SBIR-STTR Award

Aquaponics is a rapidly emerging form of agriculture poised to provide farmers a highly sustainable and profitable means of producing locally-grown nutritious food. The majority of commercial aquaponics farmers utilize deep-water culture (DWC) systems with floating rafts and usually fabricate their own rafts from construction-grade insulation boards. However these "homemade"rafts pose a variety of food safety and durability problems. Manufactured hydroponic rafts are alsoco-opted for use in aquaponics to a lesser extent but these rafts do not offer aquaponic farmers' design preferences for organic-compliant growing media and are not manufactured domestically. Hawaii Fish Company (HFC) will pioneer a U.S.-manufactured raft designed specifically for domestic aquaponic growers. HFC's durable and cost-effective rafts will comply with evolving federal food safety standards and allow for organic certification. Additionally HFC's innovative technology will incorporate novel design elements that will optimize plant growth and enable effective raft sanitation. Phase I research will explore the effect of multiple design features on plant growth across a range of common aquaponic crops and investigate the effect of cleaning procedures on potential raft materials through biofilm and microorganism assessments. Top-performing research prototypes will be field-tested and undergo economic evaluations to demonstrate the technical feasibility and commercialization potential of HFC's novel raft technology. The company's manufactured aquaponics rafts will provide farmers with a cost-effective alternative to homemade rafts and imported hydroponic rafts. This will in turn support the continuing growth of the domestic aquaponics industry and increase the nation's nutritious local food production and food security.

Aquaponics is a rapidly emerging form of agriculture poised to provide farmers a highly sustainable and profitable means of producing locally-grown nutritious food. The majority of commercial aquaponics farmers utilize deep-water culture (DWC) systems with floating rafts and usually fabricate their own rafts from construction-grade insulation boards. However these "homemade"rafts pose a variety of food safety and durability problems. To a lesser extent aquaponic growers also utilize a limited selection of manufactured hydroponic rafts but these rafts do not offer aquaponic farmers' design preferences for organic-compliant growing media and are not manufactured domestically. Hawaii Fish Company Inc. (HFC) will pioneer a U.S.-manufactured raft designed specifically for domestic aquaponic growers. HFC's durable and cost-effective rafts will comply with evolving federal food safety standards and incorporate novel design elements that will optimize plant growth and raft durability sanitation and handling. HFC's Phase I research tested the effect of multiple design features on plant growth and sanitation across a range of common aquaponic crops at HFC's aquaponic facility using readily available materials. HFC's Phase II objectives are to fabricate its custom designs with established manufacturers and to conduct comparative field tests on these research prototypes at seven existing aquaponic operations in addition to continued testing at HFC in order to assess HFC's designs in real world conditions. Results from these field tests as well ascontinued manufacturing and cost assessments will enable HFC to advance its aquaponic raft designs to be commercial-ready. The company's manufactured aquaponics raft products will contribute to agricultural manufactured products and manufacturing technologies as well as provide farmers with a cost-effective alternative to homemade rafts and imported hydroponic rafts. This will in turn support the continuing growth of the domestic aquaponics industry and increase the nation's nutritious local food production and food security.