Aquaponics
The aquaponic aquaculture industry does not have the luxury of being Boeings. Never-the-less aquaponics fits perfectly into this scenario. Aquaponics is an innovation and innovations evolve to solve problems. Its multifaceted nature supported by a wide variety of technologies, allows it to be used as a tool to address an abundance of challenges. For example, as suggested by a speaker at a recent Aquaculture America conference, the future for development of large-scale land based aquaculture systems in the US may be limited. Available water and land for multiple acre farms, drought, regulations, price, financing and other issues present significant challenges. In other words, it is getting more and more difficult to get a big farm off the ground. Conversely however, more and more cities want to de-
velop sustainable circular economies, so they are opening the doors to the opportunities that urban agriculture, including aquaponic aquaculture, can address including economic development, food security, jobs, water conservation, STEAM education and much more. The Fish 2.0 website demonstrates that investors are already picking up on these opportunities. At their November 2015 Sustainable seafood business competition held at Stanford University, 37 companies were selected for the initial pitch competition to investors. Of the 18 shortlisted finalists for US$195,000 worth of cash prizes, fifteen were focused on aquaculture in some manner including “land-based aquaculture, deep-water aquaculture, wild capture, rights-based management, supply chains, fish feed, and aquaponics.”
To conclude, as part of a parable, Geoffrey Moore in his book “Jumping the Chasm” presents the following cautionary tale: “The company failed because its managers were unable to recognize that there is something fundamentally different between a sale to an early adopter and a sale to the early majority.” In other words, one of the biggest challenges for any technology to jump to mainstream success is to understand what the mainstream market wants. So it seems that the stage is set for a boom in US and perhaps world aquaculture where aquaponics could play an important role. The money is interested and the markets identified. The question is, do aquaponics innovators understand the needs and expectations of this new world so they may close the deal? Time will tell.
*Dr. George Brooks, Jr. holds a Ph.D. in Wildlife and Fisheries Sciences from the University of Arizona in Tucson and served as that institution’s first Aquaculture Extension Specialist. He is currently Principle at the NxT Horizon Consulting group and also teaches Aquaponics at Mesa Community College. Dr. Brooks is co-chairing the upcoming Aquaponics Association conference in Austin Texas. He may be reached at george@nxthorizon.com
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