Course: SAT 230 Managing Food Production Systems in the Urban Landscape

Reading and Multimedia Assignments

Reading Assignments
Reading Assignments

The following articles from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel are about two different aquaponics companies in the Milwaukee area. First is Sweet Water Organics a company within the city limits of Milwaukee.

Perch return to local waters - in an old factory

Sweet Water Organics produces perch in their aquaponics system along with a variety of vegetables.  They are located in an old industrial building that has the size to support their current and planned operation.  It is interesting to note the fish of choice, perch, rather than the more common tilapia.

Perch are a traditional fish all around Lake Michigan and were a staple of Friday night fish fries.  With the decline of the commercial perch fishing industry they are no longer available on a commercial basis and this company intends to fill the void, making their choice of fish potentially more profitable.

Urban farm in Racine is no fish tale

The second article is about Natural Green Farms in Racine, Wisconsin, south of Milwaukee.  Like Sweet Water Organics they are located in an old industrial building, the JI Case equipment factory.  They are also an aquaponics company producing fish and vegetables in their facility.  They currently produce about 7,000 heads of lettuce per month and believe that if they could expand to fill all four floors of the building they could produce as much as 4 million heads of lettuce and 1 million pounds of fish annually.

Of note in the article is the cost of electricity to run the grow lights which produce the lettuce, forty cents per head at their current rate.  The cost would decrease as production scales.  Another notable lesson; they run the lights at night, when utility rates are lower.