AQUAPONICS: ADVANCED FOOD PRODUCTION SYSTEMS, BUT ARE THEY SUSTAINABLE AND IS SUSTAINABILITY ENOUGH?

Paul B. Brown
 Purdue University
 Department of Forestry and Natural Resources
 West Lafayette, IN 46923
 pb@purdue.edu

Aquaponic food production systems typically use the natural synergies between plants and aquatic animals to produce multiple crops from an integrated system.  Various forms and configurations of integrated systems have been in existence for centuries.  There is a contemporary resurgence in these systems in response to the growing locavore demand, in arid regions of the world, and in areas experiencing prolonged wars, but are these food production systems sustainable and is the current definition of sustainable an adequate term?

The three pillars of sustainability are environment, economic and social.  Taking advantage of natural ecological interactions between plants and animals, utilizing waste products to produce additional crops, is one of the advantages of aquaponic system when compared to traditional monoculture food production systems and appears to fulfill the expectations associated with the environmental pillar.  Locally produced foods, with potentially lower levels of pesticide/herbicide inputs, elevates aquaponics food production systems to a more socially acceptable level than traditional food production systems.  However, many of the current configurations of aquaponic systems lead to higher costs of production than monoculture approaches.  Thus, the economic pillar might be the weakest of the three.  Significant research effort is underway to reduce the energy demands of aquaponic systems and, in the short term, the relative strength of the social and environmental pillars may be strong enough to support the concept of sustainability.  However, integrated food production systems, such as aquaponics, have been identified as integral components in colonization efforts.  In these scenarios, an additional pillar might be needed; perpetual.  

This presentation will focus on the current state of aquaponic food production systems on Earth, and consider their application on other planets.  The needs for food production systems extraterrestrially, where resupply and rescue may not be possible, demand a more thorough understanding of the interactions in these systems and products produced.  Research efforts focused on aquaponics as a perpetual food production system offers significant benefits back to our ability to produce sustainable food supplies on this planet.