Aquaponics is soil less agriculture, where fish waste is used to grow plants in water.

This production system has been a major part of Kentucky State University's aquaculture program, which recently added a Bachelor of Science and Aquatic Science degree, the first of its kind in the state.

In tonight's rooted segment, we caught up with some of the experts and researchers at the university at that university whose work is supporting sustainability and increasing food access.

So aquaponics is a really sustainable form of agriculture.

So think about it this way.

If you have an acre of soil and you want to grow crops in that acre of soil in aquaponics, we can do that in a 10th of an acre.

Right.

So it's very it's 90% water savings and soil based agriculture.

You get two products.

So fish and plants from one input which is your fish feed.

So we're really trying to build a sustainable network of agriculture producers across the state.

This is our water production technologies building.

This is where we house most of our tropical species, mainly warm water species.

So that's things that can't handle the cold winter months that we have in here in Kentucky.

So.

And they're mainly things like sea bass or, barramundi.

We have a lot of tilapia.

We have some saltwater shrimp as well.

And we also have some replicated aquaponic, systems indoors.

So we have, two main lines of research.

We do very, you know, applied research that we can apply directly on farms, stuff that helps our local farmers out and then we have, are more pie in the sky kind of research where we're looking into how these systems work, biologically.

So looking a lot into the bacteria, what they're doing in these systems, things like that.

On the applied side, we do a lot of research, you know, essentially trying to save money for farmers.

And that can be reducing feed rates, things like that.

Feed is one of the biggest costs for farmers, or things like introducing new species that are higher value.

Like the barramundi.

You know, tilapia are great.

They grow really well.

They grow fast.

They're they're cheap to raise.

Unfortunately, they're also cheap when they go to market.

They're not the highest value fish in the world.

And so we're looking at things like barramundi, which will grow in the summer in similar conditions to tilapia, but are, much more valuable when you take them to market.

The aquaponics program here at KSU has been here for about 14 years.

So we started with the replicated aquaponics systems that you in the production building and then about eight years ago built this demonstration greenhouse.

So we really wanted to showcase all the different types of aquaponics and the different scales that we have.

So we have the indoor stuff that we so we can control the environment a little bit more.

And then we also have probably what most people would do in aquaponics, which is a greenhouse or high tunnel production.

So with the the indoor replicated system started really as like based on our collaboration with Food chain.

So that was a USDA funded grant.

So Food Chain came to KSU and said they wanted to start a demonstration commercial aquaponics system.

So we as their research partners said, well, how can we help them figure out how to do this a little better?

So we built the replicated indoor systems that can then any issues that came up in food chain.

Then we could help solve those through replicated research.

In 2024, Kentucky State University was awarded a national Science Foundation grant called Dare Key.

It's a $7 million proposal, which is a the largest, external funding the KSU has ever received for competitive grant programs.

So that's really exciting.

Goal of this project is to build a network around, academics, workforce development and research for soil is agriculture across central Kentucky.

So we have some great partners, including food chain, University of Pikeville, the CTC, and the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation.

So these institutions really don't have a strong track record in agriculture research.

So we're incorporating them, and, and building up that capacity to do serious agriculture research across our state.

For example, University of Pikeville is focusing on soils, agriculture, like for hydroponics, food chain and KFC.

We're doing aquaponics.

And we've even included other institutions like Berea College and Bellarmine in our proposal.

So we're really trying to work across the state to build this network that supports all of these different aspects of the soil agriculture industry in Kentucky.

I see our role as being one where we we are here to help Kentucky.

We're here to help people around this state do better.

But the role of universities is to be a really good partner within the community and to help any way we can.

So we help with aquatic science.

We help nonprofits like food Chain prosper.

They help get meals into the community.

We help educate the workforce that's needed to develop these sustainable agriculture systems.

And that together is just a very harmonious way of cooperating together to really have real world, quantifiable benefits for the members of our community who need it most.

Wow, that's cool to see.

Well, part of the funding from the key grant is also going toward a large greenhouse on CSU's campus that will include more aquaponics systems and will serve as a demonstration area and classroom for students.