Can indoor farming fix food deserts? These Louisville students think so

Deep within the hallways of Western Middle School for the Arts, a garden-topped fish tank invites passersby to watch food production at work.

The small tank is part of an aquaponics system that's maintained by a small group of seventh and eighth graders, members of the school's Student Technology and Leadership Program.

The students spent months last year learning how to sustain the indoor farming system, which uses the fish's waste to fertilize produce like kale and microgreens in a connected bed.

Their work won the students second place at a statewide competition last spring. And with a new, larger system, the students hope to take home first at the same event this April.

A win would be a major accomplishment in anyone's book. But the students have a larger goal to meet — ending food deserts in their community.

"We knew we wanted to make a difference in the STLP program," said T'von Terry, 14, a freshman at Waggner High who helped start the aquaponics project at Western Middle in 2018.

"This is the best we could come up with. It doesn't require land. In my eyes, I think it's an easier way of farming."

KSU is donating koi fish to fill the group's rain barrel system, Rylee said, which the students could eventually sell to raise money for their program.

At large-scale aquaponics farms, like FoodChain, people also raise fish like tilapia that they can sell to grocers or restaurants along with the vegetables they grow, producing both a protein and greens in one system.

Brianna Woods, 14, lives off Westport Road and said her family has never had trouble getting to a grocery store. But as a student at Western Middle, she said the aquaponics project has opened her eyes to issues other people in her community face.

"Westport may be where I live, but this school is my community," the eighth-grader said. "I've gone to school downtown since preschool. To improve where I go to school and my community was really cool."

George and Western Middle teacher Catha Hannah said they'd like to eventually expand the aquaponics program to include an outdoor greenhouse, where their students could show kids from other schools how to grow their own produce.

They've already been approved to travel to a school in Hazard, Kentucky to speak with students about getting into aquaponics, Hannah said.

"We're hoping when we become an authority in aquaponics, it will catch on and we'll become a destination spot for fresh food," George said.

Ken Thompson, a research and extension associate at KSU who's visited Western Middle's program, said he was impressed with the students' passion and interest in urban farming.

Thompson works with K-12 students across the state and is currently leading aquaponics courses at six high schools through a grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"It's unbelievable what we're seeing with the students I've been collaborating with," Thompson said. "It's getting these kids really interested, curious, engaged into (the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

"The goal is to see if we could get kids interested in something like this. This could potentially change communities."

[This story was originally published by the Courier Journal.]