Steven Adley is experimenting with aquaponics; growing fish, vegetables and herbs together. He is already growing salad produce including lettuce, herbs, micro-herbs and edible flowers at his Darling Mills farm about an hour north of Sydney, using a mixture of greenhouse, hydroponic and organically grown produce, but this is his first foray into aquaponics.
The new system has some potential advantages. "I'm using the fish to replace fertilizers," Mr Adley said. "You grow the fish and then you circulate the water through plant growing beds and the plants use the nutrients to grow and they clean and aerate the water for the fish."
He said the raft system in deep water is working the best. "We're using half a pipe about 30 millimetres wide...we fill it with water so it's circulating and then we put polystyrene sheets with holes in them, just floating on the top, and we put the plants in those holes," he said.