Commercial Aquaponics – Why is it not pervasive?

[thcoolest]

Interesting article UF.

Looking at the picture in the article....I wonder why they spent all the extra money to have rasied raft beds...?

Cause it saves them from having to bend over all the time would be my guess. I have raised beds, and my back still gets tired after a while.

[David - WI]

When I first saw this system I thought, it sure seems like they're copying that Chicago meat factory AP setup. This article confirms it. I thought, "GEE, someone didn't do their market research because the economic feasibility of this kind of operation faces many challenges in an strongly agricultural state." Running this thing indoors is what put the nail in the coffin. The investment capital is absurd for the production. Their electric bill is over $3000 a month. I'm not even sure how many fish they have in there, but I would estimate their fish feed cost in somewhere in the $300 - $500 range a month, and that's assuming they're not maximizing their fish production (less feed, slower growth).

When I first saw them in the newspaper several years ago, there were some things that made me say "That's not going to work"; but running the thing indoors wasn't one of them. There are a lot of advantages (and some big disadvantages)... it's been 10F here at night and we had 18" of snow in one night; heating a greenhouse & keeping the snow off of it are not easy in this climate.

Our days are short (sunrise 7:22 and sunset 4:43 today) and the sun is low in the sky... so it makes some sense to run the lights at night when electricity is cheaper and have it dark during part of the day instead. In the summer, the heat from the lighting is being generated at night instead during the heat of the day when it's it's harder to manage.

Security (bio-security), pest control, temperature control, should be easier in a building than outdoors or in a greenhouse. Also, an old factory offers 3-phase, high-voltage (480v sometimes) power and usually plenty of water/sewerage capacity which ought to save both initial investment and operating cost.

I can't imagine what other costs they have associated with their operation, but it looks like more than 1 person runs this fiasco. $3000 a month is too little to split for a full-time salary for more than 1 person. The high investment cost, high cost of operation, and poor market positioning has doomed this operation to fail from the start. Never underestimate the power of laying out a good business model and taking the time to research and draft a business plan. Problems like this would have been avoided before spending a penny (not to mention the likely million or millions they spent). Whoever buys this business is a complete idiot. $1.5 million investment to generate a few thousand dollars a month? Juts retired off your 1.5 million, the interest off that will pay you more sitting in the bank.

If you believe the numbers in the last article, they were selling up to 5,000 heads per week (at $1.50/each?) plus some fish... about $35,000/month in sales maybe?

That being said, we're building in an old factory and expect to do a similar dollar volume in sales for 1/10 the price they are asking.

[davidstcldfl]

Interesting article UF.

Looking at the picture in the article....I wonder why they spent all the extra money to have rasied raft beds...?

Cause it saves them from having to bend over all the time would be my guess. I have raised beds, and my back still gets tired after a while.

At 1st, that's what I was thinking too. But, they still aren't very high...not even close to waist high. They spent the extra $ to add bottoms to the beds (instead of on the ground) and to support all that weight. Just a little higher would of been nice.

My buddy has a raft bed at waist high, he has a slight physical handicap. It sure is sweet working on his system though.

Maybe their ground is so hard, it was easier to pipe the beds by raising them...?

[davidstcldfl]

That being said, we're building in an old factory and expect to do a similar dollar volume in sales for 1/10 the price they are asking.

Wow Badger,keep us posted ...

[David - WI]

Also notice the real estate listing is $1.1 million for the property... which is a 185,000 sf four-story factory building. That leaves roughly $500,000 for the aquaponic system and inventory (plus I suppose whatever else is left in the building).

The aquaponics people didn't own the building, they were renting about 1/10 of it... but I imagine they owe the landlord a ton because he was also their main investor. It looks like they are trying to recoup some of their losses by adding them into the purchase price; and the investor is trying to unload the building in the bundle?

[davidschaffer]

Has anybody experienced these numbers? " A commercial aquaponic system utilizing maximum floor space and a strict, balanced diet for the fish are the mark of a successful system. Such system can produce an extremely high numbers of final food stuffs. For example, a greenhouse approximately 37 feet wide by 100 feet long (3700 sq. ft.) can house an aquaponic system capable of producing 50 to 60 thousand heads of premium lettuce and approximately 11,000 pounds of fresh Tilapia per year. An aquaponic system of this size can be a rewarding and profitable business and could be operated successfully by a small number of persons or a family. "

I am hoping to start with a green house about half of that size and expand as finances allow. I will be taking one of Will Allen's ( Growing Power ), weekend courses this winter/spring and am planing on using the model of a 4' wide by 5' deep in ground trench setup. Any thoughts?

Thanks

[David - WI]

I think you would be hard pressed to heat a greenhouse in Michigan for less than $1,000/month in the winter. (edit)

Try the calculator here: http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/heat-calc.shtml

Assuming only 60F inside temp and a decent twinwall polycarbonate greenhouse; I come up with about 40,000 cf of natural gas per month, and I think ours costs about $0.022 per cf = $880 per month? (It shows 443 gallon of propane at 2.43/gallon = $1076 or 11,889 kw of electric and ours is about $0.11/kw = $1308.)

If you just have say a 6 mil poly greenhouse instead of the twinwall polycarbonate panels, the heating cost is more than double.

[davidschaffer]

I think you would be hard pressed to heat a greenhouse in Michigan for less than $1,000/month in the winter. (edit)

Try the calculator here: http://www.littlegreenhouse.com/heat-calc.shtml

Assuming only 60F inside temp and a decent twinwall polycarbonate greenhouse; I come up with about 40,000 cf of natural gas per month, and I think ours costs about $0.022 per cf = $880 per month? (It shows 443 gallon of propane at 2.43/gallon = $1076 or 11,889 kw of electric and ours is about $0.11/kw = $1308.)

If you just have say a 6 mil poly greenhouse instead of the twinwall polycarbonate panels, the heating cost is more than double.

Thanks for the info.
My plan is to use an outdoor wood boiler. By keeping the tanks in the ground, It shouldn't be a problem to keep the water plenty warm. With all that mass and the heated cement slab, I shouldn't have to much trouble keeping up on the wood supply. I will likely run loops in a raft type system. I have a lot of plumbing/electrical experience that should come in handy. There is a guy in my area that heats 5 green houses year round using an outdoor woodboiler. I am going to check out his set up a little closer this week.

[David - WI]

Hmmm.. it's a full cord every two days, according to the fuel conversion numbers on that site; you would need a full-time stoker!

If you can pull it off, more power to you... the greenhouses around here (that I see anyway) are empty & cold in the winter, but I have no experience with them, so who knows?

[davidschaffer]

Hmmm.. it's a full cord every two days, according to the fuel conversion numbers on that site; you would need a full-time stoker!

If you can pull it off, more power to you... the greenhouses around here (that I see anyway) are empty & cold in the winter, but I have no experience with them, so who knows?

I talked with the owner today and it is actually 8 greenhouses and I believe 5 outdoor wood boilers. He spends around $25 grand per winter to heat them. He doesn't use in floor radiant heat, he uses heat exchangers/blowers. I told him of my thoughts on heating a slab and the tanks and he had concerns with its ability to heat the greenhouse as a whole. Very nice guy. I look forward to meeting him. I do believe that if I had a north/south green house, solid wall on the north end, heated slab and tanks, maybe along with forced air exchanger, I could make it work. Using a new biomass boiler wood likely help. Although, maybe growing indoors ( insulated ) and using grow lights might be more cost effective. Considering the advancements with full spectrum led's. Man, I have a lot of homework to do. I do appreciate the feedback and will keep you posted on the progress.