Aquaponics on Campus – A Growing Trend

Aquaponics is quickly gaining popularity in the commercial farming industry, and as a result, many customers are discovering it as well. This has led to more awareness of just how beneficial aquaponics can be all over the globe. As a result, some schools are eager to begin teaching their students about the next possible solution to world hunger.

One organization, called SchoolGrown, was established in 2014 by a group of Aquaponics enthusiasts who observed that students weren’t getting enough hands-on experience growing their own food. These enthusiasts noticed that a growing trend across the globe, the loss of the connection between one’s experience with food and one’s consumption, was a trend on campuses as well. What if we could teach students more about the importance of this connection? Would it solve many of the problems we have today regarding consequences from poor health choices and the consumption of food-like products? SchoolGrown decided to find out.

Their biggest focus is on teaching sustainable agricultural practices and spreading aquaponics to schools around the United States. They host field trips for kids and monthly workshops for adults, and their group of volunteers maintain their aquaponics system and harvest. The group’s co-founder, Sundown Hazen, was inspired in part by his four daughters. He wanted them to have more awareness about their food’s origins, and felt that the educational system might not adequately provide that for them. After working at an Apple store in the San Francisco area for 10 years, he decided to become a part of the solution.

Hazen’s fellow co-founder was an engineer and an aquaponics enthusiast. Together, they noticed that while school gardens can often be burdensome for schools, an aquaponics system could be self-sustainable enough to relieve that burden. As a result, schools could teach their students about food and farming in a whole new, sustainable way. They lease land from each school under their program, which further removes burden from the school system. Each greenhouse is a three year commitment, and after that, the project can be reassessed.

While aquaponics is fantastic as an example for a farming lesson, its intricate self-designed systems make it ideal for teaching STEM programs as well. Students use a bit of science, technology, engineering and math when setting up a system, troubleshooting problems and maintaining the system. In addition, because many ancient cultures used systems similar to aquaponics for crop growth, it offers a lesson in history.

The goal for Hazen and Parr is to inspire an entire new generation of farmers. As Hazen stated, “Farming is no longer about how to use a shovel and a rake.” He said, “It’s about how to run a robot, and work the Web.” Recent studies show that agriculture jobs are struggling to find qualified graduates, as there are only enough knowledgeable graduates to fill about 60-70% of the jobs available each year. Organizations like SchoolGrown are hoping to raise that percentage.

So far, the group has built its first L.E.A.F. (Living Ecosystem Aquaponics Facility) greenhouse in San Lorenzo, California, and they’ve consulted with schools as far away as Alaska. After all, because of their resistance to drought conditions and their ability to grow large indoor crops, aquaponics system are ideal in almost any part of the world.

A small aquaponics system can be relatively inexpensive, but SchoolGrown sets up large, commercial sized gardens that can cost up to $75,000. While that may sound steep, the program presents a model to recoup the costs from the system rather quickly. SchoolGrown helps raise $25,000 of this from just 80 community members who would be willing to buy a $25 box of produce for a school quarter, and $25,000 typically comes from local sponsorships. For example, a local hardware store could have their name on their greenhouse if they donated lumber. The remaining amount comes from a crowdfunding website already established by SchoolGrown.

While SchoolGrown has made headlines across the United States, there is an increasing number of organizations who have similar missions. These organizations are popping up in every corner of the globe, with systems of all sizes and budget ranges. In Arizona, Aquaponics USA seeks to teach aquaponics on a smaller scale to those as young as first grade. Three elementary schools in Tucson are already running systems and teaching young children about their food connections while introducing them to STEM in the most practical way possible.

Some schools are taking aquaponics a step further, and also teaching the students acts of charity in the process. At Garinger High School in North Carolina, all of the produce grown is donated. Their aquaponics system produces 200 heads of leafy greens each week, and all of it goes to the Charlotte “Meals on Wheels,” program.

Even as far away as Haiti, at St. Vincent’s School for the Handicapped in Port au Prince, disabled children receive an introduction to aquaponics with the small system on campus. The systems are managed by students, who are blind, deaf or physically disabled, as they learn how to grow sustainable food from reliable sources. The students collect data on water quality, plant growth and other metrics.

Also in Haiti, an Aquaponics training center running completely on solar energy educates locals about aquaponics. In Mahanaim, Haiti, aquaponics farmers “in training” can go to the Aquaponics Training Center to learn about how to test crops and keep their systems healthy. 

In conclusion, SchoolGrown is just one of the countless organizations who seek to make positive changes through Aquaponics. Their desire to educate an entirely new generation of farmers provides promise that someday all farming will be sustainable and responsible. It also creates insurance for future generations facing droughts, poor soil conditions and other obstacles, as aquaponics can create a reliable food source in even the most challenging environments. If we seek to have a future where each generation is armed with the knowledge to achieve these goals, we should begin with strong STEM backgrounds and hands-on sustainable farming experience.