HEIFER INTERNATIONAL URBAN FARM
How can fish be used to fight hunger when so many people don’t like seafood? Well, the fish aren’t being eaten, they help the crops to grow through a groundbreaking farming method called aquaponics! Meet HATponics - a company out of Georgia, founded by Ryan Cox. One day, Ryan came up with a new version of HATponics that might just be the key to ending world hunger.
Little Rock’s Heifer Farms downtown location is now home to the first ever commercial, renewable energy-operated aquaponics farm, thanks to a partnership with HATponics! At this sustainable urban farmstead, fish waste and the water they swim around in are used to naturally and organically fertilize enough food to feed up to 200 people a day for the rest of their lives! When the fish were young, the farm could only grow things like different types of lettuce and even strawberries. As the fish have grown up, there are enough resources to grow things like tomatoes, carrots, and cucumbers!
Half a million Arkansans struggle with real hunger, and 1 in 4 are children–it’s not just a world issue, it’s right here on our doorstep! Heifer International is an Arkansas nonprofit organization that has long combated the devastating effects of hunger both in our communities and across the globe. They are excited to partner with HATponics for such an innovative project.
Heifer looks forward to donating a lot of the produce to restaurants and food banks to help their mission reach even further! HATponics hopes for success with this initiative, and they foresee this method of sustainable and natural farming becoming much more common all over the world.
In 2017 alone, HATponics farms fed 7 million humans in 22 different countries - to say this technology is life-changing is a major understatement. The urban aquaponics farm at Heifer has been producing harvest with only solar and wind power since late 2018! As the fish grow, so does the harvest.
We are beyond proud to highlight this awesome project right in the heart of our state’s capital city! It is always a good day to be an Arkansan. Read more about HATponics and Heifer Farms, here. Be sure to keep up with Heifer International on Facebook and Instagram! Even check out the Instagram account specifically for the Heifer Village and Urban Farm.
