Food Prices to rise - Time to get your AP going.

[Murray]

On the news last night a story warning that fresh foos prices are set to rise even further as the drought tightens it's grip.
Time to get your Aquaponics system really rocking along!!!!!
I reckon that it is really possible to produce a very large part of your fresh food in your own backyard.

Here is just a couple of links news reports about the drought and food prices.
Here and Here

Yesterday at the local "W" supermarket tomato look alikes were selling for 9.90 kg.
At the fruit and veg selling for 8.90 kg.
It makes so much sense to get into producing your oun stuff at home.

[Miki]

Murray, I totally agree (as we all do, I'm sure). Just watching the news today and seeing that most of Australia is in / has been in drought for so long.
Isn't it wonderful that, just with a tank of water with fish, you can get a system going and keep it that way with a minimum loss of water!

Its incredible to find out that not many people know what Aquaponics is and, when told, they catch on and get incredibly enthousiastic - because its so logical.

For all those people out there looking at the information given in this site and who haven't started - just start! even if it means using the garden pond with a couple of gold fish, get some gravel from your local quarry, put it in an old bath.....

Good luck

On the news last night a story warning that fresh food prices are set to rise even further as the drought tightens it's grip.
Time to get your Aquaponics system really rocking along!!!!!
I reckon that it is really possible to produce a very large part of your fresh food in your own backyard.

Here is just a couple of links news reports about the drought and food prices.
Here and Here

Yesterday at the local "W" supermarket tomato look alikes were selling for 9.90 kg.
At the fruit and veg selling for 8.90 kg.
It makes so much sense to get into producing your oun stuff at home.

[Murray]

Miki,
I have a lot of visitors to my place to see the aquaponics working, and it is always very satisfying to see the reactions. The get excited when they understand the possibilities.
AP just makes so much sense.
And it CAN be done on a small budget with amazing results.
Salman's system is an excellent example. see thread here

I really don't think most ordinary folk realise just how serious the current drought is. They just go off and buy their food stuff without thinking that it might just be possible to grow some of it themselves.
The simple skills required to grow an ordinary dirt garden have been largely lost.
When I was a child growing up in a country town, almost every house had a veggie garden. It was thought to be a matter of necessity. It also carried a good deal of family pride. One would be seen as some kind of sloth, a waster, if you did not have a veggie garden.
The local fruit shop sold mostly exotic or out of season veggies from far away. They had very few basics like tomato and lettuce. Who would they sell them too ????
Now, I wonder how many streets would you travel, in any town or city, before you could find a veggie garden in some back yard.
People moan about the price of petrol and the interest rate.
"The government should do something"" is the cry.
You can save 50 to a 100 dollars a week if you grow your own veggies, and it would not be that hard to have a fish dinner a week from your own back garden, not to mention the health benefits, or the sheer joy it brings.

There needs to be a shift in thinking about food. Advertising has taught us that if we want to be healthy we have to buy the latest white bread that has had all the good stuff taken out of the flour, then magically they have added some wonderful subsitiute vitamins and fiber and omega 3 to make this wonder bread. Or we have to buy these wonderful "Health Bars", or if you are smart enough to know about veggies "we" have pre packaged, frozen, added an exotic sauce and some extra vitamins, and a touch of omega 3. What about the wonder breakfast cereal made of sugar, white flower and chocolate flavouring that they promise will make iron men out of our little boys.
Can you grow that kind of stuff in an aquaponics system ??????

[anniefish]

Hi Murray,
You are so right. Children in England don't know where milk comes from, in Japan the kids can't peel potatoes. you can now buy mashed potato from the freezer. YUCK. Yesterday we were in town and running a bit late home and had a debate about buying take away for dinner. We ended up going home and cooking. No one wanted bought food. My daughter was 13 before she had KFC and then said my chicken was better, we bought Maccas for our kids as a treat (we thought) they took one look at the tiny thing and asked where the hamburger was!!! The ones I make have so much on them you can hardly fit them in your mouth.
Speaking to someone the other day who told me this story - A Chinese company supplies dim sims to USA for 30 odd years. A few people decided to check out the factory without notice. In the town where the factory was the streets were very clean. They found the company was picking up paper and cardboard and putting it in the dim sims. Bon appatite
It is very scary to think what is going to happen to society. If/when the bird flu or something similar strikes people will literally starve. My mother remembers in Europe during the war, people would beg for a s**** of bread and offer persian rugs and gold rings for food.
Everyone I speak to about AP is so excited and think it's a great idea, but most won't get off their @$# and do something. It is so good to have contact on this forum with people who are forward thinkers. Thanks everyone you give me hope.
Annie

[GaryD]

One doesn't need to go to China to find evidence of outrageous food handling practices. Talk to anyone who rears chickens for a large chicken processor and they'll given you horrors to the point where you won't eat chicken again......and that's in Australia.

Gary