Labour Requirements of a commercial system

mcfarm

I guess commercial AP is like any business only more so, as it requires the usual business management skills, plus entrepreneurial start-up skills, plus technical skills, plus some modest capital. A fairly unique combination and risky to apply to an emerging industry with no track record.

AP is very different to a business that revolves around IP and requires commercial in confidence transactions. With AP it all out there, the lack of labour figures notwithstanding, and can be extrapolated from other industries - a fusion of aquaculture and hydroponics. The obvious place to start is the research bodies - extension/ag officers and departments here in Oz and O/S.

One of the things I've learnt over the years, and that includes running business/ entrepreneurial seminars, is that commercial in confidence stuff is b/s in emerging industries of the AP kind. There is so much scope for business that anyone who guards "their information" is just selfish and stupid and will be knocked off eventually. The 'scarcity mentality' of the emerging AP industry is frankly laughable. The market is so huge and so new there is obviously much money to be made in it.

For people/businesses like Joel's, Murray's, John's and so on, the money will be in selling and installing kits for a while. But as the industry matures, and the novelty of AP wears off, the real money will be in turn key AP systems and the servicing agreements with the clients. So just like a swimming pool, the client will buy an AP system and a service agreement to keep it all running/producing smoothly. This is not what most people think when they think of commercial AP, but it will be the biggest part of the biz in any affluent country with a 90% or greater urbanised population.

So if you want to make serious money in AP this is where it will be. Servicing the affluent, time challenged people that are philosophically attracted to growing their own - they will pay someone to keep their AP system productive. So the AP tech will rock up in a van, test all the water parameters and adjust if required, clean the filters, check the fish and plant health and depart having left a check list report with recommendations if any. Now this is where estimating labour requirements will be critical! And it's not the 'fun' part of the business, but it is where the real money will be made - a Jim's AP franchise anyone?

This may not ring true for all the DIYers on the forum, because they would never contemplate paying someone to do what they can probably do better. But for those of you with a business brain, you've been told. Oh, and Australians are early adopters and adapters of technology, so it will be done here first.

Food&Fish

earthbound wrote:

I'm pretty sure red healer fell in a heap not long after it was set up.... :dontknow:

Yep its gone all the fish died

monya

+ 1 red heeler... they had all going for them IMO.... a grant, media coverage... and still flopped

mcfarm

Does Red heeler's demise mean there's some AP gear going cheap?

Dufflight

I think AP on a commercial scale will have to be more interlinked with hydro to be viable. At least to start with. The fish water will be tested and anything lacking will have to be added, depending on what crops. The water then used to grow the plants and run to waste unless it can be clean enough to be used again. And with the cost and quality of labour here I think most of these systems will have to be run in other countries that have cheaper labour.

earthbound

Yeah labour here is just too damn expensive.... Not a lot of interest in the servicing side of the market yet, but I imagine there will be before too long.. We already have our bronze, silver and gold support and service packages worked out...

)

Stuart Chignell

Well I havn't been idle.

tomatoes 4.6hrs/m2 pa drip to waste
Capsicums 1.8hrs/m2 pa drip to waste
Gerberas 1.8hrs/m2 pa drip to waste
Lettuce 1.5hrs/m2 pa NFT
Cucumbers 3hrs/m2 pa drip to waste

These are from Australian case studies in a RIRDC document Hydroponics as an Agricultural Production System"

I calculated the figures based on a full time family member working 60hrs per week. That may have been a bit low on second thoughts.

Anyway still looking for more figures.

RupertofOZ

mcfarm wrote:

So if you want to make serious money in AP this is where it will be. Servicing the affluent, time challenged people that are philosophically attracted to growing their own - they will pay someone to keep their AP system productive. So the AP tech will rock up in a van, test all the water parameters and adjust if required, clean the filters, check the fish and plant health and depart having left a check list report with recommendations if any. Now this is where estimating labour requirements will be critical! And it's not the 'fun' part of the business, but it is where the real money will be made

Hope so... :wink:

swanberg

"pa drip to waste" stands for ??

Simo

Is large scale commercial hydroponics (growing vegetables only) even economically viable? This one wasn't

gnash06

Where is that simo?

Simo

bindoon

TEA20

what a shame :dontknow:

RupertofOZ

You need about 20,000 holes (minimum) ... just to break even IMO...

hawaiinewbie

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/ ... 1285560000

These guys grew a ton of beautiful basil with no buyer. I guess they didn't research markets before taking the leap. I think they had to compost it all. Bummers.

Hawaii recently hosted a large aquaponic conference. Apparently what happened was Friendly Aquaponics wasn't invited because they wanted to discuss their role in the community. I guess they have been selling systems and telling buyers the market exists for the veggies they will grow. Several groups have gone bankrupt.

To me, if you take someones word that the market will exist, well its your own fault when you fail.

Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics