A little ponics research

[uclagapteam]

My name is Dan Garcia and I am currently a student at UCLA doing research on the aquaponics industry for my master's thesis. Please help a graduate student out by taking a minute to complete the following short survey:
http://ucla.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6teM98BsoYyX1SB
I understand the aversion to clicking on links, so in case you were wondering, "qualtrics" is a highly reputable survey platform and there are no risks in clicking the above link. Feel free to google "qualtrics" if you have any doubts. Thank you very much for those who take the time to do the survey!

[urbanfarmer]

Can you tell us more about your degree program and your thesis?

In any case, good luck!

[davidstcldfl]

Hi uclagapteam, not many commercial Aper's. I hope you find the info your looking for... 8-)

[bsfman]

My name is Dan Garcia and I am currently a student at UCLA doing research on the aquaponics industry for my master's thesis. Please help a graduate student out by taking a minute to complete the following short survey:
http://ucla.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_6teM98BsoYyX1SB
I understand the aversion to clicking on links, so in case you were wondering, "qualtrics" is a highly reputable survey platform and there are no risks in clicking the above link. Feel free to google "qualtrics" if you have any doubts. Thank you very much for those who take the time to do the survey!

Dan, I took the survey, but there seemed to be incongruity to some of the questions. You give the choices for system size, but they are limited to very small mini systems - like 125 gallons max. These are micro mini-systems, yet the other questions seem oriented towards commercial production. Trust me on this: nobody maintaining a 125 gallon system or smaller is spending any money on leases, consultants, permits, etc.

As David pointed out, most of the people in this forum are hobby oriented - not commercial. Consequently, any reports on annual production by weight would be educated guesses as I doubt many of us weigh our annual production of produce. I also suspect that, with few exceptions, most of us consume our production ourselves - or give it away rather than sell it.

The largest equipment and mechanical costs are more of a fixed, one time thing - not annual. There is, of course some annual equipment and maintenance cost, but it's dwarfed by the initial construction cost. Perhaps you might want to separate the two types of cost in your survey.

Like urbanfarmer, I am curious about the topic of your masters thesis. Please share with us more about your thesis and the program.

Good luck with your research!