Aquaponics awareness is growing exponentially as it’s an Agra-Tech concept that is quickly moving into the mass consciousness. In some ways, Aquaponics is to traditional agriculture what television is to the radio or what the computer is to the typewriter—DISRUPTIVE! Aquaponics is causing a revolution in food growing, and it is the most important food-growing technology on and off our planet to date.

Aquaponics is a cross-linked ecosystem that grows both fish and vegetables. Through a process called nitrification, the fish waste is transformed into nutrient rich water to feed the plants. The plants absorb these nutrients and return the cleaned water to the fish. This is done in a multi-pass recirculating system. This natural process makes Aquaponics systems the most efficient, resource conserving food growing technology known today because they grow two crops, Food Fish and Vegetables using 90% less water than conventional farming.

BioPonic Earth has designed proprietary Aquaponics Agra-Tech in their Food Forever™Farms for large-scale food growing starting with a Micro Food Forever™ Farm with a minimum of 700 sq. ft. These Farms rapidly and effectively produce Vegetables and Food Fish. They are ecologically sustainable and free of negative environmental influences. They, therefore, relieve the Farmer/Entrepreneur from soil-born diseases, most pests, weeds, chemicals like herbicides and pesticides and, of course, when the Farmer/Entrepreneur uses Organic or non GMO seeds, they are Free of GMO’s.

We live in strange and challenging times, and Aquaponics is the answer to the three most important drivers for change in how we grow, distribute and think about food:

The Worldwide Food, Water & Fish Crisis:

FOOD CRISIS: On March 25, 2022, President Biden announced that there would be "Food Shortages" in the U.S. In a CNBC on-line article we see that in April of 2020, during the beginning of the Covid scare, “the U.S. Labor Dept reported that prices U.S. consumers paid for groceries jumped 2.6%, the largest one-month pop since February 1974. The price of the meats, poultry, fish and eggs category rose 4.3%, fruits and vegetables climbed 1.5%, and cereals and bakery products advanced 2.9%.” And things haven’t changed since then. The 2020 Global Report On Food Crisis, states that “The number of people battling acute hunger and suffering from malnutrition is on the rise yet again. In many places, we still lack the ability to collect reliable and timely data to truly know the magnitude and severity of food crises gripping vulnerable populations. And the upheaval that has been set in motion by the COVID-19 pandemic may push even more families and communities into deeper distress.” We all saw shelves empty while shocked Americans prepared to Self Quarantine when the fear of Covid gripped our Nation and the World.

In the May 2014 issue of Nat Geo, Jonathan Foley, A University of Minnesota researcher, outlines a 5-step framework for feeding 9 billion people by mid century opening an 8 month series on the future of food. Here’s another shocking statistic regarding the debilitated condition of our world’s soil: “An estimated 75 billion tons of soil is lost annually with more than 80 % of the world’s farming land ‘moderately or severely eroded.”worldpreservationfoundation.org)

FOOD CRISIS:

On March 25, 2022, President Biden announced there are going to be "Real" Food Shortages in the World and in the U.S. One of the causes of Food Shortages is related to the sanctions he placed on Russia due to the Russia/Ukraine War. Russia supplies the world with fertilizer, and fertilizer shortages will greatly impact World and U.S. farmers.

In a CNBC on-line article we see that in April of 2020, during the beginning of the Covid scare,

     "the U.S. Labor Dept reported that prices U.S. consumers paid for groceries jumped 2.6%, the largest one-month pop since February 1974. The price of the meats, poultry, fish and eggs category rose 4.3%, fruits and vegetables climbed 1.5%, and cereals and bakery products advanced 2.9%.”

And things have only gotten worse since then. The 2021 Global Report On Food Crisis, states that:

     "The GRFC 2021 estimates that at least 155 million people were acutely food insecure and in need of urgent assistance (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 2020 in 55 countries/territories that asked for external assistance – the highest level in five years of GRFC reporting. It represents an increase of nearly 20 million people since 2019, when almost 135 million people were in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent, in 55 countries/territories. Around 21 percent of the analysed population was in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 2020, up from 16.5 percent in 2019."

We all saw shelves empty while shocked Americans prepared to Self Quarantine when the fear of Covid gripped our Nation and the World.

But now as Covid subsides, food prices continue to soar around the world and in the U.S. According to the US Inflation Calculator,

     "The average price of food in the United States surged 7.9% in the 12 months ended February [2022], the most since July 1981 and after rising 7.0% previously, according to the latest inflation data published March 10, 2022, by the the U.S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)."

In the May 2014 issue of Nat Geo, Jonathan Foley, A University of Minnesota researcher, outlines a 5-step framework for feeding 9 billion people by mid century opening an 8 month series on the future of food. Right now in early 2022, that future looks bleak. According to the USDA:

     "The food-at-home (grocery store or supermarket food purchases) CPI increased 0.% from January 2022 to February 2022 and was 8.6% higher thean February 2021. Food price increases are expected to be above the increases observed in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, food-at-home prices are predicted to increase between 3.0 and 4.0 percent, and food-away-from-home prices are predicted to increase between 5.5 and 6.5 percent. Price increases for food away from home are expected to exceed historical averages and the inflation rate in 2021."

What's even scarier, all of the above references were written before Russia put a halt on Fertilizer exports and:

     "the CF Insustries Holdings, Inc., a leading gloal manufacturer of hyrdogen and nitrogen products, informed customers it serves by Union Pacific rail lines that railroad-mandated shipping reductions would result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring applicaiton season and that it would be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the forseeable future."

We can only conclude there's not only a war being waged on Fossil Fuels, but there is also a War on Fertilizer that will devastate U.S. Farmers!

In June of 2016, Zero Hedge published an article entitled “FEMA Contractor: Unrest After 395% Food Price Spike Coming Soon”. The author, Claire Bernish, shares her knowledge of a fascinating study conducted by FEMA:

     “employing a desktop game simulation of the conditions of a global food shortage, entitled “Food Chain Reaction”, which resulted in some horrific results."

Many believe that six years later, we have arrived at that horrific place in 2022. Here’s what Ms. Bernish explains:

     “Preparations by various cogs of the national security complex, including FEMA, indicate a coming worldwide food shortage - and a resulting crisis marked by extreme civil unrest around the globe. The world’s food supply could be insufficient to maintain even current populations much further nto the future. And the crisis — which several factors indicate may already be underway — may begin to worsen considerably as early as 2020.

     Employing a desktop game simulation of the conditions of a global food shortage, titled “Food Chain Reaction,” CNA’s Institute for Public Research brought together “65 officials from the US, Europe, Africa, India, Brazil, and key multilateral and intergovernmental institutions,” Motherboard explained. And the Institute, which oversaw the simulation, “primarily provides scientific research services for the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA].”

     According to the website for Food Chain Reaction — no commentary on Orwellian overtones needed — the “simulation and exercise intended

to improve understanding of how governments, institutions, and private sector interests might interact to address a crisis in the global food system,” and took place in early November 2015.

     “The scenario,” the description continues, “is set five years from today [June 2016] in a world where population growth, rapid urbanization, extreme weather and political crises combine to threaten global food security. The game’s players — high-level decision makers representing nations, international institutions, and the private sector — will collaborate, negotiate, make decisions, and confront tradeoffs while dealing with a chain reaction of consequences resulting from their actions.” Participants received the briefing for the game through a newscast, which “challenged players to imagine a global food system under stress due to extreme weather and other environmental factors, urbanization and other demographic pressures, rising global food prices, and falling food stock levels.”

     After receiving information specific to each participant’s national and regional geography and climate, players were also permitted to employ solutions to the game’s burgeoning food crisis scenario on “national, bilateral, and/or broadly cooperative” levels. Divided into four rounds, the simulation found spikes in food prices up to a whopping 395 percent, driven by extended crop failures in key regions, resultant from the confused reactions by international officials, drastic changes in the environment, and skyrocketing oil prices — many similar factors, the report notes, that drove a global food crisis spanning 2007 to 2008.”

This imagined Scenario is way too much like what is happening right now in mid 2022, which is only 1 year beyond the estimated timeline. Are we destined to see food prices spike almost 400% in the next few months? This question and these horrific stats are just a small sampling of what’s been happening and continues to happen in regard to the challenge of feeding a projected global population of 9 Billion Humans. We believe BioPonic Earth can help to solve this daunting challenge not just temporarily until the next crisis but permanently. This is food growing technology that can be passed from generation to generation. It’s the new, locally centered Agriculture whose time has finally come around again.

There is so much more that could be said about the Worldwide Food Crisis, but that's for another format. But before we leave this important subject, here’s another shocking statistic regarding the debilitated condition of our world’s soil:

     “An estimated 75 billion tons of soil is lost annually with more than 80% of the world’s farming land moderately or severely eroded.” We have only "60 Years of farming left if soil degradation continues." (See worldpreservationfoundation.org)

WATER CRISIS IN DEVELOPING NATIONS:

We will be adding more information to this Section in the near future.

On April 4th, 2010, VOA (Voice of America) News published a story entitled “Water shortages Continue to Threaten the World’s Growing Population.” We know this sad story all too well. It’s about the lack of clean drinking water in developing nations which causes untimely deaths in the thousands.

     “The World Health Organization says more than one billion people live in areas where renewable water resources are not available. The problem is especially serious in Asia and the Pacific. A United Nations report says water availability in that area is the second lowest in the world, after Africa.”

In May of 2012, the Atlantic published an article entitled “The Coming Global Water Crisis” which states:

     “The recent UN alert that drought in the Sahel, Brazil threatens 15 million lives is a harbinger of things to come. In the next twenty years, global demand for fresh water will vastly outstrip reliable supply in many parts of the world. Thanks to population growth and agricultural intensification, humanity is drawing more heavily than ever on shared river basins and underground aquifers. This sobering message emerges from the first US Intelligence Community Assessment of Global Water Security. The document predicts that by 2030, humanity's "annual global water requirements" will exceed "current sustainable water supplies" by forty percent.”

Water conservation is the great gift of Aquaponics because Aquaponic farming uses 90% less water than traditional tillage farming. All the water that’s used to grow the Vegetables and raise the Food Fish is kept in the system and continuously recirculated. This is the answer to the U.S. and the World’s Water Crisis.

The National Geographic published an article entitled “Still Water: The Global Fish Crisis” in which the author, Fen Montaigne, says this:

     “The world's oceans are a shadow of what they once were. With a few notable exceptions, such as well-managed fisheries in Alaska, Iceland, and New Zealand, the number of fish swimming the seas is a fraction of what it was a century ago. Marine biologists differ on the extent of the decline. Some argue that stocks of many large oceangoing fish have fallen by 80 to 90 percent, while others say the declines have been less steep. But all agree that, in most places, too many boats are chasing too few fish.”

This webpage hasn’t even mentioned the devastation that the BP Oil Spill and the Fukushima Quake has brought down on our ocean wild life. Those disasters and the real affects of those disasters are pretty much being kept under wraps and have been for years. Suffice it to say, we have and will be losing millions of fish due to oil contamination and radiation.

And time isn’t changing anything. In fact, the dire Fish Crisis is getting worse every year. In an article published on the National Geographic website in late August of 2016 entitled “One of the World’s Biggest Fisheries Is on the Verge of Collapse”, the author explains that:

     “The South China Sea is one of the world’s most important fisheries, employing more than 3.7 million people and generating billions of dollars every year. It is richer in biodiversity than nearly any other marine ecosystem on the planet, and its fish provide food and jobs for millions of people in the 10 surrounding countries and territories. Of those, seven—Brunei, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam have competing claims. But after decades of free-for-all fishing, stocks are dwindling, threatening the food security and economic growth of the rapidly developing nations that rely on them. China asserts a right to almost the entire sea. It has demarcated a broad, U-shaped area that it says has historically been China’s but that under international law includes the waters of other nations. Every other country in the South China Sea dispute, including the Philippines, bases its claims on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the international pact that defines maritime zones and first went into effect in 1994.”

In 1999, China enacted a fishing ban from May 1 through July to help consrve the delicate balance in the South China Sea. This annual ban is still in effect as of 2022.

When millions of people around the globe are raising their own fish in Food Forever™ Farms, the world’s wild fish and oceans will have a chance at recovery.

SUMMARY:

In January of 2022, ItsAFishThing.com published an article delineating the 24 Overfishing Statistics & Facts in 2022. We haven't even come close to winning this battle after a decade between now and several of the above quoted articles.

What we have described here in this three-pronged Crisis is, indeed, frightening and not at all exaggerated. We truly do face dire conse- quences if we don’t shift our thinking about these three important necessities for life on our planet, Food, Water and Fish.

But what is really amazing and exciting is this: “Aquaponics” can nip the whole ugly three-pronged Crisis right in the bud.

BioPonics Earth Can Solve Every Crisis Described because:

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow healthy, organic food without depleting the world’s tired soil.

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow healthy, organic food while being safely sheltered in greenhouses or growhouses where they                are more protected from the effects of climate change.

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow healthy, organic food without using pesticides, herbicides or GMO biotechnology .

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow healthy, organic food without leaching one ounce of toxic waste into the environment.

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow healthy fish giving the ocean’s fish time to recover from near extinction.

     Food Forever™ Farms can grow vegetables and fish while using 90% less water.

It’s a no-brainer. The only mystery is why aren’t there thousands of BioPonic Earth Food Forever™ Farms up and running right now?

To quote another common phrase, “Timing is everything”; and now is the time for BioPonic Earth Food Forever™ Farms. The U.S. is ready and in dire need of this new food-growing Agra-Tech, and BioPonic Earth, LLC, is ready to facilitate the building of Food Forever™ Farms wherever they are needed.

Let's take back our Food System together and Save Our Planet with BioPonic Earth Food Forever™ Farms. Call us at 760-671-3053 to get started today.

Global Water Deficit is the Result of Demand Tripling over the Last Half-century

WATER CRISIS IN THE U.S:

Food production depends on water; so these two crisis situations aren’t really separate as they are forever linked into one—the Worldwide Food/Water Crisis. For the purposes of this page, however, we are treating them in two separate sections.

Farmers in Arizona are facing devastating crop losses due to lack of water. (See article at CNBC online)

     "An intensifying drought and declining reservoir levels across the Western U.S. prompted the first-ever cuts to their water supply from the Colorado River". Driving through Casa Grande, a city of 55,000 people that’s about halfway between Phoenix and Tucson, you’ll see miles of unplanted land, dead cotton fields and dry canals."

As can be determined from the above quote: (See Newsky Article entitled "Some Of America's Largest And Most Important Rivers Are In Crisis")

     "The nation's most endangered river is the Colororado River. America's rivers connect the country, providing most Americans and businesses with a supply of fresh water. 'Unfortunately our rivers are facing a significant crisis,' said Tom Kiernan, president of the American Rivers environmental group.

American Rivers unveiled its annual list of the most endangered rivers, and the trouble spans the entire country. Rivers from coast to coast and border to border are endangered."

They include: Tar Creek, Oaklahoma; Los Angeles River and the Lower Kern River, California; San Pedro River, Arizona; the Coosa River in the Southeastern U.S.; the Atlantic Salmon Rivers, Maine; the Mobile River, Alabama; the Snake River in the Pacific Northwest and the mighty Mississippi River.

     "The 'megadrought' gripping the Western United States has dramatically reduced the Colorado river's inflow, combined with the demands of people and farms. The drought is the worst in 1,200 years. The group behind the list says that's a big part of the problem, but it also blames outdated water manage -ment. But it's not just climate change and drought threatening the rivers. Manmade dams, pollution and too much water withdrawals are all hurting the rivers. The common thread: They're all directly tied to human actions."

As we all know, until the winter of 2016 and early spring of 2017, California, the bread basket of the U.S. and much of the world had also been dealing with a debilitating multiple-year drought. “With its fertile soil, moderate climate, and unparalleled irrigation system, the Central Valley [of California] was one of the most productive agricultural regions on the planet, producing nearly all of America’s almonds, olives, walnuts, and pistachios; the vast majority of its grapes, strawberries, avocados, carrots, tomatoes, and lettuce; and $13.1 billion worth of milk and cattle. California’s San Joaquin Valley, which is poised in the middle of the state has also been smack dab in the middle of what can only be termed a water war that started way back in late 2009.

On September 9th, 2009, the Central Valley Tea Party website published an extensive report on “The San Joaquin Valley Water Crisis”. Here is a brief summary of the history of that situation.

     "In spite of the fact that California’s San Joaquin Valley farmers grow 25% of the Nation’s food, 'over-zealous' eco-regulation such as Endangered Species Act (ESA), Congress’s action and inaction, andjudicial decisions that protect fish over people have cut back water deliveries from the Delta. As many as 500,000 acres of productive growing land will be forced out of production. U.C. Davis economists predict that as many as 60,000 Central Valley jobs could be wiped out by year’s end. Poor rural communities such as Mendota are experiencing summer unemployment rates as high as 40% or more.” (See CentralValleyTeaParty)

The sad truth is this actually happened and would still be happening if not for the massive floods that replaced the drought. In the final days of the vote on Health Care in 2010, some water was turned back on. Yes, water can be politicized, seized and rationed. But as we rolled through 2013-2016, the San Joaquin Valley Water Crisis continued to rage on.

     “The valley's cities such as Fresno and Bakersfield are surging in population while the global demand for food rises, leaving the region facing many challenges: depleted groundwater reserves; deposits of toxins such as selenium that contaminate valuable farmland; and a controversial Endangered Species Act ruling that diverted water from thousands of farmers and rendered 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of valuable farms and orchards dry.”(See TheGuardian.com)

This seemingly endless drought did come to an abrupt end in the winter of 2016 and brought massive floods in place of the drought leaving California in water peril due to too much of a good thing and threatening to destroy cities near the Orville Dam that filled to its capacity and nearly burst. In an article on the BARRON’s website entitled “California’s Water Problems: Too Little and Too Much”, the author Thomas G. Donlan explains:  

     “Nature and neglect leave California with a seemingly permanent water crisis: There’s always too much or too little, and never enough money to get ready for the future. The Sierra Club opposes new water-storage projects and blames climate change for everything. 'The days of predictable weather patterns are gone,' the organization declared recently, which is what the group also had said at the height of the drought. Scientists were making the ridiculous assumption that there ever had been predictable weather patterns in most of California. It’s a certainty that there will be droughts, which will end with floods. But when? The pattern has always been wildly variable. Even if climate change makes the weather worse, both in the direction of floods and the direction of droughts, California has been resisting all of the obvious solutions.”

One water battle was nipped in the bud for a few short years by President Trump in 2017.  He solved the question of who owns the water on privately owned land. Under President Obama, the EPA enacted the “Clean Water Rule” which changed the definition of “navigable waters” to include every body of water in the nation right down to the smallest of streams, farm ponds and ditches. According to a February 2017 article online article, entitled “President Trump Orders EPA to Overturn Obama’s ‘Clean Water Rule’:

     “President Trump signed an executive order directing EPA head Scott Pruitt to dismantle the Obama Clean Water Rule. With this executive order Scott Pruitt will begin repealing and rewriting the vastly overreaching EPA rule which defined all water as navigable waterways, including puddles, ponds and water retention structures.”  

In November of 2021, President Biden reinacted Obama's "Clean Water Rule" so the Yo Yo of new EPA Regulation Rewriting began anew. But these are not the only battles over water that have been raging in the U.S. In several states across the country, Native American tribes are also fighting for their water rights. The current policy in place regarding water rights for Native Americans living on reservations in the west is based on the Winters Doctrine. But the doctrine leaves a lot to interpretation including things as basic as whether or not the ground water is even included in the mandates of the doctrine.

     “This changeability makes it easy for the government to provide insufficient water supplies and it also makes it hard for Native Americans to advocate for more water if they do not have enough. The lack of a specific ruling about Native American water rights also makes it difficult to understand what authority Native Americans have over their allocated water.” (See web.mit.edu)

In the Great Plains and the Southwest, the same situation arises.

     “By midcentury, water is expected to loom as large as oil in the economic and political life of the country, as parties race to lock up supplies. As droughts exacerbated by climate change and by population growth expand in the Great Plains and the Southwest, Indian water rights loom as a largely unsettled — and unsettling — factor that could affect the price and availability of water to millions of homes and businesses.”(See web.mit.edu)

This discussion of our Water Crisis wouldn’t be complete without talking about what happened in Flint Michigan. This is a convoluted story that boils down to bad cost- cutting decisions that let to tainted drinking water that contained lead and other toxins. The city needed a temporary water supply while they waited for the construction of the new pipeline that would connect the city to Lake Huron so they went back to using the Flint River, which had been badly contaminated by industrial pollution, the presence of fecal coliform bacteria, low dissolved oxygen, oils and toxic substances. According to the February 22, 2017 CNN website article entitled “Flint Water Crisis Fast Facts”:

     “The state Department of Environmental Quality was not treating the Flint River water with an anti-corrosive agent, in violation of federal law. The river water was found to be 19 times more corrosive than water from Detroit, which was from Lake Huron, according to a study by Virginia Tech. Since the water wasn't properly treated, lead from aging service lines to homes began leaching into the Flint water supply after the city tapped into the Flint River as its main water source. Effects of lead exposure in children include impaired cognition, behavioral disorders, hearing problems and delayed puberty. In pregnant women, lead is associated with reduced fetal growth. In everyone, lead consumption can affect the heart, kidneys and nerves. Although there are medications that may reduce the amount of lead in the blood, treatments for the adverse health effects of lead have yet to be developed.”

Reuters did a review of a documentary called “Last Call at the Oasis” starring Jack Black and environmental activist, Erin Bockovich. The film asks you to think again if you think only 3rd World Countries have water crises. In this eye-opening documentary you will learn that:

     “A third of US counties face water shortage by the year 2050," Jessica Yu, the filmmaker, told Reuters. "It's not really a solvable problem but we can manage it so much better. This documentary follows environmental activists as they try to hold accountable those who contaminate the Earth's most precious natural resource - clean water.”

According to Yu's research, in just 60 years the aquifer in California's Central Valley could be depleted, leaving barren an area that provides one fifth of the nation's produce.”