Summary & Intro

Integrated Farming is term used for many different approaches that relate to an more integrated approach to farming. The key consideration is that what has become conventional modern farming is often a very linear approach in which farmers focus on only one or two crops and which a heavy dose of external inputs including petrol, fertilizers and pesticides are used to sustain high levels of agricultural production. As an alternative to this Integrated Farming is a variety of feedback loops in a farming system that mimic natural feedback loops but seek to input technology and human ingenuity to augment them that what Bucky Fuller termed Synergy.

Fish can be eaten, algae can be used as feed, worms from the vermi-culture gin can fed to the fish and fast growing plants like Napier grass can be added which is fowl are added to the pond ecosystem. Excess water in the pond percolates into the surrounding berms providing both irrigation and fertilizer for the crops growing on the berms. Finally aeroponic greenhouses can be added to this system.

Background

Integrated farming as it has evolved has taken on various names and definitions. Prof Chan began as a retired EPA engineer traveling to China on a service learning trip a part of a group of environmental engineers. Then what is now known as Integrated Farming was called by Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) in China and it has been deployed both in tropical and temperate regions there. Prof Chan with the support of UNU, UNDP, UNEP and ZERI took CEA global with the help of ZERI he began to call it Integrated Biomass Systems (IBS). The linchpin and the flagship of the IBS was Fiji. He then renamed it IF&WMS in the later years.

Projects: Prof Chan has completed over 40 Integrated Farming related projects and in the process of promoting it traveled to over 80 countries. A complete Listing of IF&WMS related projects is in the Projects Page.

Definitions and Naming: As with many innovations many different variants emerge and with often confusing and creative names and this is the case here.

• Zero Waste Agriculture (Wikipedia post) - this is Dr Ho's naming.
• Integrated Biomass Systems (IBS) - The naming used in the development of Montfort Boys Town in Fiji.
• Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) - is the name the Chinese came up with during the 70s. A Presentation (PDF) by Dr Wu explains the approach developed in China.
• Integrated Farming or Integrated Farm System (IFS) - a more generalized and broad term that relates to a lot of activities that may not the same as the other definitions. See article at ZERI NM about Integrated Farming by Prof Chan.
• Integrated Farming & Waste Management System - Term Prof Chan came up (basically the same as IFS or IBS).
• Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) - is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs (fertilizers, food) for another. Fed aquaculture (e.g. fish, shrimp) is combined with inorganic extractive (e.g. seaweed) and organic extractive (e.g. shellfish) aquaculture to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability (biomitigation), economic stability (product diversification and risk reduction) and social acceptability (better management practices)

Rationale

1. Waste and Nutrient Pollution - Most of what is eaten is undigested. 15-20% of what we eat is converted into energy and nutrients. The rest ends up as excrement. Much effort has been made to deal with human waste for health and economic reasons but this as been seen as a cost not as part of a productive value creating economy. IFS is designed to create valued added products from organic waste.
2. Lack of Adequate Sanitation in Urban Slums - Conventional sewage treatment has a very high cost esp for urban areas in developing counties and so many planners suffer from a lack of education and awareness about how waste to wealth schemes can help to address this problem.
3. Stabilize Urban Migration and Rebuild Rural Economies - IFS can reduce rural development costs while also reducing the need for expensive farm inputs (such as petrol, pesticides and industrial fertilizers) making smallholder farmers more competitive and thus if was part of a larger mass dissemination in rural regions, it dramatically reduce unsustainable urban migration patterns.
4. Biogas Power - Biogas can then be used as power source as a comprehensive power solution in each community or farm to help increase reliability and at a more general level community self-reliance.
5. Carbon and Methane Credits - Cap-n-Trade regimes pushed forward by Kyoto can help to secure a steady source of income for small holder farms and the agricultural based communities that depend on them.
6. Incentivizing Innovation - A community with an IBS or similar sustainable technology will receive money not just for the scale of carbon and methane sequestration but for the efficiency of its operation in converting unwanted byproducts of human activities into Value-Added Products. The development of an Industrial Ecology around such centers of innovation.

Construction and Budget

Budget - Includes a range of 20-40k in developing country can typical enable the development of a IF&WMS.

Site Selection - Important when considering the sourcing of biomass for the facility (particularly on projects that are not Confined Farming? operations) and also for considering replication within the region where the facility is located.

Construction - Includes the excavation of a biogas digester, piping, shallow ponds and a fish pond as well as aggregrate and cement for concrete work, digester tank material, pipes and any costs for the management and conversion of the biogas into energy. Costs can be lowered by using recycled gas tanks for the digesters. IF&WMS systems have typically been a small scale grassroots approach that often uses physical labor and local materials in the construction, thus enabling relatively low budgets.

Economic Feasibility - TECPAR (http://www.tecpar.br/) (Brazil) has done a economic analysis of 2 IFS projects: the Irno Pretto Farm with 2,500 pigs and monoculture of tilapia, and the Meneguete Farm with 2,000 pigs, 25,000 chickens and polyculture of carps. These studies demonstrate that a properly managed IFS is not only ecologically balanced as well as environmentally friendly, but also economically viable and sustainable in every way.

Integrated Farming Sub-components

Feedlot/Manure Collection manure in IF&WMS flows gravity fed into digester. Prof Chan helped develop a unique system that relied on the relative intelligence of pigs to control where the manure was deposited creating benefits in the design of the IF&WMS as well as improving sanitation conditions on the pig farm.

Digester - The digester is seen as the heart of this system because it does much of the breakdown of the waste and also develops the fractions that will later be collected (biogas, sludge solids and effluent water). There are a range of digester designs and styles. Prof Chan has incorporated the Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) into the IF&WMS approach for one key reason: the system enables a high rate of digestion of the solids, while still enabling a constant flow of effluent and particularly the rapid processing of liuqids. This makes it possible to use a smaller and more cost effective digester than would other have been the case. In the UASB, Hydrologic Retention Times (HRT) are 1-3 days and Solids Retention Times (SRT) are 30-40 days. After processing the biogas is held at the top of the digester and then when it builds up pressure it goes through a pipe to a tank or bladders where it is then stored to be used as needed. The other fractions are then released as effluent into the Settling Ponds/Tanks. Fractions resulting from the digestion process include almost equal parts biogas, effluent and solids. Biogas on smaller scale operations are typically limited to cooking and heating, while on larger facilities can include small scale electrical generation.

Settling Ponds - Settling Tanks consist of the three main tanks. The purpose is threefold to stabilize the effluent after digestion though the facilitation of aerobic digestion by exposure to O2 (such as through aerators), exposure to UV rays which kills many hazardous microbes, and the settling of bio-solids into the settling tank. Before building up to toxic levels, the algae and plankton that grows as a result of aerobic action (that results as a natural feedback mechanism to reduce Biological Oxygen Demand BOD) is then eaten by various creatures as it enters the FishPond. Algae is one product of the aeration activities in the Settling Ponds.

Mushroom Vermaculture Loop - The sludge and solids that is processed by the Digester is then allowed to settle in the Settling Pond and can then be collected and deposited for use in the Mushroom/Vermiculture growing processes.

Fishponds - A key feature of the fishponds is Fertigation - the combination or Synthesis of fertilization and irrigation (fertilization + Irrigation = Fertigation). The IF&WMS by incorporating the five kingdoms of nature, enables a process in the fishpond that creates what is termed mineralized water. This mix of ingredients is achieved by incorporating naturally occurring process and then augmenting them in a bio-integrated system. The result is a plant growing liquid nutrient ideal for the rapid growth of plant life, particularly in tropical environments. The Fishpond ecosystem includes the polyculture and the organisms that are food for the fish. There are major economic benefits of deriving food for the fish from waste but there is a skill set that needs to be considered in terms of Species of Fish added to the system and caring and consideration of them. The process of mixing nutrients with irrigation (fertigation), they can be seen as a version of Aquaponics, since they are all drawing the Mineralized Water from the Fishpond.

Polishing - (Final Stage Treatment before water is drinkable) - Water hyacinth and other water loving plants can be grown here. Consideration has been given for Dr Taqwira's work in shifting the visualization from Water Hyacinth as a pest plant to a key cleaner of polluted ecosystems such as Lake Victoria in Africa and feedstock for IFS. Thus the water hyacinth (with the proper process) can be added (and or complementing) to the mushroom growing derived from the processing of the waste sludge.

Value Added Products/Services Associated with IF&WMS

The residues and wastes of one process, with or without treatment, are used as input for following processes. If possible, INPUTS are from Renewable Natural Resources ONLY, such as Sun, Air, Water, Soil, Bacteria, Fauna, Flora, etc.

• Ponds to store water, which is used many times on the farm.
• Livestock, with feeds from residues and crops on the farm.
• Liquid treatment in open tanks and basins, producing algae and macrophytes.
• Treated liquid (with nutrients) into Ponds. Various natural plankton grown as feeds for fish and shellfish.
• Fish, shellfish and aquatic plants culture in ponds, to be used as feed or food.
• Aquaponic culture of grains & flowers on floats in pond.
• Macrophytes as foods, feeds and macrophytes in channels.
• Mushrooms and earthworms on macrophytes as substrate.

The IF&WMS will not be limited to agricultural production. The integrated biomass system enables the development of a variety of value added products and services including:

1. Fertilizer
2. Crops
3. Carbon sequestration services
4. Ecotourism
5. Restaurant/bakery
6. Value Added Agricultural products such as mango salsa and vinegar, palm oil etc
7. Education and training
8. Business development services
9. Electricity for site operation and in some cases export to the power grid

Related Zero Integrated Farming SubSystems

The goal of this wiki is to highlight Integrated Farming and also to discuss related systems needed to move an Integrated Farming towards the comprehensive goal of Zero Emissions in all areas of design and operation. This includes a comprehensive plan to design IFS projects so that they operate as holistic and Multi-purpose Centers of innovation considering all the major aspects of Zero Emissions and sustainable development include these core areas:

• Low Impact Materials - With regards to Ecological Design it is important minimize eco-impacts in the construction and operation such as Compressed Earth Block (CEB) in the construction of buildings.
• Combined Heating & Power Unit (CH&P) powered by the Digester.
  • Supplementary Energy Systems - Should be considered so that other renewable options are available to power farm/center/community-ecovillage. In many cases the biogas production will not be enough and as well it is a good idea to have back up sources of power.
  • Integration of Solar Energy Collection with the Building Design - This may include Integration of biogas and supplementary systems with the CH&P unit. Biogas could be used to power a CH&P unit that then produces heat for a integrated geothermal heating system
  • SolaRoof - This may lead to synergies of existing IFS model construction basics and possibilities through the utilization of ambient and solar radiation collected in greenhouses and building structures.
  • Solar Thermal - Sunvention/Tamara system is another consideration as a possible integrated power solution. However, instead of relying of passive solar systems to collect solar radiation the Solar Thermal design focuses solar radiation on a focused point to heat oil which then heats water into stream to power a electrical turbine.
  • Geothermal Component - includes storage of energy from summer for use in cold months to keep greenhouse at optimal temp

• Carbon Sequestration Component - outline how greenhouse could function as carbon sink for IF&WMS to sequester carbon associated with the burning of the methane gas in the CH&P
• Community Development Outreach and Feedback Loop - (ABCD) The idea is to teach people to think like ecosystem and develop prototypes as social enterprise profits centers for replication in each region of intervention. This would include considerations on how to better integrate the education and cultural development.

IF&WMS Benefits/Attributes

Promotion of Biodiversity - IF&WMS approach can offer an efficient and highly productive way to produce food sustainably and organically as an alternative to the current monoculture approach which views agriculture as simply growing a particular crop based on assumption that you can isolate that product from the diversity and complexity of systems that surround it.

Variations on the Theme - The compelling aspect of the IF&WMS design is that Whether it is soyabean, coffee, chocolate, sugar, alcohol or fish, chickens or dairy, the ZERI model itself offers a complete ecosystem approach and the IF&WMS is a particular best practice or emerging best practice upon which that method can be applied. IFS for example can be developed using the "liquor" from sugar refining (which might otherwise be burned or dumped in a river as a potential pollutant) to produce alcohol which then is inputted into the biogas system and then the integrated farm itself. This includes Siting Considerations.

Climate Considerations: Integrated Farming or Zero Waste Agriculture (Wikipedia post) is a very versatile system. Dr Ho of the Institute of Science in Society notes that Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) includes a temperate and tropical design:

1. Northern climate system is not as as productive because biological vitality is reduced in Winter (4 key points or systems).
2. 5 point southern system for the tropics

Innovators

Here is a list of the principal people involved in the development of IF&WMS:

1. George Chan - ZERI Environmental Engineer who pioneered the development of Integrated Farming outside of China.
2. Alexandre Takamatsu - A biologist at TECPAR who headed the effort at TECPAR (in coordination with ZERI Brazil) to develop several prototypes of IFS in Brazil based on Prof Chan's advice and consultancy.
3. Gunter Pauli - Helped coordinate efforts to develop several IF&WMS prototypes include Fiji, Nambia and Benin including Songhai Farm (which Prof Chan was not direcly involved in).
4. Li Kangmin? - Part of the team of experts who spearheaded Chinese Ecological Agriculture (CEA) in China by working closely with rural people in China.
5. Jacky Foo? - Introduced Prof Chan to Gunter Pauli in 94. Jacky Foo is currently active in promoting bioengineering and integrated farming
6. Tom Duncan - Experience with CEA in China and Permaculture and AquaPonics in Australia. Has developed a consulting group in Australia called Ecoplan that includes a section on Integrated BioSystems.
7. Dr Ho - physicist who became attracted to Prof Chan's work as she did research on Integrated Farming. She has published several articles in support of his work on her website and organization Institute for Science in Society and seeks to develop a temperate climate IF&WMS in UK called Dream Farm.

References

As with most innovative approaches there is no one technology or approach that suits all applications and situations. Various approaches have particular areas and applications where they work best at. Below are references for Integrated Farming and related approaches.

1. Dr. Martins has operated a closed loop organic farm in Brazil for more than forty years. All of the animals eat only what is produced on the farm, and all their waste and vegetable wastes are digested anaerobically and aerobically in this digester. First the methane is removed for cook stoves and to heat the digester, then the CO2 is captured for the plants use, and then the finished effluent is used as a hydro-organics solution and fertilizer for other plants like trees growing in soil. Project Overview The second link is to the index of his great teaching site?
2. Closed Ecological Life Support Systems? CELSS? - Way to link IF&WMS work to space travel
3. Perpetual Harvest - David Davis is working with Chris Marron to develop a Urban Integrated Farming System. This could also be used in arid environments because it controls the release of water into the atmosphere. Also note that in actuality if we are striving for Zero Emissions, and maximum food production, Carbon Negative footprint and minimum footprint this may be the way to go.
4. Hiefer Foundation Promotes Integrated Farming in Vietnam
5. Common Heritage Corp - John Craven has been very influential in promoting Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) which uses the temperature difference between sea level water and deep subsurface water to produce energy.
6. Permaculture?

Blog

March 31, 2008

Songhai Farm: A Case Study on ICT & Integrated Farming

November 21, 2007

Eric and Jeff Submit Proposal to BFI Challenge (OCT 31)

March 05, 2007

Research on Integrated Farming helps to Fight AIDS while Promoting Sustainable Development

August 24, 2006

Welcome to the Integrated Farming Wiki