養耕共生紮根都市食物沙漠

Aquaponic farming takes root in urban food desert
June 12, 2012|By Mari A. Schaefer and INQUIRER STAFF WRITER

David Young gives aquaponic plants a spray of water at Partnership Community Development…
When Chester police raided a former drugstore in May 2011, what they found gave new meaning to the term high tech.

In the basement was a hydroponic marijuana farm of serious sophistication. Nearly 100 pot plants, from seedlings to lush, 4-foot bushes, flourished in large tubs of water. Faux sunshine from dozens of commercial-grade grow lights powered by industrial generators shone down on a crop worth at least $43,000.

The confiscated equipment typically would have sat in a warehouse until it could be auctioned or destroyed. But Michael Jay, a detective with the Delaware County District Attorney's Office, had a brighter idea.

Today, inside a once-forsaken West Philadelphia storefront, the grow lights are giving life to a promising experiment in urban aquatic farming — not only of vegetables and herbs (the legal variety), but also fish.

On the first floor, peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, and basil sprout from 10-foot lengths of rain gutter and bright orange PVC pipe, also spoils of the Chester raid.

In the cellar, about 80 tilapia navigate the fresh waters of a 4,200-gallon tank made from thick black plastic, oblivious to their pan-fried fate.

This is the Urban Food Lab of the Partnership Community Development Corp., a nonprofit that for 17 years has been striving to revitalize West Philadelphia. Many community groups around the city have similar missions. But no other has dived into aquaponic agribusiness.

Less than two years after the venture began with a star-crossed school of goldfish, the reality is still only a glimmer of executive director Steven Williams' ultimate vision: an engine driving rebirth, creating jobs while producing fresh vegetables and fish for the urban "food desert" that is the Cobbs Creek neighborhood.

"This is going to be one of those economic generators," said Williams, whose goal is to employ 50 workers and harvest 7,000 pounds of produce annually.

He expects to be welcoming the first customers by early August. But already, people are stopping by every day to see the operation, he said. "They can't wait to buy from us."

Nationally, the concept of aquaponics — cultivating plants and fish in a recirculating ecosystem — is riding a swelling wave. Community-run farms are flourishing in Chicago and New York, and putting down roots in Baltimore.