Growing fish and vegetables together is the latest collaboration among three SUNY Morrisville professors, thanks to a grant from the New York Farm Viability Institute.
The grant will enable SUNY Morrisville professors Elisa Livengood (aquaculture), Jennifer Gilbert Jenkins (agricultural science) and Adam Olinski (horticulture) to examine the feasibility of aquaculture and aquaponics protein production in community garden spaces.
Existing community gardens and urban garden producers are being solicited to participate in the feasibility study. For more information, contact Elisa Livengood at livengej@morrisville.edu.
Growing and providing a sustainable protein source is a challenge that faces many communities. Aquaculture and aquaponics can be a method of producing this needed source for them, according to Livengood.
“With this grant-supported work, we can better provide assistance for community and urban gardens that wish to expand their offerings to aquaponics or aquaculture, providing communities with a source of protein,” Livengood said.
The study will help to identify barriers, logistical challenges and critical components of the planning process for aquaculture adoption in community spaces.
The data will inform the development of a planning worksheet and a decision tree will provide potential producers the ability to assess the feasibility and scale of the aquaculture operation their logistics and site constraints allow.
“With these tools we also plan to combine that with better access to training through the development of aquaponics and aquaculture microcredentials for producers and community organizers,” Livengood said.