audio story by chris zatarain

tucson resident charles collins’ backyard garden may be unlike any other home garden you’ve ever seen. he’s opted to grow aquaponically rather than in a traditional in-ground garden. 

aquaponics is a system of growing food in a closed-loop system that integrates live fish, a soilless medium, plants, and mineral-rich water. charles designed and built his aquaponics system by blending forms of traditional ecological knowledge and modern scientific understanding, as well as low and high technologies to grow an abundance of fresh vegetables and sustainable protein to feed him and his family.  

his work and influence continues to expand across his local community and around the world, with technologies he developed being adapted and used in cutting edge scientific  endeavors at nasa and the world health organization (who). his main mission, though, is in getting more people interested in growing their own food.  

according to charles, aquaponics is the answer to growing abundant, nutritious, and sustainably-sourced food in a changing climate for everyday people interested in taking more control of their food security. 

this piece is intended to acquaint you with the warm and wonderful charles collins, a man working to change the way that the world grows food.

this system is built right in the greenhouse attached to the side of the marine and natural sciences building on roger williams’ campus. this group of talented engineers have designed and built this system that will not only feed the fish, but use no additional water.

its this method of growing food that will sustain the campus community. this ebb and flow system can flood the tray that contains the soil and plants to water them. the excess water drains back into the fish tank, where the freshwater fish will feed off of the nutrient runoff from the plants. that water then goes through a series of filters before flooding the tray, and starting all over again.

the group engineers without borders hopes to travel to developing countries to teach them this way of farming. weather conditions, soil conditions and droughts are no problem for this system. nestled in a greenhouse for temperature control and protection, plants can grow and sustain themselves.

the club is working on getting a solar panel so that there is zero outside energy used to power the pumps circulating the water. they grow plants that are local to rhode island and they sell to local farmers markets and to the dining hall on the very campus they grow on.

with the world’s population taking over farming land, and having all those mouths to feed, hydroponics is the most efficient way to feed all those hungry people. this takes up virtually no floor space and there are companies that are now converting storage containers into full fledged farms.

this is an innovative way to continue to feed the world’s population now, and 50 years from now.