FIRST STEP FOR INTEGRATED, ORGANIC AQUAPONICS by David A. Nuttle
Integrated aquaponics, as utilized by NPI (the company I direct), starts with an organic livestock operation to provide a source of manure/ manure effluent with no trace of antibiotics, hormones, assorted chemicals, or GMOs (genetically modified organisms).
The manure provides nutrients for algalculture, the algae feeds our Tilapia fish and also provides co-products ---and a combination of fish water and fish manure “fertigates” (fertilizes and irrigates) our organic produce (veggie) crop. After being biologically filtered by plants, and physically filtered by sand, water is then recycled back to the algalculture raceway and fish tanks. Thus, the livestock operation becomes the startup for our organic aquaponics operation in a controlled biosecure facility.
In previous articles, I have focused on NPI’s organic aquaculture, algalculture, and aquaponics. An article on the startup operation, organic livestock production, is past due.
For purposes of simplification, I will focus on outdoor, humane pig production since this is a simple operation easily integrated into the other operations named above. Use of odor- controlling microbes resolves the odor problem with pig manure. A system for making a “nutrient tea” makes manure handling very efficient, and facilitates use of manure solids for making organic compost. For all these reasons, NPI uses pigs as the starting point for all its integrated organic food production operations except for those in Muslim and Jewish areas. In the latter cases, pork is not eaten, so we substitute cattle, sheep, and/or goat production.
From a historical perspective, the pig has been a scavenger living and very successfully producing in forests, woods, pastures, fields, and orchards. Then from 1954 onwards, the emphasis on pig production moved increasingly towards specialization with a priority on “confinement” at all stages of production. Such confinement created a high level of dust, ammonia, and disease organisms while causing problems with odor control and manure disposal. Sub-therapeutic levels of antibiotics were thus required to help protect against diseases, but these have created bacterium that are increasingly resistant to antibiotics ---and these resistant bacteria have caused health problems for pigs and humans. Growth hormones used are now believed to be a significant cause of breast cancer in women. BTs (GMOs developed to help plants to kill harmful insects) are often retained in the Bt corn and soybeans used for feed, and then stored in animal fat. Medical research, in Europe, suggests that Bts may be harmful to human health if consumption, of BT fats, is sustained over several years.
In his 1988 book, entitled “Outdoor Pig Production,” Keith Thornton fully compared outdoor pig herds with confined pig herds, and concluded that outdoor herds outperform the indoor herds in almost every category. Mark Honeyman, Ph.D. Iowa State University, says that based upon research at Iowa Agriculture Experiment Stations, “pig production is more profitable using systems that don’t depend on confinement.” An 8-year study at the University of Tennessee resulted in the same conclusions being reached. However, large corporate farms use confinement systems to concentrate production near established processing plants. This technique concentrates the facilities and labor force, while acting to reduce transportation costs. In addition, the pharmaceutical “lobby” has been very successful in convincing the U.S. Congress to write and sustain legislation that supports and subsidizes so-called factory farming with its requirement for hormones and antibiotics. Thus, taxpayers are generally subsidizing factory farming. The above background will help you to realize that you can have a superior pig production system using the outdoor production guidelines provided herein.
A study by Professor David Wood-Gush and Dr. Alex Stolba (1978 to 1988), of Scotland College of Agriculture, indicated that the most efficient and economical pig production is achieved by allowing selected breeds of domestic pigs to live in the woods like their wild ancestors. Under wild conditions, the Wood-Gush and Stolba sows averaged 9.5 pigs per litter and 2.3 litters per year with natural weaning at 90-days. The pigs all achieved bacon weight in 144 days, and overall results were equal to the very best confinement systems ---but the outdoor system was far more economical. This data is similar to my own during use of three different outdoor pig production operations over a period of two decades. Bob Sloan, a farmer who operates a 500-sow outdoor pig farm near Jonesville, Michigan, says his facilities cost him $85 per sow ---compared to an estimated $2,000 per sow if he had been operating with a confinement system. Sloan’s numbers were confirmed by a parallel study ---of outdoor and confinement systems of pig production--- by several scientists at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
The elements of a successful outdoor, humane, organic pig production operation are:
1)Land: Several acres with a combination of woodland (or orchard), and quality
pastureland, with at least a half-acre for each sow and her pigs. A separate acre will be needed for periodic isolation of a boar or boars. Allow another two acres, for isolation of each group of 25 pigs, after weaning at 90-days, until marketing at 200 to 220 lbs. each.
2)Facilities: Fencing of lots to facilitate the above divisions of land, with added
lots to provide rotational grazing (use hog-wire or electric fencing). A water-well and pump with pipes to deliver water to tanks with a hog-waterer for each lot. Trap-pens to feed and/or trap pigs as needed. Automatic feeders for trap-pens. Sorting pens, and a loading chute to move hogs in and out. A small livestock chute to hold large hogs for any needed veterinary work. A portable shelter, for each sow and her young pigs, to provide protection against cold and wet conditions. In very cold climates, solar heating systems are added, to shelters, to help keep the pigs warm. To keep pigs cool during hot weather, add wading pools made of concrete. Water depth should be 8-inches, and shade-cloth is needed for an attached canopy (4 ft. above the water) to reduce sunlight over the pool by 70 percent or more. (Clean these pools, and add clean water, weekly.)
3)Breeding Stock: Dark colored breeds, with close links to wild breeds, generally
perform best in the outdoors. Composite breeds, using three parent breeds, usually give outstanding performance. My favorite composite is the Tamworth x Hampshire x Red Wattle or Large Black breeds. In some areas, Red Wattle and Large Black breeds may have too much inbreeding ---and in this situation you will want to substitute another dark colored breed. (Breed choices are a personal matter, but the white breeds usually perform poorly outdoors.)
4)Forage Improvement: A constant supply of quality forage is needed. Thus,
pasture areas must be periodically seeded (in season) with rye, wheat, alfalfa, clovers, permanent pastures, Sudan grass, rape, brome grass, and other forages. Consider use of intercropping such as planting vetch with wheat. In woodland areas without heavy cover, consider the use of Winged beans or other crops that will tolerate some shade.
5)Feed & Supplements: After the first month, young pigs need a balanced diet of
organic feed grains such as corn and soybeans fed in automatic feeders located in trap-pens that only allow entry of small pigs. A mixture of salt or sea salt, minerals, and probiotic spores are made available to all pigs to deter rooting while helping prevent most hog diseases. (The probiotics are good bacteria that out-compete bad bacteria ----and dramatically reduce numbers of bad bacteria.)
6)Vaccination Program: The disease threats, and the vaccination program to help
prevent diseases, will vary from area to area. You should develop your own vaccination program in consideration of USDA’s organic production guidelines, using the advice provided by a trusted local veterinarian.
7)General Management Strategies: Keith Thornton, in his 1988 book entitled
“Outdoor Pig Production” suggests several general management practices to include ways to make your labor as efficient as possible. One of the secrets is to make all of the hog lots easily accessible, with a minimum of distance between the entry-point for each lot. For this reason, a wagon-wheel design is often used for lots ---and the entry points, for each lot, are near the center of the wheel. The other critical management factor is to
maintain control of breeding cycles to achieve optimum production.
8)Manure Management: Concrete manure pits will be located below trap-pens
and hog feeders to collect manure for the tanks used to make nutrient tea ----tea for delivery to the algalculture raceways used for integrated food production (see above). Manure solids will be removed weekly for use as 40 percent of an organic compost mix (the other 55 percent is bulking materials such as straw, leaves, or sawdust w/ 05 percent algae). Small trap-ponds will be located around the outside of the lot complex so that manure/ manure effluent run-off is used for algal production. This algae is harvested and added to subject compost (see above). (If a mineral spring is available, use this water for algal ponds. The algae collects the minerals, and this helps to re-mineralize soils when the algae is used to make compost fertilizers.)
9)Odor Management: Effective odor control is achieved by adding very small
quantities of CBPA (Bio-Stimulant), from EcoChem, to the manure. The CBPA is a natural microbe, derived from soil, which uses a natural biological process to totally eliminate the odor problem with hog manure(s). This odor elimination process is not harmful to any other aspects of the integrated, organic food production system.
A few people are afraid that hogs will destroy any woodland. Ann Dennis, Ph.D. ecologist with the Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources recently concluded a research project showing that livestock use of woodland increased plant diversity when compared to similar, ungrazed woodlands. Best results were achieved when livestock were removed during the spring when new under-story plants are starting to grow. (In addition, the availability of the salt and mineral mix deters most rooting.)
Feeding of organic feeds has the same advantages found in organic foods. Alyson Mitchell, Ph.D., and her research team at the University of California, Davis, recently conducted research that documented the fact that organic foods/ feeds contain 58 percent more polyphenolics, antioxidants that protect human and animal cells from damages typically caused by major diseases. Your hogs will be very healthful from the combination of fresh air, sunshine, organic feeds, and probiotics. Thus, you can be confident of having superior, organic pork products to add to the array of foods from your integrated production system dedicated to fish, produce, nutraceuticals, multi-nutrient supplements, and other organic food items.
For the purposes of this article, I have made no effort to review the considerable and dramatic medical evidence documenting the probable health hazards associated with consumption of foods containing hormones, antibiotics, assorted chemicals, and GMOs. However, USDA data indicates that organic food sales are growing at an annual rate of 20 to 25 percent. The public is reading the medical research reports, and voting in favor of organic foods with their “pocketbooks.” As you participate in, or observe, the expansion of aquaponics ---and related systems--- there is real, personal evidence of the growth of organic food production. By writing this article, I have attempted to help others who seek to assist in the production of organic foods. Subject production is based upon integrated technologies that improve safety, biosecurity, efficiency, environmental protection, humane treatment of animals, profits, and quality of food products.
In the future, NPI would like to undertake research on an Asian pig known as the Babirusa (Babyrousa babyrussa). This pig has an extra ruminant-type stomach and makes very efficient use of forages. The problem for commercial use of the Babirusa is that they only have 2 or 3 pigs per litter. Research is needed to determine if this pig, or pig-like animal, will cross with other pig breeds and thereby increase litter size while retaining the extra stomach.
As the threat of bioterrorism increases, biosecurity will become an increasingly important factor. Our approach to biosecurity is to control all the inputs by using a fully integrated production approach. In addition, we use 5-levels of security based upon control of access, facilities, air, water, and feeds. A symptom monitoring system is used to provide early detection of disease and foreign organisms. Food processing and delivery are carefully controlled, and food products are delivered fresh, to local customers. NPI’s biosecurity methods are based on eliminating any opportunity for a bioterrorist attack. Integrated aquaponics provide the means to effectively accomplish such biosecurity.
N.B. You can see NPI’s aquaponics projects, and other related efforts, on NPI’s website: