The land in West Oakland where Eric Maundu is trying to farm is covered with freeways, roads, light rail and parking lots so there’s not much arable land and the soil is contaminated. So Maundu doesn’t use soil. Instead he’s growing plants using fish and circulating water.
It’s called aquaponics- a gardening system that combines hydroponics (water-based planting) and aquaculture (fish farming). It’s been hailed as the future of farming: it uses less water (up to 90% less than traditional gardening), doesn’t attract soil-based bugs and produces two types of produce (both plants and fish).
Aquaponics has become popular in recent years among urban gardeners and DIY tinkerers, but Maundu- who is trained in industrial robotics- has taken the agricultural craft one step further and made his gardens smart. Using sensors (to detect water level, pH and temperature), microprocessors (mostly the open-source Arduino microcontroller), relay cards, clouds and social media networks (Twitter and Facebook), Maundu has programmed his gardens to tweet when there’s a problem (e.g. not enough water) or when there’s news (e.g. an over-abundance of food to share).
Maundu himself ran from agriculture in his native Kenya- where he saw it as a struggle for land, water and resources. This changed when he realized he could farm without soil and with little water via aquaponics and that he could apply his robotics background to farming. Today he runs Kijani Grows (“Kijani” is Swahili for green), a small startup that designs and sells custom aquaponics systems for growing food and attempts to explore new frontiers of computer-controlled gardening. Maundu believes that by putting gardens online, especially in places like West Oakland (where his solar-powered gardens are totally off the grid), it’s the only way to make sure that farming remains viable to the next generation of urban youth.
More info on original story: http://faircompanies.com/videos/view/internet-food-arduino-based-urban-aquaponics-in-oakland/
Video Rating: / 5
Do you ever do follow ups? Would love to know where some of these people are now
Supperb
Fantastic – this is very very inspiring!
I saw this video a few years ago while I was looking for ways to create a closed system with a fish tank. This video inspired me to look into Arduino and I have started tinkering with one recently. Hopefully Mr. Maundu is doing well with his business. He has inspired a new generation of tinkerers like me. Thank you!
My Kenyan brother making it big
11:10 "Fresh microgreens, everyday" – WIN! That look in his eyes says WIN!
Nice work this many days I is watch the vedio I didn't not understand today after watching I understood wt is aquaponic thanks
Awesome company !
Its beautiful setup in a small place. Its encarage me to start it in india.
I don't want a house… I want a fucking huge shed
Would it be possible to do a follow up on this video, I am interested to find out , if he ever was able to get financially off the ground as a business or if he moved on to other things; this guy is a genius and I would like to know more about him!
Really impressive innovator, what does he use the worms For? Worms could reclaim land and make it suitable for farming again !
Awesome!
From a place with no water, to a place with no soil. Love the logo.
I wonder how is Eric now.
WOW!!!
onestop in fl is offering $10000 for start up maybe is same in Oakland
That’s awesome. I’ve imagined something like this for a while now. I’d love to even implement automations so you can sit back and watch it all grow until harvest
Please define: "arduino"