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A few years ago Claude Galipeault watched a YouTube video about food security that spurred him to action.
Galipeault, an electrical instrumentation technician for the city during the day, began researching and building what would become his life’s mission: a biodynamic system to promote sustainable agriculture and help feed the world.
Today, Galipeault is the “Head Lettuce” of Plantonics LLC, the company he’s been working on in his backyard and garage for the better half of three years. Using thousand-year-old technology, Galipeault has developed an aquaculture-based closed-cycle system using mostly buckets, tubes and pipes.
With large tanks filled with tilapia, Galipeault recycles the nutrient-rich byproducts of the fish — fish poo, scientifically speaking — to irrigate and grow vegetables in a solar-powered aquaponic greenhouse.
The fish make nutrients for the plants, and the plants clean the water for the aquatic life in the system. The best part? You can eat both. Galipeault said the benefits of growing this way are many. His system uses 90 percent less water and can pack in more plants in less space by growing them vertically. He’s grown (and eaten) dozens of different vegetables, including potatoes and peppers.
Under the umbrella name Plantonics, Galipeault has come up with a number of different byproducts and techniques to expand sustainable growing. Those include a solar-powered aquaponic greenhouse called Vegetarium, a fish-nutrient soil to replace synthetic fertilizers called Organic Emulsions and Micro Rivers, which can deliver nutrient-filled water underground in place of traditional irrigation systems.
During a tour of his projects this week, Galipeault scooped up some charred embers he soaked with fish nutrients, called biochar, which he said can be added to soil to help it retain nutrients and water.
“You can go to the grocery store and buy good organic food because you have a good job, but I feel that everyone should have access irrelevant their economic situation,” he said. “That’s going to become part of teaching this generation and future generations how to grow their own food.”
To that end, Galipeault has formed a three-year partnership with Armstrong State University to continue researching and developing these biodynamic and sustainable techniques.
On Friday, the university broke ground on Armstrong Aquaponics Research Center, which will include the construction of one of Galipeault’s solar-powered Vegetariums. The first phase of the project is expected to be complete in spring of next year, and students will be closely involved with the design and operation of the facility.
“I’ve got the core, and what they’re going to do is break it down
and tweak it to where it does what we really want it to do,” he said of the research facility. “Now it’s been experimental — I’ve been doing it and it’s worked — but is it the most efficient way?”
Matt Draud, head of Armstrong’s biology department, said he was introduced to Galipeault earlier this year through faculty member Melanie Link-Perez. After a brief tour of Galipeault’s garage, he said, he knew he was onto something. “Literally, within an hour, I knew that this was something we had to do,” said Draud. “It’s a way to engage our students in research that really makes a difference and really matters.”
Although aquaponics has been around for a long time, Draud said, the challenge will be finding new ways to reduce the cost of energy and cost of feeding fish.
“What we’re looking for here is technologies and advancements that would make aquaponics actually economically viable,” he said. “This is going to be really important to feed ourselves in the future.”
Galipeault said he’s excited to have this opportunity and promised his wife, who is battling cancer, to continue his work.
“She made me promise to do this and make sure it moves on,” he said.
Galipeault’s company has been mostly self-funded with some contribution from the Foram Group Charitable Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the Miami-based real estate investment firm. He said he’s in talks with other nonprofits groups to export these technologies to developing countries and populations who lack adequate access to protein- and nutrient-rich food.
“For me, it’s not about money,” said Galipeault. “It’s about feeding the people, that’s really my passion.”
For more information on Plantonics, go to plantonicsllc.com.