Fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive and hard to find in remote Australian towns and fish can be impossible to buy. The cost of fresh, nutritious foods in isolated communities, is often cited as a cause of health issues such as diabetes and obesity, and poor health is endemic in rural Australia.
With this in mind, residents of Lightning Ridge in north west New South Wales, are taking a close look at growing their own food in their back yards using aquaponics.
Murray Hallam teaches aquaponics, he said it is simple, inexpensive, and takes very little time to maintain once a system has been established.
"What you have is a closed loop system, in which you are growing vegetables hydroponically, in tandem with an aquaculture operation," he said.
"The advantages lie in the very low loss of water from the system and that it doesn't release nutrients, which are effectively pollutants, back into the environment.
