As this Economic Times article points out, many people in India are discovering the benefits of setting up personal and commercial aquaponics systems. Vijayakumar Krishnamoorthy, of Madhavi Farms in Bangalore, started his system a year ago and says that his yield is “eight times higher than that of open area conventional cultivation.”

Students at Coleman Middle School in Tampa are seeing the benefits of innovation through “Just Grow” – a new 11-lesson plan that brings nature into the classroom with an aquaponics system that students care for.

University of Pittsburgh environmental engineering student Kareem Adam Rabbat, along with buddies from Carnegie-Mellon and the University of Michigan, have established an aquaponics facility in East Liberty that houses a 500-gallon tilapia tank and 30 grow towers capable of growing 27 basil plants. The group works to bring fresh food to their community and educate people about where there food comes from. [The Pitt News]

Farmers Tim and Bonny Goodenough switched their 1,400-acre cash-grain operation to an aquaponics farm. At Floating Gardens, they produce tilapia and lots of vegetables and say that “every pound of fish grown on-site equates to 12 to 14 pounds of vegetables produced.” [Ag Update]

 

 

What does the USDA’s decision about organic certification for aquaponics mean for small farmers? An aquaponics farmer gives her opinion on Foodprint.

 

Egypt is in dire need of modern forms of agriculture that increase water conservation and food security and boost the production of clean healthy food. So entrepreneur Faris Farrag set up his enterprise, Bustan Aquaponics with a “strong belief that there is massive potential for the expansion of aquaponics, both regionally and in other locations that have issues with food security and water.” Farrag tells Entrepreneur Middle East, “Many island nations (Puerto Rico as a good example) have a natural need for these types of systems as one of many different approaches to reduce their dependence on imported food without doing significant damage to the very finite resource of clean water.”

According to the Journal-News, Talawanda High School in Oxford, Ohio is going aquaponic. Sophomore students involved a greenhouse program at the school received a grant through Butler Tech Future Farmers of America to expand their existing hydroponic system to include aquaponics. Students did all the work involved with adding tanks and tilapia to their system.

Architect Leopold Bianchini, in collaboration with Café Recyclart, has created an aquaponics facility in Brussels that will allow for creation of eel in green sauce, a traditional Belgian dish, right where the ingredients are grown. Bianchini hopes to make the general public more aware of this species of eel that plays an important role in Belgian cuisine and is at risk of disappearing due to loss of natural habitat.

Austin, Texas aquaponics farm Agua Dulce has become the state’s first certified organic aquaponics farm. Beginning operations in southeast Austin in 2016, the farm sells tilapia and a mix of plants, including lettuce, red mustard, bok choy, mizuna, tatsoi and herbs to two dozen Austin area restaurants.

The University of New Hampshire’s Agricultural Experiment Station has made significant donations of vegetables and fish from their aquaponics system to food pantries and other recipients. The Middletown Press says the station donated almost 5,000 heads of lettuce, 44 boxes of tomatoes, 28 boxes of peppers, 400 pounds of squash and 1,100 pounds of fish as well as fish carcasses that were sent as bait to lobster fishermen in Portsmouth and/or composted at a research farm.