What is Blue and why is it Green?
"Blue foods" are foods derived from aquatic animals, plants, or algae. Aquaponics combines elements of both hydroponics and recirculating aquaculture systems to grow terrestrial plants and blue foods. In our aquaponics system, there is zero waste and maximized recycling of nutrients. Therefore, the plants aren’t the only things that are green: this system is eco-friendly and one of the solutions for long-term sustainability.
Grant Information
About US, When Blue is Green
Our project, When Blue is Green, is a USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) funded research initiative. NIFA's mission is to promote long-term agricultural viability, and through the Sustainable Agricultural Systems (SAS) grant, this directs the focus specifically on the economic and agricultural growth of rural America. The BiG project addresses the challenges of aquaponics and aims to make it accessible to stakeholders in the Midwest. The overall goal is to increase local and regional production of adequate, nutritious, and affordable seafood with a minimal environmental footprint, ultimately diversifying U.S. agricultural systems and dietary patterns. To achieve this we will be:
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- Identifying barriers and opportunities for blue foods and aquaponics
- Building an Integrated Aquaponics system
- Developing multi-dimensional sustainability metrics for system assessment and management
- Supporting the aquaponics and blue food industry
- Creating blue foods related educational materials
