial insanity. They all fail sooner or later, and in the last seven years as a commercial aquaponic grower, I’ve seen dozens come and go, all with bigger budgets and larger markets than our company. Why, then, are we s,ll around? And, not just around, but prospering and growing our aquaponic farm everyday?
Speaking From Experience... For one, we’ve been fortunate enough to make some of these mistakes when the stakes were small. We’ve also been fortunate enough not to have a big budget. That’s right. Big budgets hurt beginning aquaponic growers. By starBng with nothing, we’ve been able to grow into our market slowly, explore demand organically, and learn with low risk, about what crops to grow and how to sell them. There may be a Bme when big money and big moves are important, but they’re almost always aJer you’ve had Bme to explore and experience your local market.
“That’s right. Big budgets hurt beginning aquaponic growers.”
So here they are, the TOP TEN mistakes that aquaponic growers make... Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
1
Growers design and implement unusable, or hard to use farms
This is more of a mistake of inexperience than anything else. Many growers haven’t grown before (at least on a large scale), therefore, they don’t think about work flow and efficiency. That is, beginning growers don’t effec>vely use their available space to increase labor efficiency and lower labor costs in general. Remember: labor is the largest variable cost of produc>on on any farm -‐ aquaponic or otherwise! Because of this, they design systems that are hard to harvest, require lots of transplan>ng and tending work, or are difficult to control pests on. In the worst systems I’ve seen, access to important system components is limited, making the space not only difficult to use, but dangerous to use! Our system designs take into account all of these variables, and use ZipGrowTM Towers both to increase produc>vity, but also to help with access, reduce our post-‐harvest and labor costs and various marke>ng costs. So, before you start designing, make a list of all your variables and be sure you incorporate each into your system’s design. Ac,on Item: Make a list of ALL of your variables.
ZipGrowTM Towers not only maximize space, they allow for easier accessibility, maintenance & transportation
PLANNING AHEAD WILL SAVE YOU MANY HEADACHES The cure for this mistake is to think carefully from the start about how you will use your system, how you will harvest fish and produce alike, and how you can plan your system from the start to be user friendly and efficient. Consider all of your variables, from growing needs (e.g. light, water, nutrients, pests, etc.) to user needs (access, convenience, automa>on, redundancy, etc.) from the start, and only start to design your system aQer you’ve seriously considered these variables. Talking to established growers and touring their system designs can be a great help as well. Be sure to ask ques>ons and find out what they would do differently if designing their systems today. Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
2
Growers don’t design systems with adequate circulation, solids removal or biological surface area (BSA)
An aquaponics system needs to supply plants and fish with two things they both need to survive and flourish: 1) Oxygen rich water 2) A method for removing toxic substances/waste
Something that seems so simple is surprisingly very tricky if we look at the number of fish-‐kills, plant disease outbreaks and dead systems out there. Remember: aquaponic produc>on is not something that you can just “wing,” especially with raQ systems where everything depends on circula>on. This is a fundamental problem with many systems, and oQen it’s disguised as something else.
PROBLEMS WITH POOR CIRCULATION Systems with poor circula>on will oQen be prone to plant and fish disease outbreaks, facilitated by plant and fish stress from poor dissolved oxygen content and/or ammonia accumula>on. This is caused by lack of nitrifica>on (either by poor delivery of ammonia rich waters to nitrifica>on sites/ biofilters, or by lack of oxygen for aerobic nitrifying bacteria). It can also be caused by oxygen consump>on by plants, fish, and microbes with inadequate replenishment. This problem can be further complicated with poor circula>on paVerns or “pockets” in systems where solids and waste accumulate, consuming oxygen as it decomposes. Ac,on Item:
THE IMPORTANCE OF BSA IN YOUR MEDIA
Think strongly about your grow media.
These circula>on, solids removal, and biological surface area (BSA) issues can be prevented by beVer understanding the role of [grow] media and by using a media based system where it’s easy to maintain aerobic condi>ons. We use ZipGrowTM Towers (with specially designed Matrix Media) for this purpose, and others do just fine using media beds. While ZipGrowTM Towers are really the only realis>c media based aquaponic technique for commercial growers, both towers and media beds illustrate the benefits of high rates of oxygen exchange and high biological surface area. (See a video on Dissolved Oxygen HERE) The more BSA a grower can have in their aquaponic system, the be^er, and opera,ng a high-‐ BSA system is much easier in the long run. Having a very high ra>o of BSA to nitrogen input results in great biofiltra>on, solids breakdown and mineraliza>on. Share This Ebook!
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© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
3
Growers start with poor quality water
GOOD WATER IS KEY As with all farming and gardening, water is essen>al! Many growers embarking on journeys into aquaponics start with basic (high pH) water or water containing carbonates that prevent the pH of the system from dropping for quite some >me. Because of this, growers have a hard >me ge]ng their system down into the pH range where most crops plants are most produc>ve. Fundamentally, this is a water quality problem that can be corrected with an RO filter; however, most growers never correct this issue because they think that pH ranges above 7.0 are perfectly fine for commercial systems. This is a common problem that is complicated by tradi>onal aquaponic thinking and many aquaponic “experts” who, to this day, will claim that 7+ pH ranges are great for commercial systems. Let me correct this for you. The proper pH for a produc,ve commercial system will typically be in the range of 6.0-‐6.4. Tradi>onally, aquaponic systems ran at much higher pH ranges, and this prac>ce s>ll perpetuates today. This is u^er nonsense. The thinking behind this “rule” is that nitrifica>on will slow or crash at lower pH values. This is patently false and based on a number of aquaculture studies that didn’t take the requisite >me to lower pH slowly and by increments, allowing the nitrifying bacteria to adapt and the bacterial popula>on ecology to change. Acid soils around the world have healthy popula>ons of nitrifying bacteria that operate in much lower pH ranges than this, with high efficiency. Ac,on Item:
WHY IS LOW pH PERFECTLY FINE?
Concentrate on introducing high-‐ quality water from the start -‐ Consider an R.O. filter.
There, now that I’ve said my piece, I’ll explain why it’s important. Many plant nutrients are only available to the plant for uptake within a certain pH range. Outside of that range, the plants have a difficult >me up-‐taking that nutrient, or are simply unable to take it up at all. This means that outside of that pH range, plants begin to show nutrient deficiencies even though that nutrient is available in the solu>on! This can be very frustra>ng for aquaponic growers and results in lower yields, plant stress, disease and pest suscep>bility and unsalable/blemished crops. By the >me these deficiencies rear their ugly heads, the grower is oQen too late, and adding micronutrients or acids are oQen an ineffec>ve and poor use of resources. Share This Ebook!
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Instead, growers should concentrate on introducing high-‐quality water on the front end. This will allow pH to be easily manipulated in the system, and makes system acidifica>on with nitrifica>on possible from the start. © Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
4
Producers underestimate production and system costs
OVER-‐BUDGETING IS NEVER A BAD THING If there’s one thing that’s certain about building things, it’s that it will always cost more than you originally plan! Most growers star>ng out in aquaponic farming, or even tradi>onal market farming for that maVer, fail to completely understand their costs. The large costs are easily accounted for. It’s the boxes of screws that will send you over budget. This is one reason that there are so many unfinished aquaponic systems out there.
BUDGET TO FINISH Many growers get started, invest in large facili>es, expensive u>li>es and equipment, but never get the chance to fully u>lize them because the budget is consumed by unan>cipated taxes and fees, incidental costs or even the costs of ge]ng the first crop to market! Ac,on Item: Think seriously about what costs you’ll incur don’t be afraid to over es,mate the cost of each.
THINGS ADD UP QUICK
Produc>on costs play a role here too. Most producers don’t an>cipate the need for packaging costs, or pest control costs (organic insec>cides are expensive!). Most don’t think about the cost of insurance or printed marke>ng materials, or ongoing maintenance costs. These are major costs that add up! And the cardinal sin is this: Most beginning growers vastly underes>mate the cost of labor -‐ whether it’s their own, or someone they’ve hired.
RAFT SYSTEMS ARE NOTORIOUS FOR HIGH COSTS This is especially true with raQ produc>on -‐ the most spa>ally inefficient and labor-‐intensive hydroponic produc>on technique that is s>ll commonly used. Common cost composi>on places labor costs around 35-‐45% of total produc>on costs. For raQ systems, the labor costs can be significantly higher, as much as 45-‐60% of total costs. Most producers don’t even consider this in their labor es>mates, so when the cost of harves>ng and processing comes in, the boVom line quickly drops from the black to the red.
The famous raft system is the most spatially inefficient, labor-intensive hydroponic growing technique on the market.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
5
Producers confuse biological viability with economic viability
KNOW BEFORE YOU GROW There is a misconcep>on that star>ng a farming or aquaponic produc>on business is 90% growing and 10% selling. In my experience it’s just about the opposite. Most farmers don’t take into account the >me and financial costs of ge]ng their produce to market once it’s grown, and as a result, don’t budget enough >me or money to effec>vely sell their produce. In the worst-‐case scenario, growers implement produc>on methods that are not produc>ve or have exorbitant opera>onal costs. Beginning growers can easily be tricked into inves>ng their >me and money into systems that look produc>ve in a photo, or because they have been told the system is produc>ve by whoever is selling it to them. This is unfortunate, because there are oQen many preVy farms losing money, while the less aVrac>ve farms (usually opera>ng with lower costs) oQen have the greatest poten>al and return more on their investment.
Especially if you’re not using a Live Sales model, cutting produce , washing and transporting can take a significant portion of a grower’s time and budget.
This is why it’s so important to use actual metrics when performing your cost analysis.
THE BOTTOM LINE The bo^om line is that it doesn’t ma^er how pre^y your crops are if you can’t afford to harvest them, or don’t have the ability to sell them.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Growers choose the wrong crops
6
GROWER BEWARE I, like everyone else has been seduced on occasion by the flowery descrip>ons of exo>c new crops that populate so many seed catalogs these days. If I had every dollar back that I’ve wasted over the years trying to grow crops that are either: A. Not suited to aquaponic produc>on, the climate or the produc>on method or... B. Not in demand in my local markets, I’d have a heQy chunk of change back from the seed companies, and a few extra months added to my life.
Before you choose crops, you need to understand a few things: What are your local condiBons? What growing technique will you be using? Is it appropriate for this type of producBon? DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES FOR DIFFERENT CROPS Different crops have different needs and some can only be cultured in certain ways. Folks using raQs should not be trying to grow tomatoes. Similarly, folks using crushed granite media should not expect to be able to produce marketable root crops. What you try to grow needs to be appropriate to the technique you are using. Similarly, the crop should be suited to your climate/loca>on. If you live in the North, trying to grow long day length crops in an 8 hour day won’t work well for you. If you’re in the South, and constantly baVling the heat, then trying to grow a cool weather crop like rhubarb would be a terrible decision. Share This Ebook!
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So be thoughcul about what you grow.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
ASSESS THE COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE Consider what your compe>tors are growing. If you live in an area where summer compe>>on is fierce from field producers, then concentrate on something they can’t grow during that period. Most likely, if a restaurant customer wants local organic leVuce and a field producer will sell it at $0.50/lb, you won’t be able to keep that customer over the summer. Figure out what you can do to make ends meet in light of this seasonal compe>>on, or lock your customers into long-‐term purchasing contracts.
DON’T BE A ZUCCHINI DUMPER
Ac,on Item: Do everything you can to fully understand your market & it’s weakness.
Another thing that must be considered is your market. Now whether you’re growing for your family or for the Farmer’s Market, you’re s>ll directly or indirectly selling your produce, and growing a crop that no-‐ one wants is a waste of your >me and money.
When I was growing up, and zucchini season hit, everyone was trying to unload zucchini on unsuspec>ng neighbors, and supposed friends. The home gardeners in our neighborhood had made the mistake of growing an easy to culture, but ul>mately unwanted crop. There’s only so much zucchini a human can consume. So, analyze your market carefully. If your children don’t like spicy things, then don’t grow wasabi. Even though it will grow well in your system, you don’t have a market for it. Similarly, if you’re growing for local markets, analyze what is most commonly consumed and start there. Choose a crop with a guaranteed market. Taking gambles on new varie,es or on exo,c crops is fine -‐ just make sure it’s in small enough quan,,es the first year that you won’t lose your shirt.
“There’s only so much zucchini a human can consume.”
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
7
Growers operate systems with poor track records but expect different results
DO YOUR HOMEWORK When you’re thinking about implemen>ng a system, don’t be sold on the supposed profitability. Ask for references to system users that have been in business for several years, if they can’t provide them, walk away. Interview references carefully to find out whether or not they’re profitable and doing well. Farming is hard, and there are very few farmers of any variety who make boatloads of cash, so if someone is promising you lots of money, they’re probably not being honest with you.
The key offenders when it comes to non-‐func>onal systems are stacked bed systems (i.e. systems that posi>on one bed above the other) and raQ systems in areas where labor is expensive and greenhouse produc>on is required. Both of these system types have never been profitable and have seen their fair share of folks who invested life savings and failed out of the market.
STACKED BEDS EXCLUDE LIGHT & HAVE LIMITED BIO FILTRATION Stacked bed systems have usually failed because they require ar>ficial light to light the bed res>ng in the dark below the top bed. Plants need light to grow, so any technique that excludes most of the light from the crop is denying Ac,on Item: your crop plants of the most fundamental need. While this shading Ask for references to can be counteracted by ar>ficial lights, this typically means a very system users that have large investment in ligh>ng on the front end, and con>nuing been in business for several investment in electricity every month. This type of produc>on is years, if they can’t provide poorly designed, and the lack of biological integrity of the system them, walk away. excludes the possibility of a func>onal system, let alone business.
RAFT PRODUCTION IS LABOR INTENSIVE & SPACE INEFFICIENT RaQ designs can be very produc>ve and profitable in areas where greenhouse produc>on is not required for most of the year and where labor is fairly inexpensive. In northern climates, greenhouse raQ produc>on is simply not cost effec>ve, as evidenced by the lack of established commercial raQ growers in the northern United States. Although many are drawn to raQ produc>on because of the low startup costs, the poor Share This Ebook! produc>vity per square foot of greenhouse space means that expensive resources are not used as efficiently as they must to be a viable business. www.brightagrotech.com
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
8
Growers build and operate systems with no pest control strategy in place!
SUCCESSFUL AQUAPONICS REQUIRE PROPER PEST MANAGEMENT This is a common problem for both aquaponic and organic farmers. In aquaponics the aversion to pest control stems from a lack of fish-‐safe controls, while in organic farming the aversion stems from a desire to be pes>cide-‐free. Regardless of the reasoning, opera>ng without a pest control strategy is playing Russian rouleVe with your farm. One bad insect outbreak can ruin four crop genera>ons at once, pu]ng you out an en>re produc>on cycle or more. If a pest control strategy isn’t in place when you restart the system, the same problem can arise and the cycle can start all over again. If you are going to grow on a larger scale, be it a large family system, a market system or a large commercial system or farm, you must have a pest control strategy in place before you start. No excuses.
DESIGN MATTERS For aquaponic producers this can be challenging because of the risk of exposing your fish to the pes>cides -‐ especially with raQ and gravel bed systems. Hanging ZipGrowTM Towers in tightly stacked zones not only maximizes production but also contributes to a more accessible and strategic pest management regiment.
Therefore, you’ll need to think about designing a system early on so that you have the freedom to spray without worrying about killing fish. This means that you need to have a means to decouple your plant produc>on Ac,on Item: Think strategically when designing from your fish produc>on momentarily to deal with the your system -‐ Be sure to build in overspray and the insec>cide that gets into your system mechanisms & procedures to solu>on, or you could use combat pests from the start. ZipGrowTM towers, or both.
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VIDEO: Setting Up A Vertical Farm
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
In our greenhouse we apply both strategies. We have the ability to decouple our fish from our plants, although we haven’t had to use it much simply because of the limited pes>cide exposure using towers.
TYPES OF PEST CONTROLS You also will need to know what to use, and how much you can use before it becomes a concern. We use a host of OMRI cer>fied organic controls in our greenhouse, including ones that other aquaponic prac>>oners simply can’t use (one of the benefits of using towers with contained media).
VIDEO: Vertical Farm Tour
I use a variety of bio-‐controls and chemical controls depending on the insects that seem to be on the rise in the greenhouse. It is a constant baVle, but one that can be consistently won with a good pest control strategy and good controls. I will detail this later, when more >me can be devoted to this subject alone.
PEST MANAGEMENT SUMMARY Ac,on Item: Understand what pest controls measures you can use that will kill insects without harming your fish.
To summarize: to start without a pest control strategy jeopardizes your en>re opera>on. A viable pest control strategy is a small but essen>al piece of the aquaponic puzzle.
Regardless of the reasoning, opera,ng without a pest control strategy is playing Russian roule^e with your farm.
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The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Growers get greedy
9
SLOW, SUSTAINABLE GROWTH ENCOURAGED This is a common one. Beginning growers try to go too big too fast with too li^le experience. This leads them to take out loans from a bank, or seek out venture capital for large expensive facili>es before they fully understand their cost structure or the market they’re aVemp>ng to service. Growing slowly requires pa,ence, but it allows growers to grow into their market organically, mee,ng local needs and demands with products. Large entrants tend to flood the market with products that they believe are desired, oQen with mixed results. Growers that grow too fast also seem to have catastrophic failures more oQen. These are failures that threaten the en>re enterprise -‐ oQen because the build and establishment costs were higher than expected. Failures with big systems mean big money, but more importantly they cause a gap in supply to customers who want consistent delivery. When this happens these customers begin to look elsewhere, and by the >me the grower is back online, he’s oQen lost many valuable clients.
BIG SYSTEMS EQUAL BIG SURPRISES Growing too big also sets you up for surprises that you could have learned less expensively on a smaller system -‐ surprises like seasonal compe>tors who can undercut you on price, increased energy costs during certain months, or sudden and massive disease outbreaks because of a system flaw or human error. Surprises Ac,on Item: are usually bad in this business, and typically mean that you’re losing Fight the urge to money on something, so minimizing them is important. Unfortunately grow too big too fast. for large producers, surprises typically represent very large losses. Grow organically and make mistakes while you’re small.
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So reign in the need to overwhelm the market. Grow slowly and be thoughuul about how you approach your market and how you operate your system. Make mistakes when they cost you li^le and learn, so that when it is >me to build your 10 million dollar greenhouse complex you’ll have goVen all of the expensive mistakes out of your system.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
10
Growers fail to approach their markets creatively
CHOOSE YOUR MARKET AND THINK BIG Many growers assume that the best they can do is the tradi>onal market instead of thinking about new markets and new ways to access those markets. At the same >me, growers should be thinking about how to reduce costs and increase revenue while accessing these markets. If you’re trying to figure out how to do this but coming up blank, it’s for a reason. Figuring out new markets and new ways to reach them is hard! All of the easy or obvious things are already being done. Now all that are leQ are the non-‐obvious and difficult. Most aquaponic farmers fail to recognize that the cost structure inherent in aquaponic farming puts them at a compe,,ve disadvantage when it comes to tradi>onal markets and compe>>on with conven>onal products. In these markets, aquaponic produce simply cannot compete. So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets where their produce can be marketed to people who want “aquaponic” produce or “local organic” produce.
Ac,on Item: Get crea,ve! Think outside the tradi,onal agriculture sales structures and use your aquaponic produc,on methods to your advantage.
DEVELOP A MARKETING NICHE This is called niche marke>ng, because it requires you to sell your product to a small market with specific demands. Niche markets are nice because you may oQen be the only ones compe>ng in this type of market! Big companies cannot afford to market their produce to these types of markets, especially small niche markets. The needs of these markets are simply too specific and the payout is too small. Niche marke>ng is fine, but it poses hurdles to scaling. That means you can only grow so big, since the thing that makes niche markets niche is the fact that they want very specific products and are a rela>vely small, unaddressed sub-‐sector of the main marketplace. This raises the ques>on of whether or not the niche is big enough to support you in the first place. If it is not, or if it is just big enough, it means that you either cannot survive in that market, or you won’t be able to grow.
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So, to stay afloat, aquaponic farmers must find markets where their produce can be marketed to people who want “aquaponic” produce or “local organic” produce.
© Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
FINDING AND SELLING TO YOUR MARKET So, while niche marke>ng is a great place to start, you must figure out a way to sell enough to live, grow and operate a successful farm. If your niche markets are large enough to accommodate this, then great! Most folks have to find alterna>ve markets for their produce though.
GET CREATIVE AND GIVE VALUE This is one of the reason I started doing live sales using ZipGrowTM Towers. We supply niche markets, but in order to supply the larger market, we had to figure out a way to reduce our costs in order to compete with conven>onal growers while simultaneously standing out in the grocery aisle. Live sales was the answer that we hit upon, because it both reduced our costs (elimina>ng the handling and packaging costs, which are 60% of the average growers budget) and stood out as remarkable.
Dr. Nate Storey adjusting the Live Sales display operated by Bright Agrotech in Laramie, WY.
BRIGHT AGROTECH’S LIVE SALES MODEL Using this model, towers are transported from our greenhouse and clipped into displays at the market to form edible greenwalls. Customers harvest the produce that they want from the display and pay by weight, making the purchase experience fun and scalable to the customer’s needs.
A customer cutting a few ounces of sweet basil from the Bright Agrotech Live Sales display at the Big Hollow Food CoOp in Laramie, WY.
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To this date, as far as I know, we’re s>ll the only business in the country doing this type of sales. As a result, we have a valuable and loyal customer base, both in the local foods and organic and health foods niche markets, but also among conven>onal customers who are drawn to the experience of harvest and quality of our produce.
This is just one example, but there are thousands of different sales and marke>ng models wai>ng to be explored. It just requires crea,vity, marke,ng ability, and the ability to be flexible and adapt to the market’s needs. © Nate Storey 2013
The Top 10 Mistakes Made By Aquaponic Growers
Conclusion KNOWING THE COMMON ERRORS WILL SAVE YOU TIME AND FRUSTRATION These are the top ten mistakes new growers and small commercial farmers encounter when ge]ng started. While focused on aquaponic farmers, there are also some takeaways for the emerging classes of urban farmers and market gardeners looking towards the local food movement for income. Regardless of your par>cular form of agriculture, there are major challenges associated with trying to compete in an industry that has for so long been ruled by price-‐focused compe>>on and “survival of the biggest.” That being said, the culture of food is changing this rapidly, and more people are wan,ng quality, local food.
This is a huge opportunity for us as small producers.
LOOKING FORWARD I hope that this short ebook gives you something valuable to consider. If you are embarking on the adventure of a large aquaponic garden or even a market garden, consider some of these mistakes as you plan and build. While there are many more mistakes to be made out there, these are the most expensive ones. Don’t be afraid to ask the advice of someone who is already doing this -‐ some>mes, even if you have to pay for advice or consul>ng it’s much less expensive in the long run.
Connect With Bright Agrotech www.brightagrotech.com www.verticalfoodblog.com
© Nate Storey 2013
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