Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education
Description of project
The purpose of this project is to lay the groundwork to meet three critical urban needs using urban aquaponics: vacant land, nutrient enrichment and urban food deserts (UFDs)
Savannah’s Urban Food Deserts
Savannah, GA is no stranger to food deserts. The map below indicates areas that indicate food desert likelihood for residents including low-income census tract where more than 100 housing units do not have a vehicle and are more than ½ mile from the nearest supermarket (USDA). It is estimated that just over 50,000 people live in the area indicated and could be affected to some degree by limited access to healthy food. The National Institute of Health reports that there is significant overlap between food desert areas and areas with higher rates of obesity and chronic diet-related diseases. Attend the upcoming seminars to find out more about how aquaponics farming can help solve this growing problem.
Community Involvement
Working group meetings were held weekly in 2021. Participants participated in the journey of setting up an aquaponics system. The working group meetings provided a platform to build network connection between growers, future growers and policy makers.
Working group sessions were hosted at Savannah State University and virtually through Zoom meetings. Guest speakers included local and regional experts in aquaponics and growing. Most working group sessions were recorded and linked in the calendar below.
Anticipated Meeting Schedule |
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Target Date |
Time |
Topic |
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Sun, 11 April |
2-5pm |
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Sun, 18 April |
2-5 p.m. |
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Sun, 2 May |
2-5 p.m. |
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Sun, 16 May |
2-5 p.m. |
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Sun, 6 June |
2-5 p.m. |
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Sun, 13 June |
2-5 p.m. |
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A Sun, 11 July |
2-5 p.m. |
Urban Land Availability, Access, and Security |
Details
- Seminars hosted by Savannah State University on Campus and Virtually
- Guest Speakers to included local and regional experts.
Project Survey
As a part of the SARE Grant, we would like to get more information about how to best assist you from this seminar series to make this have a long-lasting impact. Our seminar series and working group sessions were designed to help you network, learn more about aquaponics and its applications, and how we can address the issues of food deserts through Urban Agriculture. The survey asks several questions about your interests as it relates to the project.
Links to Survey
Project Partners and Collaborators:
- Georgia Southern University – SARC
- City of Savannah
- SCCPSS - Gadsden Elementary
- Billy’s Botanicals
- Savannah Hydroponics and Organics
- Larry Schaefer - Shared Resources Drive
K-12 Education
We are pleased to offer K-12 lesson plans and contributor portal aligned with this project. We value feedback from our teacher community and have enabled a comment function on all our current and future resources. We also invite educators to share student products, additional lessons, teaching strategies, resources through our shared folder. Click here to access the K-12 materials. We also encourage you to reach out with questions or suggestions.
General Information Contact:
Dr. Philip Omunga
Dr. Sue Ebanks
Dr. Victoria Young
This project is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2018-38640-28417 through the Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program under subaward number SUB00002031 to Savannah State University