A Proposition to Decrease Urban Obesity through Aquaponics and Urban Repurposing

We hear about them all the time: Food crises across the world. From the comfort of our couches, we’ve all seen the commercials with the host explaining the plight of starving children; their environment and lack of food, school, and many basic necessities. These people come from places that we couldn’t find on a map if we tried. Half paying attention, we’re looking at our Facebook feed, walking over to the thermostat and turning it up to a comfortable seventy degrees. During the drive to work or school, a story is on the radio about food riots in Libya as we take another sip of our Starbucks Iced Hazelnut Macchiato. So far away, it seems almost like a dream, these places we’ve never come close to experiencing; we believe that this is the one and only face of starvation and malnutrition, how fortunate we are to live in a country that doesn’t have that problem.

Looking around we assume there is no way we can be suffering from food issues, with more than two thirds of the US population being overweight or obese (Faststats, CDC, 2013). But behind the thick exterior lies the rampant problem of malnourishment in our country. On the issue of hunger and malnourishment in the US, Kevin Concannon, the undersecretary of the food nutrition and consumer services of the USDA stated “This is the most urgent time for our feeding programs in our lifetime, with the exception of the Depression… It’s time to face up to the fact that in this country of plenty, there are hungry people” (Malnutrition, LSU, 2012). We live in a time when a box of macaroni and cheese can be bought and feed the whole family for about the same price as a couple of apples. This problem that was always hidden in plain sight is beginning to come to light as the economy teeters and unemployment rates continue to rise. Many families must choose caloric density over nutritional necessity. With the number of people relying on food stamps increasing by 20,000 a day, about one in eight Americans now rely on them or another program. (Malnutrition, LSU, 2012). We in Massachusetts are not immune to this; the ebb and flow of our economy from an industrial based economy to a service based one has left many behind. In places such as Holyoke, abandoned buildings and mills remind families of the jobs and lifestyles that were once prevalent in these areas. To understand how these current conditions came to be it is necessary to take a look at what made Holyoke an industrial powerhouse.

On October 22nd, 1849, the first dam across the Connecticut River was completed by the Hadley Falls Company. With its completion, the dam harnessed approximately 30,000 horsepower from the river and made it available for industrial power in the city of Holyoke. (O’Donnell, 2012). Water wheels in the city’s canals harnessed the power of the water and transmitted this through a series of pulleys and belts to run the machines in the growing number of mills. Textiles came to the area and with the start of the Civil War; Holyoke became an industrial mecca almost overnight. After the Civil War, the textile market became volatile and supplies of raw materials became more difficult to source due to the inconsistent supply of southern cotton. With mills to fill and a surplus of power, Holyoke shifted its gears to become one of the largest producers of paper in New England, further cementing its legacy as an industrial titan (Barrett, 1989, p.60). Another innovative method of power production came to Holyoke in 1906 when a dedicated hydroelectric mill was constructed near the original Hadley dam. The advent of cheap electricity would bring hundreds of businesses and a large workforce to the area (Barrett, 1989, p.182). However, with the changing climate of manufacturing in the U.S., success would not last forever.

By the mid-1960s, all but a few paper companies had moved south to the Carolinas due to the lower cost of labor and rent. Cheaper manufacturing overseas led to the outsourcing of thousands of jobs and with the industrial shift toward the production of electronics in the U.S., the old mill buildings were left derelict and viewed as giants of a bygone era. This, coupled with the Urban Flight phenomenon of the 1960s and 1970s, created a vacant and depressed downtown (Young, 2012). Without industry, Holyoke became a ghost town. Unemployment became rampant and the physical structure of the city began to deteriorate.

According to a study done by the Massachusetts Community Health Information Profile (MassCHIP), 33.9% of the families in Holyoke with children under 18 years of age are below the poverty level (Socio, MassCHIP, 2013). Total cases of diabetes in Holyoke are 2% above the state average and cases of obesity are about 10% greater than the state average (Diabetes, MassCHIP, 2010).  Unfortunately, due to the inaccessibility of fresh produce and healthy food choices for these families, diabetes and obesity rates are increasing in the city. These families are forced to provide through the use of food stamps and EBT cards and often choose the most bang for the buck; calories over vitamins and minerals. In response to these figures, community garden initiatives to produce fresh healthy food in Holyoke have grown in popularity. An organization called Nuestras Raices is one of the most successful and well-established of these initiatives. They have developed a competitive strategy involving community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, community gardens, and classes to help people who live in the area develop their farming techniques and put fresh food on their tables. Nuestras Raices maintains these programs through converting old, unused lots throughout the city into community-grown food facilities, including a thirty acre farm (Strategic, 2013, p.5).

The solution to obesity in Holyoke is to provide affordable, nutritious food to under-privileged families that is produced by the community itself. This could and should be accomplished by converting the unused paper mills into facilities dedicated to aquaponic based food production. Aquaponics is an area of crop production that is certainly not new, but is much underutilized as far as urban agriculture goes. Aquaponics is a system of food production that combines both aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (soilless crop production); the two working together to form a symbiotic cycle that greatly reduces the negative aspects associated with each. Rather than growing in a solution of heavily fertilized water, the aquaponics crop receives its nutrients from the waste products generated by the fish or other aquatic food products. In the process of filtering these nutrients (mostly nitrogen-based) from the water for growth and development, the plants effectively clean the water to be recycled back into the fish habitat. This type of crop system alleviates the need for expensive non-organic fertilizers for the plant crops, along with reducing the tedious task of cleaning up after hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds of fish.

Not only do aquaponic systems reduce some of the downfalls of hydroponics and aquaculture, but the quality and amount of fish and crops produced from relatively small areas is quite impressive. Any crop suited to grow in a hydroponic system can successfully be cultivated using aquaponics, including leafy greens, tomatoes, peppers and countless other vegetables. Growing crops in a soilless system can produce yields up to 60% higher than when using conventional soil, and aquaponics can actually outperform a standard hydroponic system by 30-40% (Nichols, 2008, para. 4, 14).  Tilapia, being a species of fish that can withstand a wide array of environmental conditions, is by far the most common species grown aquaponically. Yields in experiments held in the U.S. Virgin Islands approached 130 kg every six weeks from a roughly 35 square meter tank (Rakocy, Bailey, Shultz, and Thoman, n.d., para. 1, 21). Being that the standard mill building in Holyoke would allow for aquaponics systems many times the size of the one used in these tests, the yields of crops and fish potentially produced could be staggering.

These facilities would provide both plant and aquatic based foods of incomparable freshness and quality for consumption. We would utilize the unique infrastructure of the mills with window placement that maximizes plant exposure to sunlight and the hydroelectric power generators that would provide all the necessary energy. With the increased availability of local produce and fish, we could not only provide low cost food to the individual residents of Holyoke, but to other food-based businesses in the community. The aid of these businesses would allow us to move large quantities of our food and make a profit to further sustain our aquaponic farm.. A satisfactory demand for locally grown produce and fish in the area could also yield the expansion into neighboring mills.

The efficiency of this business structure would ensure the sustainability of the aquafarm by providing low upkeep costs, which would allow for a safe investment for individual investors looking to improve their communities. Being a for-profit organization would open different investment, loan, and grant opportunities not available to non-profits. Our biggest hurdle is the initial start-up investment. The US Small Business Association offers Guaranteed Loan Programs, in which the SBA doesn’t lend the money but finds other benefactors to invest and loan money. The SBA guarantees that all loans are repaid, lessening risk for potential investors (SBA 2014). They do so by using the assets gained from the loans as collateral (SBA 2014). A more specific loan option would be the CDC/504 Loan Program that is available to profitable organizations only; it provides funds of up to ten million dollars specifically for attaining land and equipment for a burgeoning business. Our vision of an urban aquafarm currently meets all the criteria necessary for this loan. There are many public policy factors that would increase the amount of funding available to start an aquafarm, including our use of alternative energy resources, business district revitalization, changes necessitated by federal budget cutbacks, and expansion of minority business development (SBA 2014). The presence of the hydroelectric power generators alone could provide us with a loan of up to 5 million dollars for our estate and infrastructure needs (SBA 2014). The National Institute of Food and Agriculture has an abundance of grants in which an urban aquafarm would qualify for, particularly the Agriculture and Food Research Initiative: Food Security Challenge Area. NIFA (2014) explains the grant is specified towards:

1. Plant health and production and plant products;

2. Animal health and production and animal products;

3. Food safety, nutrition, and health;

4. Renewable energy, natural resources, and environment;

5. Agriculture systems and technology…(p. 2)

With these kinds of criteria and goals an aquaponic farm in Holyoke would make a great candidate for this grant. With our goals of providing safe, energy efficient food for a community that needs it, a multitude of loans, grants and investment opportunities are available to acquire the initial resources needed to get a self-sustaining aquafarm started.

Furthermore, the Western Massachusetts area is a strong candidate for these types of facilities. The strong passion for agriculture and sustainability throughout the region is evident through the vast farms in Hadley, the farming school at Hampshire College, and the agricultural history and wide array of sustainability programs at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Agriculture is at the heart of the people in Western Massachusetts and it is ingrained in the culture. With this anticipated regional support, the creation of internships for agro-passionate students would be possible, reducing operational costs even further.

The expansion of the urban greenhouse network in Holyoke would also help to alleviate the issue of malnutrition in low income areas. The word “malnutrition” is derived from Latin; the prefix “mal-” from “malus,” meaning “bad,” and “nutrition” from “nutritio,” meaning “nourishing” (Etymonline). Therefore, malnutrition literally translates to “bad nourishing.” Malnutrition can arise from obesity, starvation, or any situation in which a person has inaccessibility to nutrient dense foods. Given the sometimes low monthly allotment of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, more commonly known as food stamps, nutritious food options can be limited for low income families. Currently, 42% of Holyoke’s population is reliant on food stamps (Ring, 2013). Although food stamps are a good resource for individuals and families who could not otherwise afford food, many SNAP recipients shop to maximize quantity in favor of quality.

This issue of quantity versus quality is driven by the fact that the most calorie dense and filling foods are often cheaper than fresh produce. According to Dr. Thomas McInerny, the former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Poor families buy cheap, high-calorie junk food because it’s filling, but it lacks nutrients needed for proper child development…the two main consequences are later-in life diabetes, and iron deficiency that, especially in the first three years of life, can damage a developing brain so that children have trouble learning in school. (Jalonick, 2014)

The story of the Salas family of south Texas further supports this evidence. Blanca Salas, a single mother of five, supports her family using monthly SNAP benefits. At a rate of about $1.50 per meal, Blanca stocks up on cheap preservative and fat laden foods so that her children do not go hungry. Her 13-year-old daughter Clarissa is suffering from early-onset diabetes and she shares her cholesterol pills with her 9-year-old son Antonio (Saslow, 2013). This is becoming an increasingly common scenario amongst SNAP-dependent families. Aside from money that the government spends providing food stamps, there are also increasing healthcare costs resulting from this system.  Saslow (2013) claims that every dollar spent on nutrition education saves the government $10 in future healthcare costs. This proves that it is important to be aware of the interconnectedness of government programs when implementing something like an urban greenhouse.

Urban greenhouses are an effective solution to this problem because the shortening of the supply chain from greenhouse to supermarket reduces transportation costs, resulting in lower food costs for consumers. This would help to reverse the cycle of government spending that occurs as a result of malnourished food stamp recipients; if healthy food became more affordable, demand for it would increase and medical bills would consequently decrease. As mentioned earlier, Nuestras Raices has already succeeded at increasing produce accessibility in Holyoke, so urban greenhouses would also be prone to succeeding.

When compared to surrounding areas, the citizens of Holyoke and Western Massachusetts have a higher rate of poverty (Hunger & Obesity, 2011). Some towns, Holyoke included, are known to possess hunger rates up to six times that of the average for the state (Local hunger facts, 2014). Hampden County as a whole has more than 17% of its citizens living below the poverty level, with the city of Holyoke being one of the main contributors to these numbers; the city’s population is over 40,000 and almost 40% of its inhabitants are living in poverty, a level that is impossible to ignore (The Pioneer Valley, 2012).

While Holyoke lacks healthy food choices and high incomes, it has an abundance of vacant industrial buildings just waiting to be put to good use. The increasing success of urban agriculture and the integration of agriculture into a building’s footprint makes a strong case for the city of Holyoke to follow this trend based on its available resources. City dwellers are turning to urban agriculture as a means to improve food security and safety, reduce their carbon footprint, and improve their intake of nutritious food. In major cities across the globe, industrial areas have been repurposed and converted into different types of food growing operations including rooftop gardens, vertical gardening, and aquaponics operations. Urban agriculture is becoming increasingly popular these days for good reasons; not only do plots in urban areas yield surprising amounts of produce, but the locals gain practical hands-on experience through cultivating fresh food that can positively impact diet related habits (Bellows, Brown, and Smit, 2004). There are many existing examples of how underutilized urban land and buildings have effectively been used to provide locals with more diverse and nutritious food options.

One example of a company that has successfully achieved such an operation is Lufa Farms, located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In 2011, Lufa Farms became the first agricultural company to successfully build a fully functional commercial greenhouse on the roof of a building (“Lufa Farms”, 2014, para. 1). Not only does this facility use the limits of urban space to its advantage, but the water saving and growing techniques used are designed to have as little impact on the environment as possible.

Another example of urban agriculture innovation, The Plant in Chicago, Illinois, is taking urban food production and vacant building reuse to another level. According to the company’s website: “The Plant is working to show what truly sustainable food production and economic development looks like by growing and producing food inside an repurposed industrial building.” (“What is the plant?”, 2014, para. 1). Inside this 95,000 square foot former meatpacking facility, one-third of the space is dedicated to aquaponics operations, and the rest of the space is used for vertical gardens and other businesses whose waste contributes to the power source for the entire building. Food waste from businesses in the building and around Chicago, which amounts to roughly 27 tons a day, is consumed in the odorless anaerobic digester, with the resulting methane captured and used for electricity and heat (“What is the plant?”, 2014, para. 7). With all of the various operations inside the repurposed building, it is a net-zero energy system, replacing what little power is taken from the grid with excess produced by the building’s infrastructure. This kind of project, as overwhelming and complicated as it may seem, could be a reality in Holyoke and cities like it.

Although there are existing instances in which converted greenhouses in urban areas successfully provide the community with increased levels of high quality and affordable produce, there are still some perceived flaws in the system that need to be addressed. For example, the current owners of these dilapidated properties may be seeking more profitable ventures than conversion to greenhouses. This argument can be refuted by the fact that if the lot is purchased outright, then the previous owner has no justifiable reason to argue about what the usage is. This also holds true if the purveyors of the greenhouse operation are fully capable of affording the rent. Additionally, urban greenhouses are profitable in ways unrelated to the almighty dollar. Many greenhouses generate profit simply by the money they do not need to spend. Well-established urban greenhouses, such as Brightfarms, operate on the previously mentioned principle that cutting distance and time from the supply chain will drastically reduce costs for supermarket chains and the people who shop there. According to Brightfarms CEO Paul Lightfoot (2012), “more than half the cost of [conventional produce] is the supply chain…less is truly more” (TED Talk).

Another obstacle in the conversion process might stem from those who suggest that the amount of energy needed to produce food would not allow for a cost effective solution to the issue of unused mills. In actuality, the mills themselves were designed and built to address these very issues. In building the mills it was necessary that developers placed windows in a way that would maximize the amount of natural sunlight for workers throughout the year. Fortunately, the landscape of Holyoke and the layout of the mills in accordance with it would also inherently provide energy efficiency in these proposed greenhouses. In the 1840s, investors from Boston took notice of Holyoke’s potential as a water-powered industrial city due to its ideal location along Connecticut River’s Hadley Falls. Throughout the 1850s, canals and paper mills simultaneously developed along the river, giving rise to an infrastructure based mostly on hydropower (Lotspeich, 2009). Despite the fact that hydropower use in Holyoke has decreased since the end of its reign as the world’s top paper producer, many of these hydropower plants continue to be in use today. Since hydropower facilities and paper mills in Holyoke are more or less complimentary, there may still be some existing connections between the two that could be easily utilized in greenhouse development.

Finally, the idea that any urban agriculture project is doomed to failure if there isn’t a strong community influence could be an impediment to getting the greenhouse project off of the ground in the first place. Luckily, it has already been proven that the necessary community support is present in Holyoke. There is a strong urban agriculture movement in Holyoke called Nuestras Raices that converts unused land to grow and sell food. The Spanish phrase nuestras raices translates to “our roots,” which alludes to the fact that the organization is deeply embedded in the Holyoke community. The organization started as a few community gardens throughout the city and has since expanded, building a community finca, youth organizations, green jobs, and community kitchens (“Strategic”, Nuestras, p.13).  The organization continues to expand to this day. This kind of expansion could not be possible if the community was not receptive to the ideas of urban agriculture. Furthermore, the Holyoke community takes pride in their ability to provide fresh, local food for themselves and an opportunity to broaden their horizons with the addition of aquaponic greenhouses makes their ultimate goal of self-sufficiency more attainable.

Food scarcity isn’t a new issue, but it is a growing one. In the face of climate change, development over fertile lands, and other human and naturally caused dilemmas, we need to be more dynamic with our environment. We need to fix a problem that isn’t just a minor inconvenience, but a basic necessity for life.  Our malnourishment may not look like the starvation you see on television, but it is no less real. The idea of an urban aquafarm might be new and some may doubt it’s viability because of this, but with a strong expanding urban farming community, mill infrastructure that would be energy and waste self-sufficient, and a multitude of loan and investment options, an aquafarm in Holyoke would provide a consistent and secure source of local, nutritious, environmentally friendly cost-effective food source to a community that not only wants it but needs it.  Humans have only made it this far because we’ve always adapted and used what resources we had before us. In Holyoke we have unused buildings and mills with untapped potential to generate their own power with the features and space to enable aquaponic facilities, and in turn, the community will thrive.

References

 

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Evan