As an aquaponics gardener, I am concerned about restrictions, sometimes onerous, that are placed on growing, harvesting and distributing the food that is produced from my backyard system.

There may well be by-laws and regulations in which I am in violation (as has been suggested to me by other members of the urban farming community), merely for growing and consuming food from my back yard.

While commercial food production processes should be regulated and controlled for the protection of the health of the public, I contend that this shouldn't necessarily be applied to the backyard 'farmer', who may wish to give away or sell the excess from his efforts. The concept of 'livestock' is an oddity to the urban farmer, who, although may well have a variety of animals/fish/fowl, would hardly consider these creatures as livestock in the traditional sense.

Encouraging urban farming, including aquaponics, in both private and public spaces would be a positive community advance.