COMMUNITY AND COMMERCIAL FST AQUAFARMS™The combination of Engineering, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Aquaculture, Hydroponics, Vermiculture, and Agriculture is now all in one as a new food production standard, trademarked ENVIROCULTURE™ and scalable to any size and budget. Each system is completely self-sustainable; the fish and shellfish tank water is recycled, filtered, and sterilized every 24 hours. The BONANZA continuously converts the fish wastewater into valuable liquid nitrogen fertilizer for the organic hydroponic greenhouse growing systems.
The COMMUNITY AQUAFARM™
|
This is 20' diameter tank has a swing gate that rotates around the tank to harvest the larger sized fish, the smaller fish passing through the swing gate. This photo is not an FST photo.
Spirulina is the richest whole-food source in the world. The FST Commercial Spirulina Aquafarm system consists of circular growing tanks at 150 cubic meters or 40,000 gallons with a foot print of only 120 square meters. This system only requires aeration, natural minerals and carbon dioxide. The nutrient from the BONANZA is perfect for Spirulina growing. With temperature control and LED lighting for an 18 hour growing period, the system provides a harvest of 45 lbs. of dry powder per day or 16,425 lbs. of dry Spirulina per year per tank. Surprisingly, not many know about Spirulina however, it is the richest whole-food source available in nature. It is extremely digestible and contains every natural known antioxidant a healthy body could need. In 2008, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released a report (see Technical Reports) which urged governments to re-evaluate the potential of Spirulina to fulfill food security needs.
By using Spirulina as our hatchery feed, FST can produce the full range of fish and shellfish both fresh and saltwater. Spirulina can also be used as a diet supplement which FST would like to develop non-profit programs with Governments and Communities to utilize FST's technology to empower the people with their own food security.
|
Salmon is a valuable farmed fish fetching almost three time more the price than Tilapia. FST plans to use the commercial rearing tank as above to grow the Salmon to 4.5 kg and 10 lbs. Salmon does however take 3 times longer than Tilapia to grow to those sizes. While most Salmon farms use a percentage of wild caught fish to supplement the feed, FST has a proprietary blend of feed that does not use any of the wild caught fish. FST has identified Spirulina as the perfect feed for the fingerlings and Brine Shrimp for the middle stage growth. Feed from Mackerel grown on site will be complemented with a blend of plants rich in protein that are also grown on site, to ensure the Salmon has all the natural antibiotic and antioxidants to keep them healthy. Test trials using FST Fish feed, a nutritious blend which includes Moringa and Comfrey have shown great results and is readily accepted by the Tilapia in field tests. FST Salmon will have no problem accepting the plant based protein rich feed.
Spirulina is rich in vitamins, minerals, carotenoids and perhaps most importantly for those who are malnourished, it has 70% protein content. Spirulina yields 20 times more protein per unit area than soybeans, 40 times more than corn, and over 200 times more than beef.
|
Prawn Size Shrimp and their feed of Brine Shrimp. The Commercial Aquafarm Rearing Tanks for Shrimp and Brine Shrimp are 300 cubic meters or 80,000 gallons in volume with a foot print of only 250 square meters. It is designed to produce 17.5 tonnes or 38,000 lbs of Prawns every three months which is a total annual production of 70 metric tonnes or 150,000 lbs (head-on) per year per tank.
The photo to the left is a giant shrimp farm in India operating as an extensive farm where the stocking rates are down to 2 to 3 post larvae shrimp per square meter or 25,000 per hectare, with a yield annually of only between 100 and 1,000 lbs per hectare per year. In comparison the FST shrimp growing system which is intensive farming where the stocking rate is 20 times greater for the same volume of water used, with four harvests per year yields 150 times more shrimp that are healthy and safe to eat, and produced in a sustainable way with zero discharge and near zero carbon footprint. The Hydroponic Greenhouse area required for this tank design is 1.0 acre of effective surface growing area to absorb all the nutrients from the Shrimp and Brine Shrimp tank.
The photo to the left is a giant shrimp farm in India operating as an extensive farm where the stocking rates are down to 2 to 3 post larvae shrimp per square meter or 25,000 per hectare, with a yield annually of only between 100 and 1,000 lbs per hectare per year. In comparison the FST shrimp growing system which is intensive farming where the stocking rate is 20 times greater for the same volume of water used, with four harvests per year yields 150 times more shrimp that are healthy and safe to eat, and produced in a sustainable way with zero discharge and near zero carbon footprint. The Hydroponic Greenhouse area required for this tank design is 1.0 acre of effective surface growing area to absorb all the nutrients from the Shrimp and Brine Shrimp tank.
Rock Lobster. The Commercial Rock Lobster Aquafarm requires a totally different tank system needed to culture the full life cycle of Rock Lobster. The first stage tank design will allow the Perulus larvae to develop into juvenile lobster that will take 12 to 15 months. The second raceway tank design will complete the lobster to market size of one pound over 24 to 30 months. Only by the specialized feed we have develop can Rock Lobster land based farming be made possible. With consistent supply of Spirulina, live plankton, brine shrimp, mussels and also FST's proprietary blend of lobster plant and live mussel based protein feed, Lobster farming has become a reality which FST intends to develop into a sustainable industry and species. Founders have designed the minimum commercial growing system at 250,000 lbs production per year. The Hydroponic Greenhouse area for this tank design is 1.5 acres of effective surface growing area to absorb all the nutrients from the Lobster tanks.
Abalone. This is founders pet subject with which he has had years of success and FST believes can become a commodity product. With land area to grow the Gracilaria seaweed for feed being the only restriction to this medallion steak delicacy. The Commercial Abalone Aquafarm system requires flat shallow raceway tanks to maximize water quality and aeration at the same time. Abalone acts just like a snail and is just as happy, out of the water as it is in the water, with only its foot submerged. Founders have designed the minimum commercial growing system at 250,000 lbs production per year. Abalone take 3 years to reach market size of 2.5" in which time they eat 2 to 3% of their body weight per day. The key is to grow your own feed and Gracilaria seaweed thrives on abalone waste which helps to keep the water quality perfect. The Hydroponic Greenhouse area for this Aquafarm design is 1.5 acres of effective surface growing area for the seaweed to absorb all the nutrients from the Abalone tanks.
ORGANIC HYDROPONIC GREENHOUSE DESIGN
The Organic Hydroponic Greenhouse design is a new innovation different from standard greenhouse structures. Those structures normally use steel frames and plastic film liners at a cost of around $5 per square foot, or $250,000/acre just for the greenhouse alone with no bells or whistles. At this cost establishing acres of the Others standard greenhouse with water raceway tanks and floating trays etc, for the hydroponic system costs about $20 per square foot or around 1 million dollars per acre.
The FST design on the other hand, considered 10 to 50 acres as the future norm for the Commercial Aquafarm system, where a two million lbs., of fish production per year requires 10 to 12 acres of greenhouse hydroponic growing area to utilize the fish or shellfish waste. FST has reduced cost by eliminating the steel frame and structure to concentrate on the most important part of the greenhouse which is thermal insulation (resistance to heat loss) to allow winter growing. The polycarbonate panels targeted offer four (4) times greater insulation than standard plastic film typically used. The panel will be factory molded to FST patent, so their is minimum waste and will lock directly into the ground based raceway tanks.
The effective design cost for the greenhouse is $3 per square foot, or $130,000 per acre with minimum maintenance. The lined raceway tanks are designed 200 foot in length and 5 foot wide, with 20 inch high sides built insitu on the ground, plus the floating trays and recycle pumps is $4 per square foot, or $175,000 per acre. The total cost of the greenhouse and hydroponic system comes to $305,000 per acre. The nutrient rich temperature controlled water will vary according to the type of plant, algae, or seaweed growing. Vegetable plants will be loaded at one end of the 200 foot raceway tank into floating trays and harvested at the opposite end to provide efficient access for both loading and harvesting.
The FST design on the other hand, considered 10 to 50 acres as the future norm for the Commercial Aquafarm system, where a two million lbs., of fish production per year requires 10 to 12 acres of greenhouse hydroponic growing area to utilize the fish or shellfish waste. FST has reduced cost by eliminating the steel frame and structure to concentrate on the most important part of the greenhouse which is thermal insulation (resistance to heat loss) to allow winter growing. The polycarbonate panels targeted offer four (4) times greater insulation than standard plastic film typically used. The panel will be factory molded to FST patent, so their is minimum waste and will lock directly into the ground based raceway tanks.
The effective design cost for the greenhouse is $3 per square foot, or $130,000 per acre with minimum maintenance. The lined raceway tanks are designed 200 foot in length and 5 foot wide, with 20 inch high sides built insitu on the ground, plus the floating trays and recycle pumps is $4 per square foot, or $175,000 per acre. The total cost of the greenhouse and hydroponic system comes to $305,000 per acre. The nutrient rich temperature controlled water will vary according to the type of plant, algae, or seaweed growing. Vegetable plants will be loaded at one end of the 200 foot raceway tank into floating trays and harvested at the opposite end to provide efficient access for both loading and harvesting.
Cravo Retractable Roof Greenhouse System
Comparison Between Field Crop Growing and FST's Aquafarms
FST has compared the Community Aquafarm vegetable growing system of 1 acre compared to the Conventional Field Crop growing of 1 acre, using lettuce as the common crop. In the conventional field crop growing method, two crops are assumed harvested per year with an above average yield of 30,000 heads of lettuce per acre per harvest for a total of 60,000 heads of lettuce per acre per year.
In contrast with one acre of the Community Aquafarm vegetable growing system which is configured to allow the floating-grow-trays to hold 65,340 lettuce plants/acre, the patent pending flat tunnel greenhouse cover allows crops to be grown all-year-round with temperature and 24 hour lighting control for the nursery seed starts. The nursery produces 10 days old lettuce from seed, to replenish the floating-grow-trays in rotation after harvest. The 10 day old lettuce plants, require only 20 days more of natural sunlight until harvest. This allows for 18.25 crop rotations in 365 days (one year). At 65,340 heads of lettuce produced every 20 days, (65,340 x 18.25) a total yield of 1,192,455 heads of lettuce per acre per year is produced from the Commercial Aquafarm system.
This comparison of 60,000 heads of lettuce to 1,192,455 heads of lettuce is a factor of 20, or in other words the Commercial Aquafarm growing system produces 20 times more yield than conventional field crop farming. The hydroponic greenhouse system provides the optimum growing conditions 24/7 and 12 months of the year where the recycled nutrient rich water is temperature controlled to maximize plant growth. With these advantages the system can out produce field crop farming for the same area per year up to 20 times - effectively one acre of this system would produce as much as 20 acres of field crop farming.
In contrast with one acre of the Community Aquafarm vegetable growing system which is configured to allow the floating-grow-trays to hold 65,340 lettuce plants/acre, the patent pending flat tunnel greenhouse cover allows crops to be grown all-year-round with temperature and 24 hour lighting control for the nursery seed starts. The nursery produces 10 days old lettuce from seed, to replenish the floating-grow-trays in rotation after harvest. The 10 day old lettuce plants, require only 20 days more of natural sunlight until harvest. This allows for 18.25 crop rotations in 365 days (one year). At 65,340 heads of lettuce produced every 20 days, (65,340 x 18.25) a total yield of 1,192,455 heads of lettuce per acre per year is produced from the Commercial Aquafarm system.
This comparison of 60,000 heads of lettuce to 1,192,455 heads of lettuce is a factor of 20, or in other words the Commercial Aquafarm growing system produces 20 times more yield than conventional field crop farming. The hydroponic greenhouse system provides the optimum growing conditions 24/7 and 12 months of the year where the recycled nutrient rich water is temperature controlled to maximize plant growth. With these advantages the system can out produce field crop farming for the same area per year up to 20 times - effectively one acre of this system would produce as much as 20 acres of field crop farming.
Water Usage Comparison Between Field Crop Growing and FST's Community Aquafarm
The comparison of non-recoverable irrigation water use is also staggering, where the FST Aquafarm systems require 4 ounces per day per plant for 25 days (5 days water consumption in the nursery and 20 days in the sun) for a total of 100 ounces or 0.78 of a gallon of water per lettuce head by time of harvest. The conventional field crop of lettuce, planted at 30,000 heads per acre (43,560 square foot), or one lettuce head per 1.452 square foot of land surface area has nonrecoverable irrigation, requirement of 48 inches of depth over the lettuce seed to harvest growing time of 120 days. This total volume of water is calculated at 1.452 square foot per plant, times 48 inches or 4 foot depth to equal 5.808 cubic foot of water volume. If one cubic foot is 7.48 gallons then, 5.808 cubic foot is 43.45 gallons required to produce one lettuce head ready for harvest. Therefore, the conventional field grown lettuce requires a whopping 43.45 gallons to produce a single lettuce head, and is 55 times more wasteful compared with the FST Aquafarm system's grown lettuce that only requires 0.78 of a gallon prior to harvest. To fully appreciate the magnitude of the water waste, one must multiply the amount of water for one lettuce being 43.45 gallons, to the number of planted lettuce per acre which is 30,000 lettuce, which is a staggering 1,303,500 gallons of water to irrigate one acre crop of lettuce. The total volume of water used in the Community and Commercial Aquafarm systems to produce the same 30,000 heads of lettuce would require 0.78 gallons for each lettuce, a total of 23,400 gallons to produce 30,000 lettuce heads with hydroponics. FST has several additional options for those nonrecoverable irrigation crop farmers.
