As I was out planting starts in the system today, I was pondering the relationship between science and art in aquaponics. Part of a recirculating aquaculture system is dependent on modern technology and science. We use pvc pipes and fittings, polyethylene tanks, run electric pumps and lights. So our systems are dependent on technology. Science has created the ability to run the kind of systems we use. Technology can be a good thing. But technology taken to it’s final conclusion produces industrial factory farms. It invests millions in honing the production process to what should be the most efficient production system possible. It separates and isolates each element and creates systems to maximize and focus on that one single item, in the belief that focus will provide the greatest efficiency.

But it doesn’t. You cannot grow food the same way you build an automobile. You cannot manage organic, living organisms the same way you manage resources in a phone factory, or a plastics factory. You cannot program life the way you program a computer. It should be stated here that it is a fair question whether what the industrial technological systems are producing is a good thing, and whether the way those things are being manufactured is a good thing in any situation. Nothing gets developed, created, or produced in this world without affecting living systems. But in any case, living food systems which fuel living creatures cannot be manufactured in the same way as inanimate objects.

Which brings us to art. Imagine the most efficient way to paint the sky – a blue line across the top of a piece of paper. Imagine the most efficient way to paint a tree – a green triangle. Actually is there any efficiency in any painting. In an efficient world there would be no Leonardo DaVinci, no Picasso, no Michelangelo. No symphony, no Christmas trees. The list could go on and on. As human beings we do so many things that are not about efficiency. They are about beauty and comfort and love. The least costly, most efficient breakfast might be oatmeal, but eating it every day makes one want to skip breakfast pretty quickly.

Art is the combining of diverse elements in varying ways to create something that is actually more than it’s parts. It is less efficient and yet produces more. It is inherently synergistic. And it is a critical element to any farming venture. Effective aquaponics demands a solid, scientifically designed system that enables a farmer to manage as many elements of the biosystem as possible. But it also requires the farmer to be a conductor who is able to shift, change, and manipulate those elements to create the desired outcome. So it may not be most efficient at first glance to plant some flowers in the system, just to make it look nice, but it might be those flowers actually provide a critical element to the system that allows the lesser available growing space to produce more than it otherwise would. So learn all you can, apply good scientific knowledge to your system, but remember it is also art, you are the painter, and the system is your canvas. The best aquaponics systems are not those with the best science, but those with farmers who love to spend time with their systems, who know their fish, plants, and their system intimately, and who are always watching, playing and tweaking.

Check out these artistic aquaponics systems