Sustain - EP01: How Colorado Aquaponics Is Changing the Food System

"The food system is out of balance," says JD Sawyer, founder of Colorado Aquaponics, which houses an aquaponics farm known as Flourish Farms. "We've got to figure out a way to have higher quality foods using less resources, period, or it's not gonna work. It's really gonna take a grassroots effort. Instead of fighting the model, we're just gonna have to change it." Aquaponics is defined as an eco-friendly system that recirculates water from a fish tank through a vegetable grow bed. Nutrients from the fish waste feed the plants and the plants filter the water to keep the fish healthy.  Raising fish, including one-and-a-half to two-pound striped bass, is a huge part of the equation for Flourish Farms from both a financial and nutritional standpoint. "It's a cheaper source of nutrients or fertilizer, if you will, than typical hydroponic solutions." The GrowHaus, in which Flourish Farms is housed, aims to provide healthy, affordable options to the neighborhood of Elyria-Swansea, a Colorado food desert with no grocery stores within a 2-mile radius. This area is known for being the most polluted zip code in Colorado. Essentially, the GrowHaus is a non-profit urban market, food hub, and education center located in Elyria-Swansea.