Skip navigation

Aquaponics: closing the cycle on limited water, land and nutrient resources

Aquaponics: closing the cycle on limited water, land and nutrient resources

Joyce, Alyssa, Goddek, Simon, Kotzen, Benz ORCID: 0000-0003-3522-0460 and Wuertz, Sven (2019) Aquaponics: closing the cycle on limited water, land and nutrient resources. Aquaponics Food Production Systems: Combined Aquaculture and Hydroponic Production Technologies for the Future. Springer, Cham, Switzerland, pp. 19-34. ISBN 978-3030159429 (doi:https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15943-6_2)

[img]
Preview
PDF (Open Access Chapter)
23262 KOTZEN_Aquaponics_Closing_Cycle_On_Limited_Water_Land_Nutrients_(OA)_2019.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (413kB) | Preview

Abstract

Hydroponics initially developed in arid regions in response to freshwater shortages, while in areas with poor soil, it was viewed as an opportunity to increase productivity with fewer fertilizer inputs. In the 1950s, recirculating aquaculture also emerged in response to similar water limitations in arid regions in order to make better use of available water resources and better contain wastes. However, disposal of sludge from such systems remained problematic, thus leading to the advent of aquaponics, wherein the recycling of nutrients produced by fish as fertilizer for plants proved to be an innovative solution to waste discharge that also had economic advantages by producing a second marketable product. Aquaponics was also shown to be an adaptable and cost-effective technology given that farms could be situated in areas that are otherwise unsuitable for agriculture, for instance, on rooftops and on unused, derelict factory sites. A wide range of cost savings could be achieved through strategic placement of aquaponics sites to reduce land acquisition costs, and by also allowing farming closer to suburban and urban areas, thus reducing transportation costs to markets and hence also the fossil fuel and CO2 footprints of production.

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: aquaponics, sustainable agriculture, eutrophication, soil degradation, nutrient cycling
Subjects: S Agriculture > S Agriculture (General)
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > School of Design (DES)
Faculty of Liberal Arts & Sciences > Digital Arts, Research & Enterprise (DARE)
Last Modified: 02 Nov 2021 23:01
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/23262

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics