Tilapia Farm

Tilapia fish like this one are helping Jim and Jami Brown to grow lettuce in an aquaponics system in Southern Oregon.

(Motoya Nakamura/The Oregonian/2013)

MYRTLE CREEK — As water circulates through the aquaponics system, it has a dual purpose: providing a home for fish and nutrients for growing lettuce.



The aquaponics system that Jim and Jami Brown have built on their property produces organically certified mini-green and mini-red romaine lettuce.



The couple has gradually turned the system into a commercial venture, selling the living lettuce over the past couple of months at farmers markets, Sherm's Thunderbird Market in Roseburg and to Seven Feathers Casino Resort in Canyonville.



It's considered living lettuce because it's sold with the root system attached to the head and the roots enclosed in a bag with water. The moisture keeps the lettuce fresh for up to about three weeks.



The growing process combines aquaculture with hydroponics.



The Browns have about 1,000 tilapia split between two 3,200-gallon tanks. The water circulates the fish excretions, which are high in ammonia, through two settling tanks, where the solids settle to the bottom.



The remaining effluent flows into troughs, where it is broken down by bacteria into nitrates and then into nitrites. Floating in the troughs are large perforated pieces of plastic foam with romaine lettuce heads growing up from 2-inch pots in each hole.



The roots hang down into the water and provide a home for micro-organisms to flourish, feeding on the nitrites and cleaning up the water before it is pumped back into the fish tanks to begin the cycle again.



The Browns are harvesting about 1,800 heads of lettuce a week and have room to grow more as the market for the vegetable expands.



"The easiest thing to do is grow the vegetable," said Jim Brown. "It grows very quickly. The biggest challenge has been finding a market for it."



"We like growing something that is sustainable and self-reliant," added Jami Brown.



The couple described the process as a closed loop aquaponic growing system, with the engine for the entire 26,000-gallon system being the fish.



While the Browns are new to aquaponics, they are the 22-year owners of Flyboy Naturals, a business that specializes in growing flowers and then freeze drying the petals for sale. They had the space on their 11-acre property to diversify, and they were intrigued by the aquaponics process and philosophy.



"With drought conditions, it seemed like a neat idea," Jim Brown said. "We'd heard of other people starting projects like this because of the drought, especially down in California. Our system uses only 5 percent of the water a normal ground crop of lettuce would use."



The couple experimented with about 15 types of lettuce before deciding on the mini-green and mini-red romaine.





Unlike the examples shown here, the red and green romaine lettuce that the Browns cultivate are smaller and not grown in soil.

"They're nice compact little heads of lettuce that make nice individual salads," Jami Brown said. "They grow well in the system, and grow quickly."



From the time a lettuce seed is pushed into the chopped-up coconut fiber in a small pot, to the mature head of lettuce being taken from the trough to be sold, takes about six weeks during warmer weather and eight weeks during cooler months.



Initially, the Browns' lettuce growing system was not certified organic, but they found their product couldn't compete with other conventionally grown lettuce. So they applied for and received U.S. Department of Agriculture organic certification from Oregon Tilth. The lettuce had much less competition in the organic marketplace.



Jim Brown said one customer said the lettuce was so sweet, he didn't have to drown it in salad dressing.



At Sherm's and at farmers markets, the lettuce sells for 99 cents a head.



"It's different, something I haven't seen other stores carry," said Rodney Chandler, the assistant produce manager at Sherm's. "The product itself is absolutely beautiful, a one-of-a-kind item. From everybody I've talked to, they seem to really enjoy it. It has good flavor."



Chandler said the store is selling 30 to 40 heads of mini-green lettuce a week and about 50 heads of mini-reds.



Steve Rolston, manager of the Roseburg Sherm's, said the company is looking into the possibility of selling the product at its two Medford area stores and at its Klamath Falls store.



Another benefit for the Browns that the aquaponic system provides is the liquefied solids that are sucked from the bottom of the settling tanks and then sprayed on the base of the roses that are grown for Flyboy Naturals dried petal business. Jim Brown called it "a better fertilizer than what we had been using."



When the Browns built the system, it was constructed with expansion in mind. The couple is planning also to grow tomatoes and cucumbers in the aquaponic system, beginning in 2015.



"It's been a big learning curve, a lot of trial and error," Jim Brown said. "But things are beginning to level out."



"We've made it much more streamlined, more efficient, more organized," Jami Brown said. "People's response to the process and to the product has been so positive."

Meanwhile, the Browns are not the only ones with an aquaponics venture in Oregon. Michael Hasey and Olivia Hittner link tilapia with vegetable farming also in Southern Oregon through their venture, The Farming Fish.