The Climate Science Alliance staff was recently invited by partners from ECOLIFE Conservation to tour their new state-of-the-art aquaponics center in Escondido. Check out what they learned on their trip!
The Climate Science Alliance staff was recently invited by partners from ECOLIFE Conservation to tour their new state-of-the-art aquaponics center in Escondido. “Hailed as the future of agriculture in a land- and water-starved world,” states ECOLIFE Education Director Kait Cole, “aquaponics is a sustainable method of food production which uses aquatic animals to grow plants in recirculating, nutrient-rich water with no harmful pesticides.”
The Aquaponics Innovation Center (AIC) was constructed as a research test facility to look at new approaches to growing food in our ever changing landscape. Aquaponics Technician, Martin Niwinski, expertly walked Alliance staff through the entire aquaponics process and the benefits of this type of culturing in an urban setting and beyond. Compared to traditional agricultural processes, aquaponics utilizes 90% less land and water and reduces the use of harmful fertilizers. More impressively, the Innovation Center yields significant plant growth — almost all of which is donated to local food organizations to provide fresh produce to the people in our community who need it the most.
ECOLIFE Conservation is an international organization providing solutions to mutually benefit underserved communities and imperiled wildlife around the world. Currently, they do this through developing innovative technologies and educational programs to improve on the use of natural resources such as water, land, and forest.
Agricultural systems, such as those at the Aquaponics Innovation Center, present unique and critical opportunities to mitigate carbon within our changing atmosphere. The Alliance is grateful for the work ECOLIFE Conservation is doing in our community and looks forward to continuing our partnership connecting climate impacts to food systems through ongoing research, adaptive management, and innovative community engagement.
