Today’s Brewery, Tomorrow’s Farm

Posted on February 27, 2019 by Douglas

In April of 2014, the Minneapolis Star-Tribune reported on a venture called Urban Organics. The concept was aquaponics, a system of growing plants using fish and bacteria to produce nutrients for the plants. I commented on this article here. Over the past five years, both Urban Organics and the concept of aquaponics have made progress in the world. An article on Urban Organics recently appeared in Outside magazine.

Today’s brewery, tomorrow’s farm

In 2014, Urban Organics was using the Hamm’s brewery on the east side of St. Paul, Minnesota. Since then, they have moved to the Schmidt brewery, which closed as a brewery in 2002. The Hamm’s location is about a tenth of the size of the Schmidt location. Urban Organics General Manager Dave Haider explained, “Breweries are great for aquaponics, as they need a source of water, which we have in the form of well houses on site. They also have strong foundations built to handle large volumes of liquid.” Today’s brewery, tomorrow’s farm.

A growing worldwide idea

It is my understanding that in 2014, the world’s largest aquaponics facility was in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. Since that time, aquaponics projects of larger scale have been launched in both the USA and China. Superior Fresh in Wisconsin is scheduled to produce 160,000 pounds of Atlantic salmon each year, and 30,000 heads of lettuce each day. The floating wetlands project in Lake Taihu is not only growing food, but removing the nutrients fueling unwanted algae blooms.

A vote of confidence

Large-scale aquaponics projects have also failed in the past. They have failed in the past due to difficulties with the filtration system. Many aquariums have died painful deaths due to difficulties in managing the levels of nitrites in the water. Likewise, many aquaponics facilities have died painful deaths due to difficulties in managing the levels of nitrites in various stages of the project. In 2014, in the Hamm’s facility, Urban Organics was using a recirculating aquaculture system designed, built and contributed by Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems. Since that time, Pentair, a $7.2 billion global corporation, has purchased Urban Organics outright for an undisclosed sum. I consider this as a vote of confidence that the technical problems that have plagued aquaponics projects in the past can be solved. I consider this a vote of confidence in the future of aquaponics. Today’s brewery, tomorrow’s farm.

A few technical details

In 2014, Urban Organics was using tilapia as the fish. I don’t know why they stopped. An attempt was made to use Atlantic salmon. This attempt failed when the fry contracted a disease. It is unclear to me what would make a particular fish well-suited for aquaponics. But in 2019, Urban Organics is using rainbow trout and arctic char, and reporting success. There was no mention of a hatchery at the Hamm’s facility. The Schmidt facility includes a fish hatchery. There was no mention of insect control in 2014, but in 2019, wasps, ladybugs and mites perform organic pest control. Quite a few refinements have been made to the process over the past five years.

Entering the marketplace

In 2014, Urban Organics was supplying one grocery story in downtown St. Paul. In 2019, their greens mixes appear at supermarkets and co-ops around the Twin Cities. In my local grocery store, the price is comparable to established brands of organic produce. Their char is available at chain of local seafood stores.

A bigger deal than salad

I take particular interest in Urban Organics because it is a way of producing food that cannot be disrupted by climate change. The New Message from God teaches that humanity has changed the climate to the extent that it will begin to change on its own. Over the years, the climate will change in ways unfriendly to traditional agriculture. This paragraph is from the revelation “The Race to Save Human Civilization.”

“Primary here is literally how will you feed the peoples of the world when the world loses 30% of its agriculture, which is what you are really facing, you see? Violent weather, the change in the climate and the impact upon the world’s geologic and biologic systems will create so much imbalance that even if you could find a home for all of the displaced peoples, how would you feed them? And the residents of the receiving nations, how will they respond towards this?”

The New Message from God teaches that “a thousand solutions” are needed to respond to an increasingly difficult world. I consider Urban Organics to be one of those thousand solutions. I offer gratitude for their progress, and best wishes for their future success. Today’s brewery, tomorrow’s farm.

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I See My Colleague Though A Century Hence

Posted on February 7, 2019 by Douglas

The worldwide community of the New Message from God recently observed the 2019 Messenger’s Vigil. The Vigil is a series of live and online gatherings in the month of January. In this Vigil, we contemplate the life and work of Marshall Vian Summers, the Messenger of the New Message from God.

I see my colleague though a century hence

On both the first and second nights of the Vigil, Marshall Vian Summers laid out a roadmap of the future of the New Message from God, by giving four purposes for its existence.

“The first [purpose of the New Message from God] is the survival of humanity in the future, facing the Great Waves of change and the reality of the Greater Community of life in the universe, a universe where freedom is rare and influence is powerful.

Second, to prepare for our emergence as a free race into this Greater Community, for we are going there. It is coming here. It is happening. There’s no retreating to some pastoral life in the past. There’s no embracing some former imagined existence, some golden era that probably never was. We are going into this reality.

Third, to foster a greater intelligence in the world and the human family, to call forth the power of Knowledge that lives within each person and give them an opportunity to experience this, to discover it, and to develop it, for their own benefit and ultimately for the benefit of others.

And lastly, to keep this Knowledge alive in the world, where it can so easily die out, as it has died out in so many other worlds, or was never known to begin with.”

I stretch myself again in space and time.

State Fair of Minnesota. I see my colleague though a century hence

I see my colleague, though a century hence. While Marshall’s words about the purpose of the New Message are very important, it was something else he said that sparked something in me. At the very end, he said,

“I ask you to affirm Knowledge in others, as I have affirmed Knowledge in you. I ask you to share Revelation with others, as I have shared Revelation with you. Seek for those who are searching, who are reaching, not for those who are asleep and cannot be awoken. They will come to you; you will find them. And you’ll be prompted to say something to them, as they’re standing next to you in line at the store, or wherever this might happen.

This is my testimony. It is being recorded for you, for those who are watching from afar and for those yet to come who knew, who will find out what the Messenger said to his people at the time of Revelation.”

What was sparked in me? I could clearly see in my mind’s eye a student of the New Message from God in the year 2119. A hundred years from now. They were watching this recording of the 2019 Messenger’s Vigil. They were nodding their head, taking encouragement and spiritual nourishment.

The New Message from God goes to great lengths to say that nothing is guaranteed. Humanity may not survive an increasingly difficult world. Humanity may fail to defend its freedom. Knowledge may die out in this world, as it has died out in so many others. Maybe what I saw was merely happy imagination or wishful thinking. But it’s something I haven’t seen until relatively recently. I see my colleague, though a century hence.