Novel Manufactured Aquaponic/Hydroponic Raft Design to Address Food Safety Deficiencies and Plant Growth Opportunities

Aquaponics is a rapidly emerging form of agriculture poised to provide farmers a highly sustainableand profitable means of producing locally-grown nutritious food. The majority of commercialaquaponics farmers utilize deep-water culture (DWC) systems with floating rafts and usuallyfabricate 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 fordomestic aquaponic growers. HFC's durable and cost-effective rafts will comply with evolvingfederal food safety standards and allow for organic certification. Additionally HFC's innovativetechnology will incorporate novel design elements that will optimize plant growth and enableeffective raft sanitation. Phase I research will explore the effect of multiple design features on plantgrowth across a range of common aquaponic crops and investigate the effect of cleaning procedureson potential raft materials through biofilm and microorganism assessments. Top-performingresearch prototypes will be field-tested and undergo economic evaluations to demonstrate thetechnical feasibility and commercialization potential of HFC's novel raft technology.The company's manufactured aquaponics rafts will provide farmers with a cost-effective alternativeto homemade rafts and imported hydroponic rafts. This will in turn support the continuing growthof the domestic aquaponics industry and increase the nation's nutritious local food production andfood security.