Integrated Farming Aquaponics as Compared to “
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Home Integrated Farming prototypes such as the IF&WMS includes an advanced derivative of hydroponics which is called aquaponics. The aquaponic systems is a pivotal part of the IF&WMS and links fish-farming with crop production as well being a final step in purifying the waste water and animal waste. “night-soil“ is the term often used to describe how the Chinese, using their age-old of practice of putting human and farm waste into the fishponds, pioneered one of the original integrated farming approaches. This ancient Chinese practice has evolved as part of a modern movement to promote effective integrated farming practices as an alternative to prevailing approaches of agribusiness which are seen in an increasingly critical light due to their unsustainable environmental and social impacts. In modern Integrated Farming Systems, the addition of semi-processed animal and plant waste fertilizes the pond itself triggering the development of food sources for the fish without adding any specific feed for the fish, creating mineralized water in the process. This water can then be used to both fertilize and irrigate crops in a process the Chinese call Fertigation. lBecause this process of aquaponics, which is sometimes called Chinese Ecologica Agriculture (as well as Integrated Farming Systems), can be done with minimal pumps and hardware, it may be superior to prevailing aquaponics practices in the US. Most aquaponics systems in the US now use complex, energy intensive greenhouse systems. The compexity of these systems may explain why so many are struggling. If we can demonstrate how IFS economically viable as an alternative to resource intensive modern agricultural practices then we of course can set the stage for a viable alternative to existing agribusiness practices which focus on large monoculture farms that consume huge of amounts of inputs and create equally huge amounts of pollution that impacts the surrounding environment and in many cases reduces the quality of life for the people in that region.
There is some debate as to whether this aquaponics approach only works really well in tropical or subtropical environments because the fishpond and the digester may be affected by the cold season. However Dr Mae Wan Ho reports that the Chinese do actually have temperate climate version of this system in use which also does seem to work - albeit at a lower intensity.
and can operate on three levels in the IF&WMS:

1. In the berms surrounding the ponds whereby the liners of the fishponds only reach a certain level allow water to seep out into the berms. The berms are precisely designed so that they allow the plant/crop roots to penetrate deep enough to capture the mineralized water seeping out of the pond into the berm. This of course makes it possible to grow plants on the berm without irrigation or fertilization.
2. In greenhouses that instead of using conventional greenhouse hydroponic systems, instead pump out mineralized pond water and then allow plants to grow in the water
3. Using devices called “floating restorers” developed by John Todd of Ocean Arks International that float above the pond basically operating similar to the greenhouse system but without the greenhouse and the berm system without the soil and the berm.

Web page online source

http://www.scizerinm.org/chanarticle.html

Integrated Farming System PROF CHANG , ZERI

Professor George Chan has kindly allowed SCZ to reprint his photos and his detailed November 2003 article explaining the Integrated Farming System for recycling human and animal wastes. He is a sanitation engineer and was formerly of EPA Region 9 - Pacific. WHAT DOES INTEGRATED FARMING SYSTEM DO? George L. Chan Environmental Management Consultant ABSTRACT Looking back at the precarious and even risky situation in the farming activities worldwide, we see the poor farmers working hard to feed themselves and trying to make a living from their land, with some livestock and crops. The livestock manure fertilizes the crops, and the crop residues feed the livestock. In order to produce more and improve the quality, they need costly inputs such as chemical fertilizers and artificial feeds, which make their farming activities uneconomic. If they also have to remove the pollution they create, they will not be able to afford it. Those who added fish to the livestock-crop system have made a very big step forward, not only increasing the fertilizer from the fish wastes, but also enhanced their income from the bigger and quicker yield of fish and their relatively higher market prices. The deeper pond resulted in higher fish productivity, with increased wastes and fertilizer value, but the pond can still be subject to pollution, if it receives too much wastes that deplete the limited dissolved oxygen. By treating the livestock wastes anaerobically in digesters, with additional production of biogas energy, and aerobically in shallow basins, their amount can be increased ten-fold in the system, increasing the fertilizer and feed in the pond accordingly, but without using any of the dissolved oxygen. Without such abundant, low-cost but much better inputs to improve the farming methods, we cannot expect high-quality produce and better yields. Provided that all the extra nutrients and feeds are utilized to improve productivity, the benefits can only increase to make the farmers much more prosperous. The energy can also help the farmers to process their produce for preservation and added value, reducing spoilage as well as increasing the overall benefits. This is what the Integrated Farming System is all about. INTRODUCTION The Integrated Farming System (IFS) has revolutionized Conventional Farming of Livestock, Aquaculture, Horticulture, Agro-Industry and Allied activities in some countries, especially in tropical and subtropical regions that are not arid. Farming all over the world is not very performing unless relatively big inputs are added to sustain yields and very often compromise the economic viability as well as the ecological sustainability. Evidently, the situation can worsen if high duties are paid on imported materials and energy, and the polluter-payer policy is also applied, as it should well be. The IFS can remove all these constraints by not only solving most of the existing economic and even ecological problems, but also provide the needed means of production such as fuel, fertilizer and feed, besides increasing productivity many-fold. It can turn all those existing disastrous farming systems, especially in the poorest countries, into economically viable and ecologically balanced systems that will not only alleviate poverty, but can even eradicate this scourge completely. INTEGRATION The ancient combination of Livestock and Crop activities had helped farmers in the past, almost all over the world, to use the manure as fertilizer for crops, and the crop residues as feed for livestock. However, most of the manure usually lost up to half its nitrogen content before it became nitrate and was readily available as fertilizer to plants. The quantity also became inadequate as the population increased, so chemical fertilizers and artificial feeds had to be purchased, eroding the small profits of the small farmers. The more recent integration of Fish with the Livestock and Crop has helped to improve both the fertilizer and feed supplies, plus the higher market value of fish as feed and/or food increasing the incomes substantially. Technically, this important addition of a second cycle of nutrients from fish wastes has benefited the enhanced integration process, and has improved the livelihoods of many small farmers considerably. This has now been documented by M. Prein of ICLARM Malaysia in "Integration of Aquaculture into Crop-Animal Systems in Asia". It should be noted that the first of the two cycles of nutrients from the livestock is used to fertilize the growth of various natural plankton in the pond as fish feeds. Yield of fish was increased up to three- to four-fold with polyculture of many kinds of compatible fish feeding at different trophic levels, as practised in China, Thailand, Vietnam, India and Bangladesh. The fish, after consuming the plankton, produce their own wastes that are converted naturally into the second cycle of nutrients, which is then used to fertilize various crops on both the water surface with floats, as practised in parts of China, and on the surrounding dykes. However, even if this has been a big step forward, it still required some external input to increase farm productivity and produce processing in agro-industry. So it has remained inadequate to lift the small farmers out of poverty, because of the continuously rising costs of the inputs, such as chemical fertilizer, artificial feed and fossil fuel, which had adverse effects on yield and quality, produce processing, and farming economics. Further innovation as well as increased productivity are necessary to push the integrated farming system almost to perfection. This is what the ZERI (Zero Emission Research Initiative) Integrated Biomass System (IBS) has been trying to do, as documented by Gunter Pauli in "Upsizing". DIGESTION & OXIDATION The most significant innovation is the introduction of the DIGESTER & BASIN in the waste treatment processes of the integrated farming system. One big problem with livestock waste, which contains very unstable organic matter, is that it decomposes fast and consumes oxygen. So for any specific pond, the quantity of livestock wastes that can be added is limited, as any excess will deplete the oxygen and affect the fish population adversely, even resulting in fish kills. We should also seriously question the erratic proposals, presently being made by local as well as foreign experts in Mauritius, while ignoring past failures worldwide and wasting scarce funding to repeat the same mistakes, such as: - spreading the livestock wastes on land to let them rot away and hope that the small amount of residual nutrients left after losses of volatile ammonia and nitrite, if they are not washed away by rain or irrigation water, can improve the soil fertility; - composting the livestock wastes with household garbage to get a low-quality fertilizer, again because of the ammonia and nitrite losses, instead of digesting the livestock wastes into higher-quality fertilizer, and using the garbage to produce high-protein feeds such as earthworms and having their castings and garbage residues as better soil conditioner; and - treating the livestock wastes ineffectively as well as inefficiently in outdated septic tanks for not much financial or other benefits, while the badly-treated effluent is just as dangerous as the waste itself. Digestion of the livestock waste under closed anaerobic conditions, followed by oxidation in open shallow basins with natural algae providing the free oxygen through photosynthesis, before letting the treated waste effluent flow into the fish pond, can convert almost 100% of the organics into inorganics, which will not consume any oxygen to deprive the fish of this important life-sustaining item. So, theoretically, it is possible to increase the quantity of waste ten-fold into the pond without any risk of pollution. Moreover, the big daily increase in readily usable nutrients can be beneficial to the system, provided that they are totally utilized in both fish and crop cultures, or they can create problems of eutrophication in bodies of water, including the fish ponds themselves, which are then counter-productive. ROLE & EFFECT OF VARIOUS COMPONENTS OF IFS LIVESTOCK -- Whether it is for production of milk, egg or meat, small and big livestock require properly balanced feeding every day, and cannot continue to rely on rejected grains and their sweepings, cheap offals and residues from abattoirs and packing plants, and food remains from restaurants. It is worth emphasizing that, besides being comfortably housed and kept clean and dry, they must have those well-balanced rations in order to produce quality food products. They also produce daily wastes, which are valuable renewable resources and will make various farming activities locally sustainable, even without any external inputs such as fossil fuel, chemical fertilizer and artificial feed. Worldwide, the latter have been relied upon to increase yield and even quality but at greater financial risks for those who have the means, but most of them just cannot afford them and remain poor farmers while the integrated farmers become rich by providing their own means of production on their farms. However, feed can still be a serious problem in both quantity and quality. Most feeds can be locally produced from crops, crop and processing residues, with or without further processing for preservation or enhancement, but more nourishing ones such as earthworms, silkworms, fungi, insects and other organisms should also be constantly encouraged, some of them even producing high-value goods such as silk and mushrooms. DIGESTER -- It is the most significant addition to farming during the past century, especially with livestock, which is mandatory for integrated farming systems. It can be as simple as a couple of concentric plastic bags of 5m3 capacity or 200-litre drums for a small farm, or a complex reinforced concrete or steel structure with UASB (upflow anaerobic sludge blanket) for maximum efficiency for a big farm or industrial enterprise. It gives the best primary treatment to the livestock or organic wastes through isolation, settling, digestion, liquefaction and solid/liquid separation, with the latter process enhanced with an additional but optional sedimentation tank, for a reduction in biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), which is a measure of the organic content in the waste, of 60% or more. Once the substrate is well conditioned biologically, with the methanogenic bacteria, which are naturally present in the intestines of humans and warm-blooded animals, taking over inside the digester, it is a continuous process. As the fresh wastes enter the digester, the bacteria 'feed' on the organic content and transform the resulting unstable ammonia (NH3) and nitrite (NO2) into stable nitrate (NO3), which is a nutrient readily usable as fertilizer. It only requires some stirring and clearing of floating matter at the inlet pipe by means of a plunger, with no addition of energy or chemicals. In fact, as more wastes are added, the digester also produces an abundant and inexhaustible supply of biogas, a mixture of 2/3 combustible methane and 1/3 carbon dioxide, that is a convenient source of free and renewable energy for domestic, farming and industrial uses. Big farms, meat & fish packing plants, distilleries, and various agro-industries are now self-sufficient in energy, besides having big volumes of nutrient-rich effluent for fertilization of fish ponds, and 'fertigation' (fertilization & irrigation) of many kinds of crops, as described more fully below. OXIDATION -- This oxidation process facilitates further treatment in low-cost shallow basins by aerobic (in presence of oxygen dissolved from the atmosphere or produced by natural algae through photosynthesis) means for another 30% of BOD reduction. So the effluent is almost fully treated when it is ready for discharge into the fish pond. In the tropical, but less in the subtropical, regions the high-protein chlorella algae grow prolifically, while supplying the free oxygen for treatment, and are used as additional feed for chickens, ducks and geese. FISH POND -- Any residual organic matter from the livestock waste will be instantly oxidized by some of the dissolved oxygen in the fish pond, with hardly any adverse effect on the big fish population. Moreover, the nutrients are readily available for enhancing the prolific growth of different kinds of natural plankton as feeds for polyculture of 5-6 kinds of compatible fish. No artificial feed is necessary, except locally grown grass for any herbivorous fish. As already mentioned, the fish produce their own wastes that are naturally treated in the big pond to give the second cycle of nutrients, which are then used by crops growing in the pond water and on the dykes. Such a highly-productive bonus is not available in any other farming system. Where some fermented rice or other grain, used for alcohol production, or silkworms and their wastes used in sericulture, are available they are added to the ponds as a third cycle of nutrients, resulting in higher fish and crop productivity, provided that the water quality is not affected. More research and development are required to find more innovative systems of fish, shellfish and crop cultures to use up these nutrients, because any unused parts are potential pollutants. There is also a possibility to precipitate them and sell them as dry fertilizers. Special diffusion pipes are now being tried with compressed air from biogas-operated pumps to aerate the bottom part of the pond to increase plankton and fish yields. A deeper pond than 3 metres of water is also being tried for the same objectives. CROP FIELD -- The IFS has a paradoxal situation where there is too much fertilizer, when it is lacking in other systems. and there is a need to find more ways of using it. Apart from growing vine-type crops on the edges of the pond, and letting them climb on trellises over the dykes and over the water, some countries have succeeded in growing some aquatic vegetables floating on water surfaces in lakes and rivers. Others have grown grains, fruits and flowers on bamboo or the longer-lasting polyurethane floats over nearly half the surface of the fish pond water, without interfering with the polyculture of 5-6 kinds of fish in the pond itself. Such aquaponic cultures have increased the crop fields by utilizing half of the millions of hectares of fish ponds and lakes in China. All this has been made possible because of the excess nutrients from the integrated farming systems. Planting patterns have also been improved with the aquaponic culture. For example, rice is now transplanted into modules of 12 identical floats, one every week, and just left to grow in the pond without having to irrigate or fertilize separately, or to do any weeding, while it takes 12 weeks to mature. On the 13th week, the rice is harvested and the seedlings transplanted again to start a new cycle. It is possible to have 4 rice crops yearly in the warmer parts of the country, with almost elimination of the back-breaking work. Another example is to do hydroponic cultures of fruits and similar vegetables in a series of pipes placed in a triangular shape, and have the highly mineralized pond water, enhanced with added missing elements, to run from the top through the other pipes, all holding the plants. This setup allows higher yields per unit surface area of the costly hydroponic building. The final effluent is polished in earthen drains where macrophytes such as Lemna, Azolla, Pistia, and even Water hyacinth are grown to remove all traces of nutrients such as nitrate, phosphate and potassium before releasing the pure water to the aquifer. PROCESSING -- One very big problem with market produce is the drop in prices when farmers harvest the same crops at the same time, and the big losses caused by unsold produce because of the glut. Simple processes such as smoking, drying, salting, sugaring, pickling, etc. should be taught to all farmers so that they do not spoil their surplus stocks. With the almost free access to abundant biogas energy, they can now have more sophisticated processing of their produce for both preservation and added value. The importance of an adequate source of almost free biogas energy in the integrated farming system cannot be stressed enough, as most countries are short of this essential resource for economic as well as social development, especially in remote and isolated areas. Biogas will still be available when fossil fuels run out . . . RESIDUES -- In the integrated farming system, there are more biomass such as stabilized digester sludge, dead algae, macrophytes, crop and processing residues. Considering that livestock only use 15-20% of the feeds they eat, and excrete the rest in their wastes, the latter can still be quite rich. So everything must be done to recycle them and make better use of their byproducts, which is what the IFS is actually doing. The sludge, algae, macrophytes, crop and processing residues are put into plastic bags, sterilized in steam produced by biogas energy, and then injected with appropriate spores for high-priced mushroom culture. The mushroom enzymes not only break down the ligno-cellulose to release the nutritive ingredients, but also enrich the residues as more digestible and even more palatable feeds for livestock. The remaining fibrous residues can still be used for culture of earthworms, which then provide special protein feeds for chickens. The final residues, including the abundant worm castings, are composted and used for soil conditioning and aeration. CONCLUSION There is no doubt at all about all the additional benefits that the small, medium or big farmers can derive from the IFS, through the recycling of otherwise unused wastes as renewable resources, providing the essential means of production such as fertilizer, feed and fuel that can make most farming activities economically viable and ecologically sustainable. By ignoring the concept of the IFS, because of criminal ignorance or stupid prejudice, most farmers will remain poor and be deprived of all the benefits that are the basic human rights of every man, woman and child on this earth, which has more than adequate resources for everybody, now and for future generations. References Chaboussou, F., 1980. Les Plantes Malades des Pesticides. Editions Debard, Paris, FRANCE. Chan, G.L., 1996. The Rural-Urban Connection. World Bank: Sustainable Development Conference Mimeo 18pp, USA. Chan, G.L., 1993. Aquaculture, Ecological Engineering: Lessons from China. AMBIO, Vol. 22 No. 7, November 1993, pp 491-494. SWEDEN. Chan, G.L., 1985. Integrated Farming System. Elsevier Science Publications, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS. de Zeeuw, H. (ETC), Rijnsburger, J. (WASTE), 1998. Sustainable Wastewater Recycling Management in Support of Community Development. ETC, Leusden, NETHERLANDS. Kiely, G., Environmental Engineering. McGraw Hill International Editions, USA. Mulhall, D., Hansen, K., 1998. A Cycle of Cycles -- Guide to Wastewater Recycling in Tropical Regions. Hamburger Umweltinstitut e.V., GERMANY & European Commission, Brussels, BELGIUM. NACA, 1989. Integrated Fish Farming in China. NACA Technical Manual 7, Bangkok, THAILAND and Asian-Pacific Regional Research & Training Centre, Wuxi, CHINA. Pauli, G., 1998. UPSIZING: Integrated Biomass System, pp 152-180. Greenleaf Publishing, Sheffield, UK. Prein, M., ICLARM contribution No. 1611, 2001. Integration of Aquaculture into Crop-Animal Systems in Asia. Agricultural Systems, 71 pp 127-146. Elsevier Science Ltd, Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS. Zhong, G.F., Wang, Z.Q., Wu, H.S., 1997. Land-Water Interactions of the Dike-Pond System. Presses Universitaires de Namur and Eco-Technologie des Eaux Continentales, BELGIUM. This Pig Waste Chart is a comparison of treatment required by the US Department of Agriculture, ZERI recommended treatment, and no treatment. (Webmaster's Note: for more information about Biogas go to: Beginner's Guide to Biogas an introduction to biogas by Paul Harris of the University of Adelaide, Australia. There are many pertinent references and links in this good summary. Also go to: The Biogas Forum. This Swiss web site, in English or German, presents information about biogas. It has many important links to other relevent web sites.) The SeedTree Biogas Web Page.

Online web page source http://integratedfarming.netcipia.net/xwiki/bin/view/Main/WebHome

Integratedfarming

Summary & Intro

Integrated Farming is term used for many different approaches that relate to an more integrated approach to farming. The key consideration is that what has become conventional modern farming is often a very linear approach in which farmers focus on only one or two crops and which a heavy dose of external inputs including petrol, fertilizers and pesticides are used to sustain high levels of agricultural production. As an alternative to this Integrated Farming is a variety of feedback loops in a farming system that mimic natural feedback loops but seek to input technology and human ingenuity to augment them that what Bucky Fuller termed Synergy. Fish can be eaten, algae can be used as feed, worms from the vermi-culture gin can fed to the fish and fast growing plants like Napier grass can be added which is fowl are added to the pond ecosystem. Excess water in the pond percolates into the surrounding berms providing both irrigation and fertilizer for the crops growing on the berms. Finally aeroponic greenhouses can be added to this system.

Background

Integrated farming as it has evolved has taken on various names and definitions. Prof Chan began as a retired EPA engineer traveling to China on a service learning trip a part of a group of environmental engineers. Then what is now known as Integrated Farming was called by Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) in China and it has been deployed both in tropical and temperate regions there. Prof Chan with the support of UNU, UNDP, UNEP and ZERI took CEA global with the help of ZERI he began to call it Integrated Biomass Systems (IBS). The linchpin and the flagship of the IBS was Fiji. He then renamed it IF&WMS in the later years. Projects: Prof Chan has completed over 40 Integrated Farming related projects and in the process of promoting it traveled to over 80 countries. A complete Listing of IF&WMS related projects is in the Projects Page. Definitions and Naming: As with many innovations many different variants emerge and with often confusing and creative names and this is the case here.

• Zero Waste Agriculture (Wikipedia post) - this is Dr Ho's naming.
• Integrated Biomass Systems (IBS) - The naming used in the development of Montfort Boys Town in Fiji.
• Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) - is the name the Chinese came up with during the 70s. A Presentation (PDF) by Dr Wu explains the approach developed in China.
• Integrated Farming or Integrated Farm System (IFS) - a more generalized and broad term that relates to a lot of activities that may not the same as the other definitions. See article at ZERI NM about Integrated Farming by Prof Chan.
• Integrated Farming & Waste Management System - Term Prof Chan came up (basically the same as IFS or IBS).
• Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) - is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilizers, food) for another. Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish, shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices)

Rationale

1. Waste and Nutrient Pollution - Most of what is eaten is undigested. 15-20% of what we eat is converted into energy and nutrients. The rest ends up as excrement. Much effort has been made to deal with human waste for health and economic reasons but this as been seen as a cost not as part of a productive value creating economy. IFS is designed to create valued added products from organic waste.
2. Lack of Adequate Sanitation in Urban Slums - Conventional sewage treatment has a very high cost esp for urban areas in developing counties and so many planners suffer from a lack of education and awareness about how waste to wealth schemes can help to address this problem.
3. Stabilize Urban Migration and Rebuild Rural Economies - IFS can reduce rural development costs while also reducing the need for expensive farm inputs (such as petrol, pesticides and industrial fertilizers) making smallholder farmers more competitive and thus if was part of a larger mass dissemination in rural regions, it dramatically reduce unsustainable urban migration patterns.
4. Biogas Power - Biogas can then be used as power source as a comprehensive power solution in each community or farm to help increase reliability and at a more general level community self-reliance.
5. Carbon and Methane Credits - Cap-n-Trade regimes pushed forward by Kyoto can help to secure a steady source of income for small holder farms and the agricultural based communities that depend on them.
6. Incentivizing Innovation - A community with an IBS or similar sustainable technology will receive money not just for the scale of carbon and methane sequestration but for the efficiency of its operation in converting unwanted byproducts of human activities into Value-Added Products. The development of an Industrial Ecology around such centers of innovation.

Construction and Budget

Budget - Includes a range of 20-40k in developing country can typical enable the development of a IF&WMS. Site Selection - Important when considering the sourcing of biomass for the facility (particularly on projects that are not Confined Farming? operations) and also for considering replication within the region where the facility is located. Construction - Includes the excavation of a biogas digester, piping, shallow ponds and a fish pond as well as aggregrate and cement for concrete work, digester tank material, pipes and any costs for the management and conversion of the biogas into energy. Costs can be lowered by using recycled gas tanks for the digesters. IF&WMS systems have typically been a small scale grassroots approach that often uses physical labor and local materials in the construction, thus enabling relatively low budgets. Economic Feasibility - TECPAR (http://www.tecpar.br/) (Brazil) has done a economic analysis of 2 IFS projects: the Irno Pretto Farm with 2,500 pigs and monoculture of tilapia, and the Meneguete Farm with 2,000 pigs, 25,000 chickens and polyculture of carps. These studies demonstrate that a properly managed IFS is not only ecologically balanced as well as environmentally friendly, but also economically viable and sustainable in every way.

Integrated Farming Sub-components

Feedlot/Manure Collection manure in IF&WMS flows gravity fed into digester. Prof Chan helped develop a unique system that relied on the relative intelligence of pigs to control where the manure was deposited creating benefits in the design of the IF&WMS as well as improving sanitation conditions on the pig farm. Digester - The digester is seen as the heart of this system because it does much of the breakdown of the waste and also develops the fractions that will later be collected (biogas, sludge solids and effluent water). There are a range of digester designs and styles. Prof Chan has incorporated the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) into the IF&WMS approach for one key reason: the system enables a high rate of digestion of the solids, while still enabling a constant flow of effluent and particularly the rapid processing of liuqids. This makes it possible to use a smaller and more cost effective digester than would other have been the case. In the UASB, Hydrologic Retention Times (HRT) are 1-3 days and Solids Retention Times (SRT) are 30-40 days. After processing the biogas is held at the top of the digester and then when it builds up pressure it goes through a pipe to a tank or bladders where it is then stored to be used as needed. The other fractions are then released as effluent into the Settling Ponds/Tanks. Fractions resulting from the digestion process include almost equal parts biogas, effluent and solids. Biogas on smaller scale operations are typically limited to cooking and heating, while on larger facilities can include small scale electrical generation. Settling Ponds - Settling Tanks consist of the three main tanks. The purpose is threefold to stabilize the effluent after digestion though the facilitation of aerobic digestion by exposure to O2 (such as through aerators), exposure to UV rays which kills many hazardous microbes, and the settling of bio-solids into the settling tank. Before building up to toxic levels, the algae and plankton that grows as a result of aerobic action (that results as a natural feedback mechanism to reduce Biological Oxygen Demand BOD) is then eaten by various creatures as it enters the FishPond. Algae is one product of the aeration activities in the Settling Ponds. Mushroom Vermaculture Loop - The sludge and solids that is processed by the Digester is then allowed to settle in the Settling Pond and can then be collected and deposited for use in the Mushroom/Vermiculture growing processes. Fishponds - A key feature of the fishponds is Fertigation - the combination or Synthesis of fertilization and irrigation (fertilization + Irrigation = Fertigation). The IF&WMS by incorporating the five kingdoms of nature, enables a process in the fishpond that creates what is termed mineralized water. This mix of ingredients is achieved by incorporating naturally occurring process and then augmenting them in a bio-integrated system. The result is a plant growing liquid nutrient ideal for the rapid growth of plant life, particularly in tropical environments. The Fishpond ecosystem includes the polyculture and the organisms that are food for the fish. There are major economic benefits of deriving food for the fish from waste but there is a skill set that needs to be considered in terms of Species of Fish added to the system and caring and consideration of them. The process of mixing nutrients with irrigation (fertigation), they can be seen as a version of Aquaponics, since they are all drawing the Mineralized Water from the Fishpond. Polishing - (Final Stage Treatment before water is drinkable) - Water hyacinth and other water loving plants can be grown here. Consideration has been given for Dr Taqwira's work in shifting the visualization from Water Hyacinth as a pest plant to a key cleaner of polluted ecosystems such as Lake Victoria in Africa and feedstock for IFS. Thus the water hyacinth (with the proper process) can be added (and or complementing) to the mushroom growing derived from the processing of the waste sludge.

Value Added Products/Services Associated with IF&WMS

The residues and wastes of one process, with or without treatment, are used as input for following processes. If possible, INPUTS are from Renewable Natural Resources ONLY, such as Sun, Air, Water, Soil, Bacteria, Fauna, Flora, etc.

• Ponds to store water, which is used many times on the farm.
• Livestock, with feeds from residues and crops on the farm.
• Liquid treatment in open tanks and basins, producing algae and macrophytes.
• Treated liquid (with nutrients) into Ponds. Various natural plankton grown as feeds for fish and shellfish.
• Fish, shellfish and aquatic plants culture in ponds, to be used as feed or food.
• Aquaponic culture of grains & flowers on floats in pond.
• Macrophytes as foods, feeds and macrophytes in channels.
• Mushrooms and earthworms on macrophytes as substrate.

The IF&WMS will not be limited to agricultural production. The integrated biomass system enables the development of a variety of value added products and services including:

1. Fertilizer
2. Crops
3. Carbon sequestration services
4. Ecotourism
5. Restaurant/bakery
6. Value Added Agricultural products such as mango salsa and vinegar, palm oil etc
7. Education and training
8. Business development services
9. Electricity for site operation and in some cases export to the power grid

Related Zero Integrated Farming SubSystems

The goal of this wiki is to highlight Integrated Farming and also to discuss related systems needed to move an Integrated Farming towards the comprehensive goal of Zero Emissions in all areas of design and operation. This includes a comprehensive plan to design IFS projects so that they operate as holistic and Multi-purpose Centers of innovation considering all the major aspects of Zero Emissions and sustainable development include these core areas:

• Low Impact Materials - With regards to Ecological Design it is important minimize eco-impacts in the construction and operation such as Compressed Earth Block (CEB) in the construction of buildings.
• Combined Heating & Power Unit (CH&P) powered by the Digester.
  • Supplementary Energy Systems - Should be considered so that other renewable options are available to power farm/center/community-ecovillage. In many cases the biogas production will not be enough and as well it is a good idea to have back up sources of power.
  • Integration of Solar Energy Collection with the Building Design - This may include Integration of biogas and supplementary systems with the CH&P unit. Biogas could be used to power a CH&P unit that then produces heat for a integrated geothermal heating system
  • SolaRoof - This may lead to synergies of existing IFS model construction basics and possibilities through the utilization of ambient and solar radiation collected in greenhouses and building structures.
  • Solar Thermal - Sunvention/Tamara system is another consideration as a possible integrated power solution. However, instead of relying of passive solar systems to collect solar radiation the Solar Thermal design focuses solar radiation on a focused point to heat oil which then heats water into stream to power a electrical turbine.
  • Geothermal Component - includes storage of energy from summer for use in cold months to keep greenhouse at optimal temp
• Carbon Sequestration Component - outline how greenhouse could function as carbon sink for IF&WMS to sequester carbon associated with the burning of the methane gas in the CH&P
• Community Development Outreach and Feedback Loop - (ABCD) The idea is to teach people to think like ecosystem and develop prototypes as social enterprise profits centers for replication in each region of intervention. This would include considerations on how to better integrate the education and cultural development.

IF&WMS Benefits/Attributes

Promotion of Biodiversity - IF&WMS approach can offer an efficient and highly productive way to produce food sustainably and organically as an alternative to the current monoculture approach which views agriculture as simply growing a particular crop based on assumption that you can isolate that product from the diversity and complexity of systems that surround it. Variations on the Theme - The compelling aspect of the IF&WMS design is that Whether it is soyabean, coffee, chocolate, sugar, alcohol or fish, chickens or dairy, the ZERI model itself offers a complete ecosystem approach and the IF&WMS is a particular best practice or emerging best practice upon which that method can be applied. IFS for example can be developed using the "liquor" from sugar refining (which might otherwise be burned or dumped in a river as a potential pollutant) to produce alcohol which then is inputted into the biogas system and then the integrated farm itself. This includes Siting Considerations. Climate Considerations: Integrated Farming or Zero Waste Agriculture (Wikipedia post) is a very versatile system. Dr Ho of the Institute of Science in Society notes that Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) includes a temperate and tropical design:

1. Northern climate system is not as as productive because biological vitality is reduced in Winter (4 key points or systems).
2. 5 point southern system for the tropics

Innovators

Here is a list of the principal people involved in the development of IF&WMS:

1. George Chan - ZERI Environmental Engineer who pioneered the development of Integrated Farming outside of China.
2. Alexandre Takamatsu - A biologist at TECPAR who headed the effort at TECPAR (in coordination with ZERI Brazil) to develop several prototypes of IFS in Brazil based on Prof Chan's advice and consultancy.
3. Gunter Pauli - Helped coordinate efforts to develop several IF&WMS prototypes include Fiji, Nambia and Benin including Songhai Farm (which Prof Chan was not direcly involved in).
4. Li Kangmin? - Part of the team of experts who spearheaded Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) in China by working closely with rural people in China.
5. Jacky Foo? - Introduced Prof Chan to Gunter Pauli in 94. Jacky Foo is currently active in promoting bioengineering and integrated farming
6. Tom Duncan - Experience with CEA in China and Permaculture and AquaPonics in Australia. Has developed a consulting group in Australia called Ecoplan that includes a section on Integrated BioSystems.
7. Dr Ho - physicist who became attracted to Prof Chan's work as she did research on Integrated Farming. She has published several articles in support of his work on her website and organization Institute for Science in Society and seeks to develop a temperate climate IF&WMS in UK called Dream Farm.

References

As with most innovative approaches there is no one technology or approach that suits all applications and situations. Various approaches have particular areas and applications where they work best at. Below are references for Integrated Farming and related approaches.

1. Dr. Martins has operated a closed loop organic farm in Brazil for more than forty years. All of the animals eat only what is produced on the farm, and all their waste and vegetable wastes are digested anaerobically and aerobically in this digester. First the methane is removed for cook stoves and to heat the digester, then the CO2 is captured for the plants use, and then the finished effluent is used as a hydro-organics solution and fertilizer for other plants like trees growing in soil. Project Overview The second link is to the index of his great teaching site?
2. Closed Ecological Life Support Systems? CELSS? - Way to link IF&WMS work to space travel
3. Perpetual Harvest - David Davis is working with Chris Marron to develop a Urban Integrated Farming System. This could also be used in arid environments because it controls the release of water into the atmosphere. Also note that in actuality if we are striving for Zero Emissions, and maximum food production, Carbon Negative footprint and minimum footprint this may be the way to go.
4. Hiefer Foundation Promotes Integrated Farming in Vietnam
5. Common Heritage Corp - John Craven has been very influential in promoting Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) which uses the temperature difference between sea level water and deep subsurface water to produce energy.
6. Permaculture?

IF&WMS Global Initiative
I have been considering how we might pool our resources to develop a global initiative along the lines of developing Integrated Farming and Waste Management Systems (IF&WMS) and other integrated systems to promote sustainable development and empower rural communities.

Outlining the Business Model
My thought would be to have focus of this social enterprise business model on Sequestering Carbon and Methane rather than providing products, because most of the communities targeted in this venture will need to invest their natural resource development and utilization on their own capacity. Thus while operating and taking advantage of the CDMs which are a free trade mechanism and byproduct of neoliberalism, the venture has the potential to develop an entire new regime to mitigate massive global imbalances in the utilization of global resources. And the resource for this effort will be the very externalities that are causing Global Climate Change - Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. So by designing systems to not only mitigate GHGs as climate neutral we should strive for being "climate negative". Exploiting the Comparative Advantage of Southern Climates
The key to this is to design systems in harmony with the climate and realities of the South instead of the Northern climates. Southern climates have a major advantage that has not been fully utilized; a 12 month growing season We can harness this advantage by using Integrated Farming to maximize the rate of agricultural productivity to utilize waste biomass. Yet this is not so much an opportunity to export valuable biomass and human resources to affluent regions, as it is a chance to address urgent local needs for reliable food, water and energy supplies. Using CDMs to Finance Holistic Approach to Sustainale Development
The core idea I think is to design a CDM program that enables a new development model to emerge that is holistic and multi-sector oriented. This includes the promotion and dissemination of Integrated Farming to local farmers to promote sustainable development while also seeking the implications of that model in addressing urgent health care and nutritional needs well as the linkages with education and the rediscovery of indigenous culture to build sustainable societies.