An aquaponics farm in Yunlin’s Baozhong Township has an innovative system that’s helping the environment. Farmers use ends of lettuce to feed fish, then use water from the fishpond to feed the lettuce. That prevents the depletion of groundwater, making the farm less ecologically extractive. The farm also hopes to construct a food and farming education center, to spread awareness about its innovative work.

Ends of lettuce leaves, leftover from processing, are tipped into a fishpond as natural feed. Nearby in the greenhouse, water from the fishpond is used to irrigate the lettuces. This synergy forms an advanced aquaponics project.

Chen Ching-shan
Cooperative farm chair
The fish eat the lettuce, then we give the water to the lettuce, and send the clean water back to the fishpond. So this circular way of working is quite a new idea.

In the past, when fish were harvested from freshwater aquaculture ponds, the water would contain too much waste to use again and would be drained away. New groundwater or river water would then be piped in for the next generation. But this improved system means the water is reusable, reducing the depletion of groundwater in a new circular economic system.

Chen Ching-shan
Cooperative farm chair
Our facilities now use a black net. The main thing is that we can produce lettuce in the summer when there’s a lack of vegetables.

Chen Chien-ming
Baozhong Township chief
In the future, we plan to create a space for food and farming education, and facilities for eco-friendly education. We will go further in providing unique local products, and creating job opportunities and tourism.

Farmers continue to hone this large aquaponics system, revolutionizing traditional methods with ecological cycles. This farm hopes a future education center will be a local attraction to benefit jobseekers and visitors.

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