EVERGREEN
LANE FARM

Aquaponic Specialist

Benefits of Aquaponics

Why Aquaponics is Better than Organic

  • Bottom Line: There is no cheating on this with aquaponics, because we can’t use chemical pesticides of any kind or our fish would die, period.
  • Even most approved organic pesticides would kill our fish. The fish act as the “canary in the coal mine”, and force the aquaponics farmer to be honest. Even our tap water in Bend contains chloramine, which is an additive much like chlorine that would kill our fish.
  • Aquaponics mimics the natural symbiotic relationship between fish & plants.
  • Even traditional organic farms need to supplement their soil with fertilizers. These fertilizers can be bad for the overall health of the soil and watershed.

Environmental

  • Water Conservation: Aquaponics uses 90% less water than traditional farming. Water and nutrients are recycled in a closed-loop fashion which conserves water.
  • Aquaponics Protects Our Rivers & Lakes:  No harmful fertilizer run off into the water shed. In efforts to maintain nutrient-rich soil, farms have to use a lot of fertilizers. Those excess fertilizers eventually make it into the rivers, where there are countless harmful side effects.
  • Gas Conservation:  “Food Miles” are greatly reduced. Our produce only travels less than five miles from farm to consumer. Only serving the local community reduces harmful gas emissions.
  • Energy Conservation: Even with grow lights, we use less energy than conventional commercial farming! All energy used in aquaponics is electrical, so alternate energy systems such as solar, wind, and hydroelectric can be used to power our farm. 5.  Land Conservation: Our system grows six times more per square foot than traditional farming.
  • Farmers who are able to utilize abandoned warehouses, are using structures that already exist, saving money, energy and other valuable resources.

Health & Nutrition

  • The natural self-fertilizing system of aquaponics comes from cold-blooded fish, which do not carry E. coli or Salmonella (unlike some fertilizers from warm blooded animals).
  • Fish are the fastest converter of plant protein to animal protein.
  • Fish have no growth hormones, no mercury, no antibiotics, and no P.C.B.s
  • Our Plants have no antibiotics.
  • Produce tastes better than that purchased at the grocery store (because it is not shipped and stored for extended periods of time).

Compared to Hydroponics

  • With Hydro you must continuously change out your water supply, because the nutrient solution builds up salts and chemicals in the water. Not only is this wasting more water than aquaponics, it is also polluting the watershed.
  • Nutrient solutions for hydro are super expensive, where the fish in aquaponics can be fed worms, bugs and scraps from the plants.
  • Hydro revolves around a sterile environment, where Aquaponics embraces all micro-organisms as they each play an important part in the growing process. As such, aquaponics tends to have less diseases and pest problems.
  • In hydroponics, you don’t get to raise and harvest fish.
  • Hydroponic growers can use toxic chemicals to control pests.

Many areas of the world require expensive irrigation systems to deliver potable water to farming regions. A tremendous amount of fresh water evaporates or is otherwise wasted with conventional farming methods.  Third-world countries often lack the financial resources, arable land, and technology to produce sufficient food, and in particular enough protein to maintain the health of their human populations. There are also health concerns raised by humans consuming pesticide residues on fruits and vegetables and hormones in chicken, pork and beef. Wild birds and animals are adversely affected by pesticides and fertilizers. Local waters (ponds, rivers, and streams) are also polluted by the runoff from pesticides and fertilizers used in local growing.

Therefore, there is a need to promote a new “green” method of farming around the world for ‘locally grown food’ in any region to produce healthier food that requires far less land and water, and at the same time, is environmentally friendly:

  • Eliminates the need or use of artificial chemicals.
  • Provides sustainability for people locally.
  • Substantially reduces energy consumption for planting, harvesting and shipping food, and greenhouse gas emissions.
  • Also, provides jobs for local people strengthening the local economy.

Farming Technique

  • Our proprietary system grows six times more per square foot than traditional farming.
  • Aquaponics uses 90% less water than traditional farming.
  • With our system, we can grow any time of year, in any weather, anywhere on the planet.
  • Because aquaponics recycles the water in the system, we can grow in droughts and areas with little water.
  • Less pests to deal with when growing indoors.
  • There’s no weeding!
  • Plants Grows Twice As Fast! Due to the naturally fortified water from the fish.
  • For the commercial farmer, aquaponics produces two streams of income, fish and veggies, rather than just one.
  • Our aquaponics farm does NOT require farmland with fertile soil, or even land with soil; aquaponics can be done just as successfully on sand, gravel, or rocky surfaces, which could never be used as conventional farmland.

Answers for your questions

Check out our FAQ page.

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