Aquaponic Greenhouse Business Model

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Operations

  • Based on Aquaponic Greenhouse prototype
  • 7' Towers with 22 plants each
  • 44 tower base model
  • Shelves on walls
  • Ponds with Tilapia for fertilizer
  • 800 still base module, scalable to multiples
  • Rain catchment for water provision and avoidance of water costs
  • Deepot automated planting with Seedbot
  • Entire structure is 3D printable with the OSE Terrabot including ponds, glazing, shelves, towers, plumbing, pumps

Ergonomics and Possible Economic Model

  • Seeding - 5 minutes for 10,000 plants as time to deposit seeds n trays for Seedbot
  • Planting - 100-plant trays take 5 minutes to place in holes
  • Harvest - plants are delivered on trays, with pots, and customer empties pots. Harvest is 5 minutes for 100, 25 minutes for 500 biweekly plants
  • Cleaning - Trays are pressure washed via another Universal Axis Bot with Plastic Rods. Or by hand in 10 minutes on wash table with ozonated water
  • Soil fill table - single 100-trays in 5 minutes
  • Delivery time - 2 hours for 20 clients. Every 2 week delivery. Plants keep growing as they are alive. 25 plant tray is delivered, and old one is picked up, with $5 tray deposit
  • Total time - 5 hr 40 min per month time requirement
  • Check.png$160/hr revenue with 1000 plants sold per month at $1/plant. This does not account for trays.

Economic Model

  • Proof of above ergonomics results in a robust enterprise model - even if proven at 1/20 the productivity, it results in a $320k/year enterprise if done full time by one person, so it is worth exploring.
  • Delivery: delivery of model suggested through a 24 person cohort in 4 years of the OSE Apprenticeship. Even at a base 'unproductive' state it has a high chance of succeeding.

Keys to Success

  • Open knowledge integration
  • Tight plumbing to minimize humidity
  • IPM and rapid plant cycling, companion plants
  • Good airflow
  • Automation

Crowd Development

  • Needs Seedbot, production ergonomics proven
  • Needs lage 3D printer for startup. Needs plastic recycling
  • $300k should do it, crowd-funded by entrepreneurial stakeholders in an incentive challenge

Next Steps

  • Aerial drone version of the same eliminates planting time, but since deepots need to be placed in towers, via Seedbot assistance, drones don't necessarily save time