Aquaculture America 2020

February 9 - 12, 2020

Honolulu, Hawaii

RESILIENT AQUAPONIC FOOD PRODUCTION IN TEMPERATE CLIMATES USING A CONTROLLED ENVIRONMENT GREENHOUSE AND A VARIETY OF ENERGY ASSETS

 
Richard C. Shultz*, Pedro Casas Cordero, Abey Torrez, Frank Currie, Luke Spangenburg, Ondine Frauenglass and Stephen Gomez
 
 Santa Fe Community College,
 Controlled Environment Agriculture
 6401 S. Richards Ave.
 Santa Fe, NM 87508
 richard.shultz@sfcc.edu
 

 

Santa Fe Community College has been a leader in education and training for Aquaponic food production since 2013.  Focusing on food production, as well as, energy and water conservation, several commercial production systems have been installed growing a variety of fish and plant species.  A 12,000 ft2 climate-controlled greenhouse was completed in 2019 and commercial hydroponic and aquaponic systems have been installed to train students as the future workforce.  Water use minimization through recycling of nutrient solutions is integral to all cultivation systems.  Safe food production (Good Agriculture Practices) is a major focus of the program and all students are trained and certified in safe food-handling. Small-scale, night radiant cooling trials are being conducted and show promising results for cooling water without the use of high energy demand chillers.  Additionally, through the Office of Electricity (U.S. Department of Energy), a lithium-ion battery has been installed, coupled with the campus solar energy power grid, that will increase the resiliency of the greenhouse operations and shift peak load thereby lowering operational power costs. Once operational the "nanogrid" greenhouse will have the ability to operate independent of local utilities.