These farms use innovative techniques to grow more food, faster, in less space, using rainwater and renewable energy sources like solar or wind power. Still, they are not well known in the U.S., and so the Coalition undertook the mapping project to help people locate these farms and learn more about them.

The new map is a work-in-progress, the Coalition expects to add more farms and additional details to each entry over time, including what is grown and where products can be purchased if they are sold off-site. Is there a farm you know that is not on the map – tell Recirculating Farms Coalition about it!

Check out the new map!

Growing food in urban environments, through eco-efficient methods like recirculating farming, right where the food will be used, creates sustainable and affordable sources of local food. (See similar farms in action in pictures and videos).  Moving food shorter distances means fresher food for consumers and using less fuel for shipping and refrigeration – a plus for our planet. This also reduces costs for growers, savings that can be passed on to consumers, making good food more affordable. (Learn more about the benefits of recirculating farms here).

Creating new sustainable farms also means growing new local green job opportunities – a great way to help rebuild our ailing economy as well as a better food system!

Aquaponics is an eco-efficient method of growing fish and plants together in one system using constantly cleaned and recycled water in place of soil.  These recirculating farms can be small scale, to grow fresh food for a family, or larger, to feed a village or community or can be built as a commercial enterprise (see these farms in action in our slideshows and videos.  Nelson and Pade, Inc. offers aquaponic systems and growing supplies, training and workshops, consulting, information on aquaponics and tours of their aquaponics greenhouse in Wisconsin. They also recently started teaching a full college course on aquaponics at the University of Wisconsin.

John Pade, who like Secretary Brancel, grew up on a dairy farm  in Wisconsin, sees aquaponics as the future of agriculture.  John Pade  shares, “An aquaponic greenhouse can produce a substantial amount of fish and vegetables in a relatively small space. Therefore, you can feed people locally, eliminating the dependence on imported food and the high cost of transportation.”

Rebecca Nelson comments, “We are honored that Secretary Brancel and Representative Ballweg initiated the meeting with us, taking the time to learn about our ocmpany and the growing aquaponics industry.  We appreciate their interest and willingness to learn about new and innovative businesses in the state of Wisconsin.”

In the past two years, Nelson and Pade, Inc. has hosted over 500 people from 48 US states and 23 countries as attendees of their 3-day aquaponics training workshops.   Workshops are offered bi-monthly and are open to anyone interested in learning more about aquaponics and controlled environment agriculture.  Learn more here.

The rooftop farm will be built on Federal Building #2, renamed Liberty View Industrial Plaza, an 8-story 1.1 million-square-foot warehouse. Salmar Properties’ redevelopment of the building, coupled with BrightFarms’ rooftop design, is part of the Bloomberg administration’s plan to revitalize Brooklyn’s industrial waterfront.

The rooftop farm will both help rehab the building and provide a source of local produce. It will grow enough crops to meet the fresh vegetable consumption needs of up to 5,000 New Yorkers, create jobs, and prevent as much as 1.8 million gallons of storm water from going into local waterways. By eliminating the length and complexity of the produce supply chain, this farm will grow produce that is fresh and sustainable.

Brightfarm’s CEO Paul Lightfoot presented at TEDx Manahattan in January along with our Executive Director Marianne Cufone, discussing recirculating farming.

Adding a recirculating farm to supply fresh local food makes this already unique restaurant even more interesting. For the past four years, the Eatery has been a successful deli and catering service (see their daily menu here), run by 19 residents with intellectual and developmental disabilities. It is a project of the Arc of Meriden, an organization that provides comprehensive, full-service, community-based opportunities for people with disabilities, like job training, such as running the Eatery.

The Arc Eatery is a favorite lunch spot, and they cater to all the businesses in Meriden’s Research Parkway industrial park.

Eventually, the Eatery plans to grow tilapia or trout that will be new menu items, and vegetables will be sold at the local farmers’ market as well as cooked and served in the deli.

Check out the video below about the Arc Eatery and it’s new recirculating farm!

Aquaponic greenhouse yields food for business: wtnh.com

Recirculating farming is expanding worldwide and is becoming very popular in the U.S., especially in urban environments, as people look for sustainable and efficient ways to grow fresh, healthy food. See photos and videos of recirculating farm systems, including aquaponic systems.

The course “Introduction to Aquaponics”, will first be available for the Spring 2012 semester and is offered through UWPS Continuing Education, Department of Biology, and the Northern Aquaculture Demonstration Facility. The class was jointly developed by Dr. Chris Hartleb, Professor of Biology at UWSP, and Rebecca L. Nelson and John S. Pade of Nelson and Pade. Online lectures run from March 1 – May 11, 2012, each with a self-study session followed by a live chat with one of the three instructors. The hands-on lab sessions will be held at Nelson and Pade’s demonstration greenhouse in Montello, WI, May 21-23, 2012.

One of the main challenges for widespread development of recirculating farming is a lack of trained growers to become farm designers, managers and workers. This new course will help to propel development of aquaponic farming forward by providing comprehensive training in recirculating growing techniques at the university level.

Rebecca Nelson says “This course has the potential to grow into an aquaponics minor and eventually an aquaponics major at UWSP.”

The course covers an introduction to and history of aquaponics, applications and benefits, system components, water quality dynamics, environmental control, plant crop choices and plant biology, fish selection and fish biology, integrated pest management and biosecurity, daily operation and record keeping, good agricultural
practices, economics of aquaponics and marketing.

Students at UWSP as well as students from other colleges and universities may attend the course, through UWSP Continuing Education. Registration is through UWSP Continuing Education Office: http://www.uwsp.edu/conted/credit/Pages/default.aspx

For more information, please contact Nelson and Pade.: email: nelson@aquaponics.com, phone: 608-297-8708.

Nelson and Pade also offers 3-day Aquaponics and Controlled Environment workshops. Please check the 2012 schedule here.

Attendees of workshops can earn one credit (graduate or undergraduate) or Continuing Education Units (CEU’s) through UWSP. Click here for more information on aquaponics workshops.

Now, with support from the Recirculating Farms Coalition and the New Orleans Food and Farm Network, AMPS is designing and building new urban recirculating systems for various community and commercial entities in New Orleans. Hollygrove Farm and Market just debuted the first ever “aeroponic” garden – a series of hydroponic towers that will provide about 40 pounds of greens weekly, (see photos here) and AMPS is planning to build an aquaponic farm behind the Food-Co-op in the 9^th Ward to grow plants and fish together in one system.

The recirculating farming movement is growing throughout Louisiana, with established farms existing in Lafayette, Ponchatoula and the Northshore. Now it’s caught on in the city of New Orleans too, and more projects are planned for a number of locations – like downtown. Some of the new farms will host growing workshops for farmers, cooking classes for true farm to table cuisine and more. Check back with us here for updates as these farms and programs grow!

Brightfarms is building a network of growers to supply supermarkets with locally-grown produce including lettuce, tomatoes, and herbs. The endeavor includes training, technology and tools to work with supermarkets. Brightfarms provides the capital to construct the greenhouse and provides an agreement with the supermarket to purchase the produce grown at the farm.

BrightFarms is seeking interested people with entrepreneurial spirits who have a passion for farming, sustainability, food quality and share the company’s mission to reduce environmental impacts from industrial agriculture.

Eligible candidates should have a minimum of 1 year of hydroponic growing experience and be located in New Jersey or Pennsylvania.

For more information about the company, please visit www.brightfarms.com. To apply, please send a resume and cover letter to: recruitment@brightfarms.com.

Recirculating farms include hydroponic, aquaculture and aquaponic farm systems. These farms are capable of providing healthy, local food grown in an eco-friendly way.

TED conferences are known for taking an innovative approach on everything involving technology, entertainment and design. They are famous for embracing the ideas of innovative people to benefit the world we live in. *The x (after the TED) means that it is a self organized event.

“Changing the Way We Eat” featured speakers making waves in the food world. Experts spoke about hydroponics, labeling controversies, and the impact of factory farms. Our own Marianne Cufone introduced recirculating farms and how beneficial they are!

The conference was in New York, but even those that couldn’t attend in person, saw it live on their website. Videos of the presentations are now available – so we at Recirculating Farms Coalition encourage you to check it out. Click here to watch Marianne Cufone’s talk.

By teaching people about recirculating farms, we can, together, help change where food comes from; and by changing where our food comes from we can in turn ‘change the way we eat!’

See another video featuring Marianne explaining recirculating farms and how our Coalition started.