BCR_ Ag Matters_092819

Ag Matters Fall 2019 Fall 2019

• To grow lettuce, just add water (and fish)..................2 • They’re the littlest livestock — honeybees.................5 • He’s got a passion for the pork industry....................9

A publication of

AQUAPONIC AGRICULTURE

To grow lettuce, just add water (and fish) Silver Creek Farms uses aquaponics to grow a successful niche farm

BY DAVE COOK Shaw Media SPRING VALLEY — Tony Stirling, owner of Silver Creek Farms LLC, knew he needed a solid idea for a niche farming operation on his 10 acres of land.

He settled on a form of organic farming that’s not often seen on the rolling fields of the Midwest — aquaponics.

Aquaponics is a system in which the waste from fish, or other aquatic animals, is used to feed plants before being returned to the original source. Forms of aquaponic agriculture date back to ancient China, as well as with the Aztecs.

At Silver Creek Farms, the fish are tilapia, and the plants being grown are varieties of lettuce.

“It took about three years of research, and about three years of

convincing my wife, before we were ready. There was a lot to learn,” Stirling said with a laugh.

He was sharing what they have learned with a group of local educators who visited Silver Creek Farms as part of an Agri-Science Educator Institute intended to help integrate agriculture into classroom lessons.

Stirling said they decided to purchase a complete kit from Nelson and Pade Aquaponics, so there would be no doubt they had everything needed. According to the Nelson and Pade website, their systems use one-sixth of the water used by conventional farming methods to sustainably grow eight times more food per acre, without the use of pesticides, herbicides or chemical fertilizers. They can also grow crops year around, and in any climate.

While tilapia is a popular choice on many restaurant menus, Stirling said the fish are essentially a byproduct of the lettuce operation.

Shaw Media/Dave Cook Regulations regarding the processing of animals make it difficult for Tony Stirling, owner of Silver Creek Farms LLC, shows the cubes of rockwool where he germinates his lettuce seeds. By using an aquaponic system, Silver Creek Farms can Silver Creek Farms to sell the fish.

See AQUAPONICS, Page 3

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• AQUAPONICS

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Continued from Page 2

See LETTUCE, Page 4

Shaw Media/Dave Cook

Stirling plants a variety of lettuce seeds every three to four days. Approximately 50 to 60 days later, the lettuce is ready to be harvested. The plants receive all of their nutrients from the gravity-fed water system that originates with the tanks of tilapia.

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“I’m not allowed to process them here, but very few restaurants want them without being filleted first,” he said.

The process begins with tilapia that weigh only a few grams. They are placed into high-density holding tanks where they are fed twice a day until reaching approximately 2 pounds or more in about nine months.

“Their business feeds the whole system,” Stirling said.

The water from the holding tanks is fed into a tank where bacteria has been allowed to grow on a submerged length of netting. There the bacteria feed on the toxic ammonia waste and convert it first into nitrites and then into nitrates. The water is then routed below the planting area where the young lettuce plants can feed off of the nitrates.

Stirling places his pelletized lettuce seeds into rockwool seed starter cubes and the nutrient-laden water is drawn up as it passes below. He said he plants every three to four days and that depending upon the variety of lettuce being grown, he can harvest after roughly 50 to 60 days.

Bureau County Republican / bcrnews.com • Saturday, September 28, 2019

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• LETTUCE Continued from Page 3 The lettuce varieties grown include romaine, summer crisp, and red and green bib, and approximately 200 head are harvested each week.

Silver Creek Farms’ lettuce is highly desired among a number of local and Chicago-area restaurants. The lettuce is also available at the Ladd Farmers’ Market.

Nearly all of Silver Creek Farms’ aquaponic system is gravity fed. The only mechanized portion is a small 1/4-horsepower pump. After arriving at the final tank, the water is aerated and pumped back into the tank with the fish. “I check the pH levels daily, and the rest of the levels weekly. Once everything is established, it’s pretty stable,� Stirling said.

For those restaurants desiring the whole tilapia, Stirling takes steps to ensure they receive a fish of the highest quality. He first places them into a cooling tank that slowly lowers their temperature and slows their activity. “If you take a fish out of a warm tank and put it on ice, it’s going to thrash around and it won’t end up being a nice fillet. By cooling them down slowly, it lowers their stress levels and allows what’s going to happen to happen more gently,� he said.

With a successful initial operation, Stirling is now expanding at a larger site, and is also considering ideas for other crops. As the market for organic, sustainable food operations continues to grow, the future of Silver Creek Farms looks swimmingly prosperous.

Shaw Media/Dave Cook

It takes only about nine months for a tilapia to grow from a weight of only a few grams to more than 2 pounds. Their waste organically provides the nutrients needed for the crops of Silver Creek Farms.

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HONEY PRODUCTION

Beekeeper shares his knowledge with local educators

BY DAVE COOK Shaw Media PRINCETON — The word “livestock” brings to mind images of cattle, sheep, pigs and goats, but there are other, much smaller creatures that also qualify for this term — honeybees.

Tim and Paula Anderson of rural Princeton, owners of Miss Paula’s Pure Honey, recently shared what they’ve learned as beekeepers with a group of local educators who visited the Andersons’ home as part of an Agri-Science Educator Institute.

The Andersons are self-taught and began their journey into the world of bees with the purchase of two hives in 2012.

“Which I then promptly killed,” Tim said.

See BEEKEEPER, Page 8

Shaw Media/Dave Cook

The entrance of a hive is filled with bees, either leaving to search for nectar or returning from their industrious work.

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AG MATTERS| Bureau County Republican / bcrnews.com • Saturday, September 28, 2019

They’re the littlest livestock — honeybees

5

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Shaw Media/Dave Cook

Beekeeper Tim Anderson shows local educators the smoker he uses while harvesting honey. Tim and Paula Anderson of rural Princeton are the owners of Miss Paula’s Pure Honey.

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Shaw Media/Dave Cook

Beekeeper Tim Anderson offered his guests a sample of a fresh, honey-filled honeycomb, the product of the work of thousands of bees. Tim and Paula Anderson of rural Princeton are the owners of Miss Paula’s Pure Honey.

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• BEEKEEPER Continued from Page 5 The death of honeybees is a popular topic in the news, and the decline and collapse of their colonies the subject of much study and speculation. Pesticides, disease and pests have all been targeted as possible causes for the failure of hives.

However, Anderson placed most of the blame on beekeepers themselves.

“I have more issues with stupid beekeepers,” he said.

“People think bees are fascinating, and they are, but they’re not pets.

They’re livestock, and that’s how you have to treat them. They need food, water and shelter. The rest of it is figuring out how to keep stress off of them, and that’s not always an easy thing to do,” he said.

Anderson works for an agri-chemical company, and his interest in beekeeping was piqued after his colleagues kept forwarding him the “angry soccer mom” phone calls the company would occasionally receive in regard to bees.

“I figured if I was going to be discussing bees with people, I should know more about them,” he said.

Anderson said when people now challenge him about “not caring about the bees,” he can say he does, because he personally cares for sev-

Shaw Media/Dave Cook

The Andersons have approximately 40 hives on their property, and each is home to roughly 50,000 honeybees. eral hundred thousand of them.

“I usually don’t get any more calls from them after I tell them that,” he said.

Anderson added that, on average, homeowners use 10 times more chemicals than a farmer applies.

The Andersons have about 40 hives. Each hive is home to roughly 50,000 honeybees, 99 percent of which are female. The harvest from their first year gathered about 30 pounds of honey.

While the total amount harvested is very dependent on weather — “More blooms mean more honey”

— the Andersons said they can now harvest anywhere from 30 to 120 pounds a year from each of their hives.

“We extract honey three times a year, and the honey from each extraction has a different color and taste,” Tim said.

He said the first extraction is lighter in color and taste because it’s mostly from dandelions and clover.

Later extractions are darker and are partially created from the pollen of asters and golden rod. The third batch of honey is left for the bees during the winter.

“Bees only live about six weeks, and they basically work themselves to death,” he said.

Smith showed the educators the different components of beekeeping and explained how the bees live within their hives.

He said the best time to harvest honey is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., the time “when most of the bees will be out working.” He said harvesting at night results in angry, defensive bees.

“They probably think I’m a bear,” he said.

However, he also showed the politeness of bees and demonstrated how they’re not angry creatures intent on stinging. Smith took the group of educators outside to his hives and stood in front of their flight paths back home. Rather than creating an

angry group of pollinators, the bees hovered behind him and, for the most part, waited patiently for him to move.

“If you’re around bees and feel a bump on the back of your head, that’s a bee who’s politely asking you to move your big clumsy body out of its way,” he said.

Once Anderson took a step to the side, the bees calmly flew forward and began dropping onto their landing area at the entrance of the hive.

He explained it takes 2 million flowers to make a pound of honey and that each bee is responsible for creating one-tenth of a teaspoon of that. Anderson also shared how there can be no such thing as “organic honey.”

“There’s no way of knowing exactly where the bees are going to feed, and you can’t follow all of them, so there’s no way anyone can legitimately say their honey is organic,” he said.

However, Anderson did say he believes local honey can help allergy sufferers, and he also had good advice for those wanting to support their local bee populations.

“If you want more bees, there needs to be more demand for local honey,” he said.

Miss Paula’s Pure Honey is available locally for $8 per pound and $22 for 3 pounds. For more information, visit their Facebook page.

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LIVESTOCK

Youth ag programs inspired this firstgeneration farmer

Cooper Secker, pork producer and intern for the Illinois Pork Producer Association, speaks to area teachers about his industry.

BY GOLDIE RAPP Shaw Media WALNUT — Cooper Secker of Smithton knew he wanted to be a pig farmer at the young age of 5 years old.

It was a visit to the Piglets on Parade Birthing Center at the Illinois State Fair that piqued his interest that year. And when he started kindergarten and the teacher asked all the students what they wanted to be when they grew up, Secker proudly answered, “A pig farmer.”

Secker stood by that same career choice as a kid, as a teen, and even now as a young adult.

As a first-generation farmer, he credits youth ag programs like 4-H and FFA for giving him the lessons and experiences needed to become successful in the today’s industry.

Shaw Media/ Goldie Rapp

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He’s got a passion for the pork industry

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Bureau County Republican / bcrnews.com • Saturday, September 28, 2019

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• PORK Continued from Page 9 Secker raises and sells Berkshire show pigs. He sells his pork to restaurants and individuals in the St. Louis, Mo., area, which is about 35 minutes away from his hometown.

He said it is his way to be competitive in a “very competitive” market.

Secker is also a senior at the University of Arkansas, where he is working toward a degree in ag leadership, and a summer intern with the Illinois Pork Producers Association.

With the association, Secker gets to help run the Piglets on Parade Birthing Center each summer — the same one that inspired him as a young boy.

Secker was recently a presenter during Bureau County, Whiteside County and Lee County Farm Bureaus’ Agriscience Educator Institute in Walnut where he got to talk about his life’s passion and the industry that is so near and dear to his heart.

Secker said today’s pork is 75 percent leaner than it was in 1950.

Through improvements in genetics, nutrition and technology, pork farmers have figured a way to optimize an affordable meat to put on today’s shelf.

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“Pork production employs a lot of people in Illinois. It’s crucial to their livelihood, as well as the farmers that use that help. ... Those jobs offer a little bit more in the economical boost in Illinois’ agriculture side beside soybeans and corn,” Secker said.

During his presentation, Secker touched on a controversial topic within pork production, that often times makes headlines, which is the use of antibiotics in pork. He explained how antibiotics are not something farmers like to use on pigs unless really needed, as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has put extremely stringent restrictions on farmers when it comes to the use of antibiotics.

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• ANTIBIOTICS Continued from Page 10 When antibiotics are used to treat a sick pig, they come with a withdrawal date that tells when all medical residue is cleared from the animal and it is safe to take to market.

“It’s a farmer’s responsibility to pay attention to those withdrawal dates of when they’re given antibiotics

and when they’re able to go to market,” Secker said. “If (USDA) finds any medical residue inside the meat, they will shut that farmer down.”

Secker said farmers can’t afford to have that happen, which forces them to do what is right to offer the healthest product.

“I can assure you, when you put a pork chop on a plate, it’s healthy, nutritional and safe for you to eat,” he said.

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AG MATTERS| Bureau County Republican / bcrnews.com • Saturday, September 28, 2019

Taking yield to the next level!

Hogs are shown in a confinement facility in Bureau County. The pork industry is a passion for Cooper Secker, a young Illinois pork producer who recently spoke during an Agriscience Educator Institute in Walnut.

Bureau County Republican / bcrnews.com • Saturday, September 28, 2019

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