AQUAPONICS - A SUSTAINABLE WAY FORWARD

• Sponsoring Institution: National Institute of Food and Agriculture
• Project Status: TERMINATED
• Funding Source: OTHER GRANTS
• Reporting Frequency: Annual
• Accession No.: 1012750
• Grant No.: 2017-38420-26765
• Project No.: ALA016-4-17011
• Proposal No.: 2016-11420
• Program Code: KK
• Project Start Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Project End Date: Jun 14, 2022
• Grant Year: 2017

Project Director
Hanson, T.

Recipient Organization
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
108 M. WHITE SMITH HALL
AUBURN,AL 36849

Performing Department
College of Agriculture

Non Technical Summary
The targeted expertese shortage area (TESA) this project addresses falls under 'Agricultural Management and Economics' with relevant disciplines including 'Interdisciplinary', 'Sustainable Food', 'Agricultural and Environmental Sciences', 'Social Sciences' and 'Economics Graduate Degree Programs'. There will be four master's level and one doctoral level Fellows recruited in this program.Interest in aquaponics is soaring, but most operations are small-scale. Aquaponics shows great promise to increase the food supply, but there are few people with the knowledge and skillsets necessary to work in aquaponics, and there are challenges to solve before industrial-scale aquaponics is viable. These Fellows will develop critical-thinking skills helping to solve some of the challenges, and will have the knowledge to work in industry. Fellows will do hands-on work during two summers in an Experiential Boot Camp at a commercial-scale aquaponics system.They will do academic work in relevant disciplines and take team-taught seminar courses.The project goal is to graduate five fellows with skills and knowledge to advance aquaponics and provide capable worker for the growing aquaponics industry.The measureable objectives include:1) Educate fellows about aquaponics using an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum;2) Promote critical thinking skills; and3) Prepare fellows for leadership roles in research, academia, government and industry.This proposal is relevant NNF program goals of: Goal 1 (Science), subgoals 1.1, 1.3, and 1.7; and Goal 3 (Process)The national impact is that we will educate four master's and one doctoral student with the critical thinking and practical skills and knowledge to move aquaponics to the next level. This first cadre of Fellows will form the nucleus for a professional program that we expect to continue to grow as aquaponics begins to fulfill its promise and becomes industrial-scale.

Animal Health Component

0%

Research Effort Categories

Basic

40%

Applied

60%

Developmental

0%

Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)	Subject of Investigation (SOI)	Field of Science (FOS)	Percent
601	3714	1060	100%

Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management;

Subject Of Investigation
3714 - Tilapia;

Field Of Science
1060 - Biology (whole systems);

Keywords

aquaponics

alga

aquaculture

hydroponics

lactic acid production

Goals / Objectives
Interest in aquaponics is soaring, but most operations are small-scale. Aquaponics shows great promise to increase the food supply, but there are few people with the knowledge and skillsets necessary to work in aquaponics, and there are challenges to solve before industrial-scale aquaponics is viable. These Fellows will develop critical-thinking skills helping to solve some of the challenges, and will have the knowledge to work in industry. Fellows will do hands-on work during two summers in an Experiential Boot Camp at a commercial-scale aquaponics system.They will do academic work in relevant disciplines and take team-taught seminar courses.The PROJECT GOAL is to graduate five fellows with skills and knowledge to advance aquaponics and work in industryThe MEASURABLE OBJECTIVES include:1) Educate fellows about aquaponics using an integrated, interdisciplinary curriculum;2) Promote critical thinking skills; and3) Prepare fellows for leadership roles in research, academia, government and industry.RELEVANCE TO NNF PROGRAM GOALS: This proposal is relevant to Goal 1 (Science), subgoals 1.1, 1.3, and 1.7; and Goal 3 (Process)NATIONAL IMPACT: We will educate four master's and one doctoral student with the critical thinking and practical skills and knowledge to move aquaponics to the next level. This first cadre of Fellows will form the nucleus for a professional program that we expect to continue to grow as aquaponics begins to fulfill its promise and becomes industrial-scale.

Project Methods
MethodsMethods to be used in this Fellow's program will include a set of experiences for fellowship recipients addressing academic and professional development in the field of aquaponics by combining experiences in coursework, research, and outreach in a cohesive, multi-year program of study and experience.A primary program strengthening method will have all fellows enter the program and continue throughout as a cohesive cohort, sharing similar experiences at similar times in their career. We expect this will enhance the fellowship experience by creating a common community of research, inquiry, and outreach related to the topic. This collaborative group structure will enhance and intensify the learning environment and create a community of support from which leadership experiences in aquaponics will be attained.Prior to the start of the first fall semester, the fellow's cohort will attend a Program Orientation and Symposium. It will introduce fellows to the program, participants in the research, the Auburn University research environment, and clearly set expectations of the fellowships. This will be repeated in the following year as a kick-off meeting for the new semester.In the first semester, fellows will enter their coursework for their respective departments of study. All fellows will be required to take the Common Course in Aquaponics and will focus on introductory aspects of aquaponics and discipline-specific considerations related to that topic. At the same time, fellows will begin their plan of study in their home departments (either Fisheries/Aquaculture, Biosystems Engineering, Horticulture, Agricultural Economics or Food Safety), meeting requirements for their discipline-specific curricula. Fellows will be encouraged to take courses in their discipline and home department that are related to various aspects of aquaponics production and cultivation. In addition, fellows will be required to take at least one candidate course in another participating department, to encourage and develop interdisciplinary fellowship experiences.Fellows will be involved and engaged in research regarding aquaponics production, and the fellowship program is structured to integrate research training into the entire interdisciplinary experience. Fellows will be required to develop research committees that include at least one faculty from another participating department, to ensure interdisciplinarity of the research direction. As a cohort, fellows will be required to take coursework in Research Methodology, a seminar course in Writing of Research Proposals and will be directed by and participated in by faculty from across all the participating departments in the fellowship. These experiences will start off the fellows' research experiences.A weekly seminar series dedicated especially to the aquaponics fellow cohort will be established. This seminar will expect attendance and participation of all fellowship cohort members, and participating faculty and researchers involved in the aquaponics project. The seminar series will include research presentations from faculty and fellowship students, outside speakers on research, and professional development seminars on skills for interdisciplinary research and outreach in aquaculture and aquaponics.Within the first full summer of the fellowship experience, fellows will take part in the Summer Boot Camp experience, an intensive hands-on 5-7 day course in aquaponics systems operation, application and implementation of research methods on aquaponics system. The boot camp will be designed and implemented by participating faculty from all departments, and will be held at the AU Aquaponics production facility. This practical boot-camp experience will be focused on data collection and measurements of all subsystems of the aquaponics facility. Overall, this experience will guide fellows into full understanding of operations and research and will help initiate graduate-level research projects on the aquaponics system itself.An important component of the development of the research capability and professionalism of the fellows is interfacing with the broader research community in aquaculture and aquaponics. Our fellows will be required to present their research results at a national meeting of the professional society reflective of the particular fellows' discipline.We will establish a symposium on Research Issues in Aquaponics Production, to which leading academic and industry experts from around the nation will be invited to participate, with the goal of defining the thresholds of knowledge and research opportunities and needs for the advancement of aquaponics. Fellows in the program will assist with the planning and implementation, and be required to participate as presenters in technical sessions and participants in workshop panel discussions. Through this participation in a nationally rated symposium workshop, fellows will gain exposure to professionals and academics in the field and will contribute to expanding their professional network of scientific inquiry.Fellows will be encouraged and trained in developing professional activities and outreach. This will strengthen fellows' comfort and experience in communication and collaboration with industry and other entities outside of academia. The first component of this will be their integration into the work force supporting the production-scale aquaponics facility at AU. Fellows will be expected to provide 4 hours per week working to help maintain and monitor operations at the aquaponic facility, and will be trained on various tasks throughout the semester and year until fellows are familiar with all operations and controls at the facility. This familiarity will be critical for fellows' development of knowledge on aquaponics facility components and for formation of research questions and project directions.Additionally, fellowship participants will be expected and encouraged to form contacts with one or more aquaponics producers and remain in regular contact with that producer throughout the fellowship career. At least one extended site visit to the producer site will be expected of the fellow. The producer sponsor will be an active participant in communication of research and application needs to the fellow participant, and may become contributors to determining the research direction of the fellow. Upon completion of the site visit, fellows will submit and present a travel and applications report to the cohort and participating faculty within the weekly seminar series, as a way to enhance learning about the broader community of aquaponics producers within the industry.Finally, fellows will be expected to participate in local and regional outreach and extension work with aquaculture and aquaponic businesses. Following their boot-camp experience within the first full summer, aquaponics fellows will be required to be involved in the annual workshop for educators and teachers interested in aquaponics in the classroom. This workshop has been widely attended and focuses on "train-the-trainer" experiences, showing teachers how to utilize aquaponics to teach subjects such as chemistry, biology and math to hard-to-reach students. Fellows will be required to be participating lecturers, and be encouraged and guided through development of lecture materials and teaching skills. Finally, fellows will be expected to develop as first author an extension publication focused on aquaponics production and be filed for publication before the end of the fellows' second year.

Progress 06/15/17 to 06/14/22

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this NNF grant are the five recruited students for this interdiscipliary aquaponic program. In year one, we began the recruitment process seeking four Master of Science and one Ph.D. student with backgrounds in agriculture, aquaculture, agricultural economics, bio-engineering, horticulture, and microbiology/food safety. Further, we looked for recruits with an interest in collaborative, integrated, multi-disciplinary learning. Our search was directed toward land-grant universities and profession association job sites In year two, we recritied five peiple into the NNF wit four entering at the MSc leel and one enterinas a Ph.D. student. They began takin classes in the August 2018. We developed and presented three Aquaponic workshops in the last year. Two were conducted at Auburn University at our fisheries/aquaponics facility and one was presented at the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) meetings at New Orleans; and had 8, 75 and 5 participants respectively. The two Auburn located workshops targetted business people who were early into developing aquaponic systems or who had done their homework and were ready for a commercail-scale aquaponic training course. The WAS training audience include a variety of backgrounds, including government (18%), NGO (3%), public businesses (32%), students (29%), academic (13%), consultants (5%) and a variety of attendees (65% male, 28% female, 20% no response; 55% Caucasian, 8% Hispanic, 5% Native American, 3% African, 3% Asian, 5% Other and 23% No Response). NNF Fellows attended these workshops with the goal of learning but also to understand how to conduct workshops. It is anticipated that the NNF Fellows will full participate in the workshops this fall. In year three, the full complement of four Master of Science and one Ph.D. graduate Fellow students the disciplines aquaculture, economics, biosystems engineering, horticulture and food safety microbiology were engaged.Audiences also include attendees at professional association meetings as each student has presented at least once at these meetings. In year four, only the Ph.D graduate student was active as the four MSc graduate students graduated last year. The one Ph.D. graduate Fellow student was in the discipline of aquaculture and aquaculture economics. A new NNF student in biosystems engineering engaged in this aquaponics project was recruited to come on board in June 2021. Audiences also included attendees at professional association meetings, as each student was required to preseent at least once at a professional meetings, and publish one peer reviewed journal articles or abstract that would reach fellow scientists. During the fifth year of the NNF program, the Ph.D student graduated and one Master of Science graduate student was active. All other NNF Fellows had graduated. A final Ph.D. graduate Fellow recruited in year four entered the NNF program and was in the discipline of biosystems engineering, and engaged into this aquaponics research and degree program. Changes/Problems:During the last two years of this NNF program, the Covid pandemic hampered research as some laboratories were shut down, and also hampered student's outreach opportunities. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The NNF Fellows attended three aquaponic workshop at Auburn and at the World Aquaculture Society professional association meeting. NNF Fellows attended these workshops with the goal of learning but also to understand how to conduct workshops. At the AU Food Systems Institute Sixth Annual Food Entrepreneur Conference, April 17, 2019, our NNF students participated in the aquaponics breakout session we led that took conference attendees to our aquaponics facility. This provided a chance for our students to interact with people interested in aquaponics and hone their abilities to recall their knowledge when responding to aquaponic questions from the general public. Fellows were trained via two multidisciplinary aquaponic classes early in their degree programs at Auburn University. Additionally, they were individually mentored by their respective major professors in their specific disciplines. Program activities and classes brought all students and disciplines together, so each Fellow was introduced to the other disciplines as well as their own specialized discipline. NNF Fellows developed professionally by presenting their research findings at Auburn University research colloquiums (2) and research summit (1), as well as presenting at professional association meetings. Attending and presenting at professional association meetings developed their understanding of the field and increased their confidence in public speaking to scientific audiences. Fellows attending professional meetings were encouraged to explore other sessions to widen their view and develop contacts for potential future jobs. The Ph.D. Fellow participated in two multi-disciplinary grant proposal teams and learned about granting agencies, details of the grant writing process, and developing budgets for proposals, which will help him in his career. The Ph.D. student became a leader helping mentor the other four Master of Science students. In our NNF program, Fellows worked at the aquaponics facility in addition to their aquaponic-related research activities. These work experiences provided them with the day-to-day view of what it takes to run an aquaponics operation. This also helped each NNF Fellow know the facility and how it worked well enough to more easily plan and implement their research. Through their two years (Master) or three years (Ph.D) at the aquaponics facility, they had opportunities to "learn through doing" experiences, such as by assisting in installing two new greenhouses and upgrades to equipment at the aquaponics systems. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?NNF Fellow made presentations at professional and Auburn University research meetings, which extended their research findings to several hundred attendees. In year three, Fellows made 12 presentations at professional association meetings, submitted eight journal articles, and participated in one day-long aquaponics workshop. In year five, because of continuing COVID pandemic restrictions, opportunities for presentations at professional conferences were low. Outreach and research result dissemination by NNF Fellows focused primarily on local and domestic opportunities to reach public and student populations. The remaining Fellow participated in development and integration of aquaponics- related teaching and field-laboratory exercises for multiple courses in Biosystems Engineering, including Ecological Engineering (BSEN 5510) and Waste Management and Utilization (BSEN 5230). In the latter course, two groups of senior-level students used aquaponics research at Auburn as a focus of their semester-long term design project, advised by the Fellow. Additionally, five separate project groups performed semester-long design on upgrades to the Auburn Aquaponics facility, for deliverables for the Biosystems Engineering Senior Design and Capstone experience; all groups were advised directly by the Fellow and faculty affiliated with the Aquaponics project. Finally, the Aquaponics facility was used for multiple public and school-age tours throughout the year, and the Aquaponics topic was presented by the Fellow at the Engineering Day public open house at Auburn University in February 2022. These experiences have allowed Fellows to disseminate their research findings to aquaponic communities of interest. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In year one, we spent time recruiting four Master of Science and one Ph.D. for the NNF program. In year two, we developed and taught two aquaponic classes at Auburn University (Fall 2018 and Spring 2019). The classes were team taught by our interdisciplinary Aquaponics Group that included our five Co-PI professors in the fields of aquaculture production systems, agricultural economics, biosystems-engineering systems, greenhouse horticulture and microbiology/food safety. Both courses provided a basic understanding of the principles of aquaponics food production, safety, and economics. The courses were for graduate students having little to no prior background in aquaculture or horticulture production or agricultural economics. Principles were reinforced through readings, homework assignments, and project assignments. The Fall 2018 class project was to develop a business plan for expanding our AU Aquaponics facility to include two new plant greenhouses. This project served to bring together all aspects taught in the class and produce an end product that covered aquaponic management considerations, taxes-insurance-financing, hydroponic units in the plant greenhouse, aquaculture unit in the fish greenhouse, water treatment system, construction timeline and summary of construction fixed costs. The NNF students produced a 41 page report, complete with appendices listing/describing fixed cost items for addressing food safety concerns, new plant green house, new fish greenhouse, algal turf scrubber, equipment/tools, and investment items summarized in fixed cost tables. The class did an amazing job and since we were in the beginning steps of expanding our facility, their work provided an exceptional understanding of what it takes to plan, build, and finance such an endeavor. As it happened, during these two classes, the NNF students had the unique opportunity to actually participate in the building and equipping of the two new plant greenhouses. This provided them an invaluable, enriching and confidence building experience that they will never forget. The experience will help them long after they finish their NNF aquaponics program at AU. In year three, Joshua Marcus, a Master of Science student in Biosystems Engineering, worked on his research project regarding beneficial reuse of biofloc solids through black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) composting. He has completed all data collection for a series of experiments and is in final analysis and economic model development currently. Tentative results show the successful conversion of biofloc solids to BSFL biomass at a moderate conversion rate. BSFL shows production of high-quality protein and lipids that present the possibility of reuse as a fish feed amendment. Process efficiency is positively affected by fractional amendment of biofloc solids with waste vegetable and fish offal biomass material. The results show promise for economically valuable material recycling in biofloc aquaponics systems. Marcus is preparing his thesis for defense by July 2020. Nathan Wallace-Springer, a Master of Science student in Horticulture, finished his research project on the effect of hydraulic retention time on NFT lettuce production in a decoupled aquaponic system, began drafting his thesis, and was scheduled to graduate in August 2020. He presented results from his research in an oral presentation at the Aquaculture America National Conference in Honolulu, HI in February 2020. Kyle Hensarling, a Master of Science student in Horticulture, presented his research results on the effects of hydroponic system type on growth and nutrient uptake in lettuce irrigated with aquaculture effluent in an oral presentation at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference in Honolulu, HI in February 2020. Jennifer Dorrick, a Master of Science student in Poultry Science food safety, finished her research project on measuring Escherichia coli and coliforms at nine different points in the aquaponic water flow system (water source, fish tank, clarifier, solid waste, drip irrigators (4) and sump tank), She presented her research at two Auburn University research summits and again at the 2020 International Association for Food Protection Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH. David A. Pattillo, a Ph.D. student in the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, developed his dissertation topics and completed one raised bed tomato study using three water source and two fertilizer regimes, and began his second larger study involving a survey of the aquaponic industry to better understand their motives and areas needing more research and extension attention. He has presented some of this aquaponic survey findings at two professional meetings in 2020. In year 4, Joshua Marcus (M.S.) had completed 75% of his thesis research with completion of all analytical work and the economic model projections based on the lab results. Jennifer Dorrick completed her Master of Science degree in Summer 2020. Her role as a NNF Fellow in the aquaponics project was looking at potential bacteriological contamination of aquaponic product (tilapia, cucumber). David A. Pattillo, a Ph.D. NNF fellow graduated May 1, 2021. His dissertation focused on surveying the U.S. aquaponics industry to better understand their motives and areas needing more research and extension support. He is in the process of writing and submitting five journal article publications covering challenges faced by aquaponic practitioners, their current knowledge levels, where they obtain their information, production practices and scale of their operations. It is expected that these articles will be popular to researchers and extension agencies that have aquaponic programs. In year five, Joshua Marcus, completed all data collection from a series of experiments and drafted an economic model. Results showed the successful conversion of biofloc solids to BSFL biomass at a moderate conversion rate. BSFL showed production of high-quality protein and lipids that present the possibility of reuse as a fish feed amendment. The results show promise for economically valuable material recycling in biofloc aquaponics systems. Unfortunately, Mr. Marcus left the Master's and NNF program incomplete for personal reasons, but his data and results are in repository at Auburn University, and these results are being prepared for publication in an appropriate journal. Ana Gabriela Itokazu Canzaian de Silva, a Ph.D. student in Biosystems Engineering, was on the National Needs Fellowship from June 2021 to present, performed research on recycling of aquaponics wastewater nutrients using filamentous algae cultivation. She has completed construction and preliminary testing of a pilot-scale algae cultivator system at the university aquaponics systems; collected preliminary data on algae productivity under different cultivation scenarios and loading rates; and designed experiments for multi-season study of algae cultivation.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., J.V. Hager, D.J. Cline, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. 2022. System design and production practices of aquaponic stakeholders. PLoS ONE 17(4): e0266475. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0266475
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, and T.R. Hanson. 2022. Challenges Experienced by Aquaponic Hobbyists, Producers, and Educators. Journal of Extension. MS# 1860.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, and T.R. Hanson. 2021. Information Accessibility and Resource Usage by Aquaponic Stakeholders. NACAA Journal. 14(2). Available: https://www.nacaa.com/file.ashx?id=a4cc304a-fc37-48ea-868f-e134168a92b3.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, and T.R. Hanson. 2021. Knowledge Levels and Training Needs of Aquaponic Stakeholders. NACAA Journal. 14(2). Available: https://www.nacaa.com/file.ashx?id=42052aa8-07d7-4dd5-b3c5-a47784d72d9f.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Under Review Year Published: 2022 Citation: Pattillo, Hager, Cline, Roy, Hanson. In Preparation. System scale, production, and investment of aquaponic stakeholders. To be submitted to Aquaculture Engineering.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W. Foshee, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T. Hanson. 2021. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts, Aquaculture America meeting, San Antonio TX, August 11-14, 2021.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, Allen. 2021. Needs Assessment and Practical Solutions for the Aquaponics Industry. Ph.D. dissertation. School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, April 30. Terry Hanson, Chair; Committee members  Luke Roy, David Cline, Daniel Wells. August 2018  May 2021. NNF Aquaponics funded.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., J.K. Malecki, Terry Hanson, M. Smith, and D. Wells. Economic Analysis of a Decoupled Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus) - Cucumber (Cucumis Sativus) Aquaponic System. 2021 Aquaponics Association Conference, virtual. October 22, 2021.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W. Foshee, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T. Hanson. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. 2021 Aquaponics Association Conference, virtual. October 22, 2021.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kalvakaalva1, R., S.A. Prior, M. Smith, G.B. Runion, E. Ayipio, C. Blanchard, N. Wall, D. Wells, T.R. Hanson, B.T. Higgins. In Review. Direct greenhouse gas emissions from a pilot-scale aquaponics system. Aquaculture International.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kalvakaalva, R., M. Smith, S.A. Prior, G.B. Runion, E. Ayipio, C. Blanchard, D.E. Wells, D.M. Blersch, S. Adhikari, R. Prasad, T. Hanson, and B.T. Higgins. In Review. Mass-Balance Process Model of a Decoupled Aquaponic System. Agricultural Systems.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Cline, J. Hager, T. Hanson. 2020. An Aquaponics Industry Survey. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 519. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Wells, J. Pickens, W. Foshee, T. Monday, T. Hanson. 2020. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Vegetable Crop Production in Outdoor Raised Beds in Alabama. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 520. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meetingabstracts/ AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smith, M., T. Hanson, B. Higgins, D. Wells, D. Blersch. 2020. Life Cycle Assessment of Decoupled Semi-Commercial Aquaponic System, Initial Findings. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 626. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, Allen. Doctoral Ph.D. 2021. Needs Assessment and Practical Solutions for the Aquaponics Industry. Ph.D dissertation, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University, May 1. https://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/7618
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dorrick, Jennifer. 2020. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water for Produce Irrigation. Master of Science thesis, Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. July 14.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, A., J.K. Malecki, T. Hanson, M. Smith, D. Wells. 2021. Economic Analysis of a Decoupled Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) - Cucumber (Cucumis sativus) Aquaponic System. Presented at the Aquaculture America meeting, San Antonio TX, August 11-14. https://www.was.org/Meeting/Program/PaperDetail/157520
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W. Foshee, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T. Hanson. 2021. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Presented at the Aquaculture America meeting, San Antonio TX, August 11-14. https://www.was.org/Meeting/Program/PaperDetail/157766
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W.G. Foshee III, E.K. Blythe, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T.A. Monday, T.R. Hanson. 2020. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Horticulture Technology. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04655-20.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Jennifer Dorick, Michelle Hayden, Mollie Smith, Caroline Blanchard, Emefa Monu, Daniel Wells, Tung-Shi Huang. 2021. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and coliforms in aquaponic water for produce irrigation. Food Microbiology. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2021.103801.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Review. Challenges Experienced by Aquaponic Hobbyists, Producers, and Educators. Journal of Extension
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dorick, J. Wallace, N., Hayden, M. Hanson, T. Wells, D., Huang, T. S. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water Used in an NFT System Related to Time. Presented at College of Agriculture Graduate Student Research Poster Showcase, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. October 23, 2019. Second Place.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dorick, J. Wallace, N., Hayden, M., Hanson, T., Wells, D., Huang, T. S. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water Used in an NFT System Related to Time. Presented at 12th Mini Summit on Global Food Systems. Auburn, AL. October 28-29, 2019.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dorick, J. Hayden, M., Wells, D., Huang, T. S., Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Water Used in a Decoupled Aquaponics System. Accepted poster. Will present at 2020 International Association for Food Protection Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W.G. Foshee III, E.K. Blythe, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T.A. Monday, T.R. Hanson. In Review. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Horticulture. Submitted 5/22/2020.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Cline, J. Hager, T. Hanson. 2020. An Aquaponics Industry Survey. Presented at the Aquaculture America 2020 conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 9-12.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Wallace-Springer, N., Wells, D.E., Pickens, J., and J. Kemble. 2020. Effect of hydraulic retention time on NFT lettuce production in a decoupled aquaponic system. Presented at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference. Feb 9.  12, Honolulu, HI, p. 682, https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hensarling, K., Wells, D.E., Ayipio, E., Blanchard, C., Wallace-Springer, N., and M. Smith. 2020. Effects of hydroponic system type on growth and nutrient uptake in lettuce irrigated with aquaculture effluent. Presented at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference. Feb 9.  12, Honolulu, HI, p. 279, https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meetingabstracts/ AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Willmon, E.S., J.M. Dorick, S.J. Weese, T. Shi Huang, T.R. Hanson. Microbial Assessment of Irrigation Water and Vine Produce in an Aquaponic System. 2019. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2019, March 7-11, New Orleans, LA, p. 311.
• Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hanson, T.R., J. Chappell, J. Pickens, H. Tran, D.A. Pattillo. Commercial Aquaponics Workshop. Conducted at the Aquaculture 2019 meeting, New Orleans, LA. March 7, 2019 (77 attendees).

Progress 06/15/20 to 06/14/21

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this NNF grant is the five recruited students for this interdiscipliary aquaponic program. During the fourth year of the NNF program, only the Ph.D graduate student was active as the four MSc graduate students graduated last year. The one Ph.D. graduate Fellow student is in the discipline of aquaculture and aquaculture economics. A new NNF student in biosystems engineering engaged in this aquaponics course will come on board in June 2021. Audiences also include attendees at professional association meetings as each student has preseented at least once at these meetings; and peer reviewed journal articles are getting published that will be read by fellow scientists. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?The Ph.D. Fellow participated in several multi-disciplinary grant proposal teams and learned about granting agencies, details of the grant writing process, and developing budgets for the proposals. He will be able to knowledgeably write grants at his new position. He was a leader that helped mentor the other four MSc students and bring together the multiple aquaponic disciplines he learned about within his dissertation. Professionally, he developed by presenting at national and international aquaculture conferences. While attending and presenting at the professional meetings, he was encouraged to explore other sessions to widen his knowledge and develop contacts for potential future jobs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The PhD NNF student made presentations at professional and University research meetings which extended his research findings to a large number of attendees. In the last year, Fellows have made four presentations at professional association meetings, and submitted seven journal articles. These experiences have allowed Fellows to disseminate their research findings to aquaponic communities of interest. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?In the next year, we plan to finish publishing from the NNF student's research activities. Joshua Marcus (M.S.) should complete his thesis research with a complete model, presentation of his work at an upcoming aquaculture conference, and publication of the work in an aquaculture journal--likely Aquaculture Engineering, or similar. Gabriella Itokazu (Ph.D. student) will perform the following duties over the next 11 months: (1) Prepare and execute field and laboratory investigations into the optimization of nutrient recovery from aquaponics wastewater using filamentous algae cultivation; (2) Prepare a review manuscript regarding historical assessment of filamentous algae cultivation for aquaponics nutrient management; (3) Submit results for presentation at the Auburn Student Research Colloquium (April 2022), and one external professional conference, such as the American Ecological Engineering Society conference (June 2022).

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Joshua Marcus (M.S.) has completed 75% of his thesis research with completion of all analytical work and the economic model projections based on the lab results. So, I'll say that I'll complete his model, present all the work at an upcoming aquaculture conference, and publish the work in an aquaculture journal--likely Aquaculture Engineering, or similar. That could be completed within the coming year. Jennifer Dorrick completed her Master of Science degree in Summer 2020. Her role as a NNF in the aquaponics project was looking at potential bacteriological contamination of aquaponic product (tilapia, cucumber). David A. Pattillo, a Ph.D. student in the Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences School, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2018 and graduated May 1, 2021. He completed his dissertation which focused on surveying the U.S. aquaponics industry to better understand their motives and areas needing more research and extension support. He is in the process of writing and submitting five joural article publications covering challenges faced by aquaponic practitioners, their current knowledge levels, where they obtain their information, production practices and scale of their operations. It is expected that these articles will be popular to researchers and extension agencies that have aquaponic programs.

Publications

• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kalvakaalva, R., M. Smith, S.A. Prior, G.B. Runion, E. Ayipio, C. Blanchard, D.E. Wells, D.M. Blersch, S. Adhikari, R. Prasad, T. Hanson, and B.T. Higgins. In Review. Mass-Balance Process Model of a Decoupled Aquaponic System. Agricultural Systems.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Cline, J. Hager, T. Hanson. 2020. An Aquaponics Industry Survey. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 519. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Wells, J. Pickens, W. Foshee, T. Monday, T. Hanson. 2020. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Vegetable Crop Production in Outdoor Raised Beds in Alabama. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 520. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smith, M., T. Hanson, B. Higgins, D. Wells, D. Blersch. 2020. Life Cycle Assessment of Decoupled Semi-Commercial Aquaponic System, Initial Findings. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 626. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Smith, M., T. Hanson. 2020. Economic Assessment of Decoupled Semi-Commercial Aquaponic System. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2020, February 9-12, Honolulu, HI, p. 627. https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W.G. Foshee III, E.K. Blythe, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T.A. Monday, T.R. Hanson. 2020. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Horticulture Technology. https://doi.org/10.21273/HORTTECH04655-20.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Kalvakaalva1, R., S.A. Prior, M. Smith, G.B. Runion, E. Ayipio, C. Blanchard, N. Wall, D. Wells, T.R. Hanson, B.T. Higgins. In Review. Direct greenhouse gas emissions from a pilot-scale aquaponics system. Aquaculture International.
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, Allen. Doctoral Ph.D. 2021. Needs Assessment and Practical Solutions for the Aquaponics Industry. Ph.D dissertation, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn University, May 1. https://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/7618
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hanson, T.R. 2020. Aquaponic Economics: The Auburn University Experience. Presented to the USAS Webinar Series. October 2. https://usaquaculture.org/webinars
• Type: Theses/Dissertations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dorrick, Jennifer. 2020. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water for Produce Irrigation. Master of Science thesis, Department of Poultry Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. July 14.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2021 Citation: Jennifer Dorick, Michelle Hayden, Mollie Smith, Caroline Blanchard, Emefa Monu, Daniel Wells, Tung-Shi Huang. 2021. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and coliforms in aquaponic water for produce irrigation. Food Microbiology. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.fm.2021.103801.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Review. Challenges Experienced by Aquaponic Hobbyists, Producers, and Educators. Journal of Extension.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Prep. Knowledge Levels and Training Needs of Aquaponic Stakeholders. Journal of Agriculture Education.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Review. Information Accessibility and Resource Usage by Aquaponic Stakeholders. Journal of Agricultural Education.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Prep. System Design and Production Practices of Aquaponic Stakeholders. Aquaculture Reports.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D.J. Cline, J.V. Hager, L.A. Roy, T.R. Hanson. In Prep. System Scale, Production Output, and Investment of Aquaponic Stakeholders. Journal of Aquaculture Engineering.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Other Year Published: 2021 Citation: Cline, D.J., P.J. Waters, D.A. Pattillo. In Prep. Perceived Usefulness of Aquaponics in the Classroom. Journal of Agriculture Education.

Progress 06/15/19 to 06/14/20

Outputs
Target Audience:The target audience of this NNF grant is the five recruited students for this interdiscipliary aquaponic program. During the thrid year of the NNF program, the full complement of four Master of Science and one Ph.D. graduate Fellow students the disciplines aquaculture, economics, biosystems engineering, horticulture and food safety microbiology were engaged. Audiences also include attendees at professional association meetings as each student has preseented at least once at these meetings. Changes/Problems:The Ph.D. student will use collected data from the fish and plant greenhouse research trials for development into enterprise budgets showing cost of production and return on investment from aquaponic systems. Master student experiments that were planned for one environmental chambers within the AU Biosystems Engineering Department in February and March 2020 will be rescheduled due to use conflicts and equipment problems and prevented completion of the 10-week experiments in that chamber. However, a new chamber was found in the Auburn CASIC building for use and completion of experiments occurred there. The food safety Master student will be working on an additional project with a new nutrient film technique (NFT) system that is being used to grow lettuce in our aquaponic facility. The water will be studied using the EPA Method 1604 to understand if over time coliforms and E. coli populations increase depending on how often the water is exchanged. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Fellows have been mentored in their respective degree disciplines as well as in the other disciplines represented in this NNF program. Professionally, they have developed by presenting at Auburn University research colloquims and research summits as well as presenting at professional association meetings. While attending and presenting at the professional meetings, Fellows were encouraged to explore other sessions to widen their view and develop contacts for potential future jobs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?NNF student presentations at professional and University research meetings have extended their research findings to a large number of attendees. In the last year, Fellows have made eight presentations at professional association meetings, submitted one journal article and participated in one day-long aquaponics workshop. These experiences have allowed Fellows to disseminate their research findings to aquaponic communities of interest. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?The four Master of Science Fellows are on track to finish and defend their theses by the end of summer semester 2020. The Ph.D. student will continue his research and could finish as early as Fall semester 2020 but more likely by the end of Spring semester 2021. Student projects include publishing and presenting results during the next year as well.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? Joshua Marcus, a Master of Science student in Biosystems Engineering, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2018. He has worked on his research project regarding beneficial reuse of biofloc solids through black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) composting. He has completed all data collection for a series of experiments and is in final analysis and economic model development currently. Tentative results show the successful conversion of biofloc solids to BSFL biomass at a moderate conversion rate. BSFL shows production of high-quality protein and lipids that present the possibility of reuse as a fish feed amendment. Process efficiency is positively affected by fractional amendment of biofloc solids with waste vegetable and fish offal biomass material. The results show promise for economically valuable material recycling in biofloc aquaponics systems. Marcus is preparing his thesis for defense by July 2020. Results from this work will be submitted and presented in upcoming Aquaculture America conference in 2021. Nathan Wallace-Springer, a Master of Science student in Horticulture, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2018. He has finished his research project on the effect of hydraulic retention time on NFT lettuce production in a decoupled aquaponic system, is currently writing his thesis, and is scheduled to graduate in August 2020. He presented results from his research in an oral presentation at the Aquaculture America National Conference in Honolulu, HI in February 2020. Kyle Hensarling, a Master of Science student in Horticulture, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2019. He presented results from his research on the effects of hydroponic system type on growth and nutrient uptake in lettuce irrigated with aquacutlture effluent in an oral presentation at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference in Honolulu, HI in February. Jennifer Dorrick, a Master of Science student in Poultry Science food safety, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2018. She has finished her research project on measuring Escherichia coli and coliforms at nine different ponts in the aquaponic water flow system (water source, fish tank, clarifier, solid waste, drip irrigators (4) and sump tank), She has presented her research at two Auburn University research summits and will present again at the 2020 International Association for Food Protection Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH. David A. Pattillo, a Ph.D. student in the Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences School, has been on the National Needs Fellowship since August 2018. He has developed his dissertation topics and completed one raised bed tomato study using three water source and two fertilizer regimes, while his second larger study is a survey of the aquaponic industry to better understand their motives and areas needing more research and extension attention. He has presented some of this aquaponic survey findings at two professional meetings in 2020. He is projected to finish his Ph.D. in late 2020 or 2021.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dorick, J. Wallace, N., Hayden, M., Hanson, T., Wells, D., Huang, T. S. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water Used in an NFT System Related to Time. Presented at 12th Mini Summit on Global Food Systems. Auburn, AL. October 28-29, 2019.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Dorick, J. Hayden, M., Wells, D., Huang, T. S., Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Water Used in a Decoupled Aquaponics System. Accepted poster. Will present at 2020 International Association for Food Protection Annual Meeting, Cincinnati, OH.
• Type: Journal Articles Status: Submitted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., W.G. Foshee III, E.K. Blythe, J. Pickens, D. Wells, T.A. Monday, T.R. Hanson. In Review. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Tomato Production in Outdoor Raised Beds. Horticulture. Submitted 5/22/2020.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Cline, J. Hager, T. Hanson. 2020. An Aquaponics Industry Survey. Presented at the Aquaculture America 2020 conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 9-12.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2020 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Wells, J. Pickens, W. Foshee, T. Monday, T. Hanson. 2020. Performance of Aquaculture Effluent for Vegetable Crop Production in Outdoor Raised Beds in Alabama. Poster presented at the Aquaculture America 2020 conference, Honolulu, Hawaii, February 9-12.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Pattillo, D.A., D. Cline, J. Hager, T. Hanson. 2019. Aquaponics Association Survey Report. Presented at the Putting Out Fruits Aquaponics Association 2019 Meeting. Frankfort, KY, September 21.
• Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hanson, T.R., J. Chappell, D. Cline, H. Tran, D.A. Pattillo. 2019. Commercial Aquaponics Workshop. Conducted at Auburn University, School of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Auburn, AL November 11-13 (8 attendees).
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Dorick, J. Wallace, N., Hayden, M. Hanson, T. Wells, D., Huang, T. S. Evaluation of Escherichia coli and Coliforms in Aquaponic Water Used in an NFT System Related to Time. Presented at College of Agriculture Graduate Student Research Poster Showcase, Auburn University, Auburn, AL. October 23, 2019. Second Place.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Wallace-Springer, N., Wells, D.E., Pickens, J., and J. Kemble. 2020. Effect of hydraulic retention time on NFT lettuce production in a decoupled aquaponic system. Presented at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference. Feb 9.  12, Honolulu, HI, p. 682, https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2020 Citation: Hensarling, K., Wells, D.E., Ayipio, E., Blanchard, C., Wallace-Springer, N., and M. Smith. 2020. Effects of hydroponic system type on growth and nutrient uptake in lettuce irrigated with aquaculture effluent. Presented at the 2020 Aquaculture America National Conference. Feb 9.  12, Honolulu, HI, p. 279, https://wasblobstorage.blob.core.windows.net/meeting-abstracts/AA2020AbstractBook.pdf

Progress 06/15/18 to 06/14/19

Outputs
Target Audience:During the second year, we recruited five people into the NNF with four entering at the Master of Science level (2 male, 2 female) and one entering as a Ph.D. student (1, male) at Auburn University. They began taking classes in the August 2018 (Fall Semester). The students were recruited from Land Grant Universities and had some prior experience-background in agriculture, aquaculture, agricultural economics, biosystems-engineering, horticulture and microbiology/food safety which is the blend we envisioned for further education and research in our collaborative, integrated, multi-disciplinary NNF learning experiences around aquaponics. We developed and presented three Aquaponic workshops in the last year. Two were conducted at Auburn University at our fisheries/aquaponics facility and one was presented at the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) meetings at New Orleans; and had 8, 75 and 5 participants respectively. The two Auburn located workshops targetted business people who were early into developing aquaponic systems or who had done their homework and were ready for a commercail-scale aquaponic training course. The WAS training audience include a variety of backgrounds, including government (18%), NGO (3%), public businesses (32%), students (29%), academic (13%), consultants (5%) and a variety of attendees (65% male, 28% female, 20% no response; 55% Caucasian, 8% Hispanic, 5% Native American, 3% African, 3% Asian, 5% Other and 23% No Response). NNF Fellows attended these workshops with the goal of learning but also to understand how to conduct workshops. It is anticipated that the NNF Fellows will full participate in the workshops this fall. Changes/Problems:We have had one Master's level NNF drop out of the program. This individual was in the aquaculture fish production component of the NNF interdisciplinary elements. We will seek permission from our NNF program officer to use the second year funds for this NNF dropout individual to use for the first year of a newly selected NNF fellow. We hope we will be given the go ahead to recruit another Master's level person with these funds. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?We developed and presented three Aquaponic workshops in the last year. Two were conducted at Auburn University at our fisheries/aquaponics facility and the third workshop was presented at the World Aquaculture Society (WAS) meetings at New Orleans; and had 8, 75 and 5 participants respectively. All NNF students attended and participated in these workshops.NNF Fellows attended these workshops with the goal of learning but also to understand how to conduct workshops. It is anticipated that the NNF Fellows will full participate in the workshops this fall. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?The NNF students (4 Master's level plus 1 PhD level) have successfully completed their first year of graduate study. They have taken the two common core Aquaponic courses developed for this cohort (described above) and have begun their research projects. Here is a summary of each student's research projects. 1. Jesse Chappell's Master's level student (Aquaculture) completed his Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 classwork and began researching tilapia production in recirculating tank systems and their integration into the aquaponic system. Dynamics of this production system in greenhouses was to be compared to outdoor in-pond raceway production of tilapia. Unfortunately, this student decided to leave the NNF program to pursue a fish health master program. 2. Terry Hanson's Ph.D. level student (Aquaculture Economics) has outlined his research projects that will include raised bed vegetable production comparing use of water from the fish production tanks to water infused with fertilizers; conducting a regional/nationwide survey of existing aquaponic companies to better understand economies of scale issues that can be incorporated into investment models; and a techno-economic analysis to develop a decision-making tool for different products, regions and economy of scale. This student made a presentation at the March 2019 World Aquaculture Society meeting. 3. Dr. Daniel Well's Master level student (Horticulture) is investigating growing lettuce using the nutrient film technique which recirculates water to determine what the water exchange rate should be to maintain proper plant growth. It is the interaction between the lower aquaponic nutrient levels (compared to hydroponics) with the hydraulic retention rates to determine how long to keep one quantity of aquaponic water before replacing it with new aquaponic effluent. Aquaponic fish effluent have nutrient levels that include organic matter that is absent in hydroponics, and may impact plant yield and is being investigated. 4. Dr. David Blersch's Master level student (Biosystems Engineering) is developing experiments to understand reutilization of aquaponic fish waste solids composting by black soldier fly (BSF) larvae. BSF larvae consume fish waste sludge and grow, producing high quality protein biomass that could be used as fish feed. Currently, they are in the process of planning initial microcosm experiments to calibrate mass loading rates to inform their design of mesocosm experiments where they will investigate the effects of aquaponic fish solids contents and temperature on conversion rates of BSF. 5. Dr. Tung-shi Huang's Master level student (Food Safety) is conducting food safety research on aquaponic systems and fish/vegetable products through a microbial assessment of irrigation water and vine produce in an aquaponic system. Due to the concern of foodborne pathogens, such as E. coli, Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes in the fish waste it is essential to ensure these pathogens are not a threat to the ready-to-eat produce. The data is being collected to evaluate the microbial content, in particular, the threat of foodborne pathogens from the water containing tilapia in the production tank used for irrigation and the soil used for tomato and cucumber growth. The two Auburn located workshops targeted business people who were early into developing aquaponic systems or who had done their homework and were ready for a commercial-scale aquaponic training course. The WAS training audience include a variety of backgrounds, including government (18%), NGO (3%), public businesses (32%), students (29%), academic (13%), consultants (5%) and a variety of attendees (65% male, 28% female, 20% no response; 55% Caucasian, 8% Hispanic, 5% Native American, 3% African, 3% Asian, 5% Other and 23% No Response). At the AU Food Systems Institute Sixth Annual Food Entrepreneur Conference, April 17, 2019, our NNF students participated in the aquaponics breakout session we led that took conference attendees to our aquaponics facility. This provided a chance for our students to interact with people interested in aquaponics and hone their abilities to recall their knowledge when responding to aquaponic questions from the general public. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?A special problems course for our NNF and other interested graduate students entitled "Advanced Aquaponics" is planned for Fall 2019. This course will delve deeper in principles of integrated aquaponic food production. Specifically, the objectives are to provide an advanced understanding of aquaponics, aquaculture production in contained systems, hydroponic production of plant crops in greenhouses, engineering systems for support of aquaponics, food safety aspects of aquaponics production and farm management, economics, and financial analysis for aquaponic systems. We have one new aquaponics workshop planned for November 2019, in which the NNF students are expected to lead some elements of the course. It is anticipated that additional aquaponic workshops will be developed and conducted to diverse audiences and can feature our NNF students. Each NNF student will be conducting their aquaponic related research project during the summer and fall of 2019. Each student will be expected to present their research findings at a professional society meeting during 2020 as well as to their peers during required exit seminars. Additional field trips will be planned to existing commercial aquaponic businesses to help NNF fellows further understand the nature and business of aquaponic operations and what/how their graduate studies will help them in their future as aquaponic endeavors.

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? We developed and taught an aquaponics class at Auburn University in the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 semesters. In both classes, the course was team taught by our interdisciplinary Aquaponics Group that included our five Co-PI professors in the fields of aquaculture production systems, agricultural economics, biosystems-engineering systems, greenhouse horticulture and microbiology/food safety. The Fall class had 10 students (5 NNF Fellows plus 5 other interested graduate students). The Spring class had 4 NNF students. The Fall 2018 Introduction to Aquaponics class was a 3 credit hour class and had 10 students (5 NNF Fellows plus 5 other interested graduate students). The Spring class had 4 NNF students (plus one other graduate student). Both special problem courses provided a basic understanding of the principles of aquaponics food production, safety, and economics. The courses were for graduate students having little to no prior background in aquaculture or horticulture production or agricultural economics. Principles were reinforced through readings, homework assignments, and project assignments. In the Fall 2018 class, the group project was to develop a business plan for expanding our AU Aquaponics facility to include two new plant greenhouses. This project served to bring together all aspects taught in the class and produce an end product that covered aquaponic management considerations (water quality/pH, nutrients, biosecurity, pest and disease management, food safety, site selection), taxes-insurance-financing, hydroponic units in the plant greenhouse (deep water culture, nutrient film technique, Dutch buckets, other equipment and supplies), aquaculture unit in the fish greenhouse (fish culture tanks, pump-plumbing, solids-biological filtration, aeration, optional recirculating aquaculture components, equipment and supplies), water treatment system, construction timeline and summary of construction costs (fixed costs). The students produced a 41 page report, complete with appendices listing/describing fixed cost items for addressing food safety concerns, new plant green house, new fish greenhouse, algal turf scrubber, equipment/tools, and investment items summarized in fixed cost tables (items, unit costs, number of items, total cost, economic life, salvage value, depreciation, interest on investment loans). The class did an amazing job and since we were in the beginning steps of expanding our facility, their work provided excellent understanding of what it takes to plan, build and finance such an endeavor. As it happened, during the Fall 2018 and Spring 2019 classes, the NNF students had the unique opportunity to actually participate in the building and equipping of the two new plant greenhouses. This provided them an invaluable, enriching and confidence building experience that they will never forget. The experience will help them long after they finish their NNF aquaponics program at AU.

Publications

• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Willmon, E.S., J.M. Dorick, S.J. Weese, T. Shi Huang, T.R. Hanson. Microbial Assessment of Irrigation Water and Vine Produce in an Aquaponic System. 2019. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2019, March 7-11, New Orleans, LA, p. 311.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2019 Citation: Smith, M., T.R. Hanson, B. Higgins, D. Wells, D. Blersch. 2019. Developing Techno-Economic Analysis (TEA) and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) Framework to Test the Sustainability of Aquaponic Systems. Abstract printed in the Book of Abstracts of Aquaculture 2019, March 7-11, New Orleans, LA, p. 1025.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Davis, A., J. Chappell, T. Hanson. 2018. Aquaculture Feed, Raceways and Aquaponics. Presented at the Soy Aquaculture Alliance Board Meeting, July 24-25, 2018, Auburn University, Auburn, AL.
• Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hanson, T.R. 2019. Future of Food - Fish & Seafood. Presented at the Auburn University Food System Institutes Seventh Annual Food Entrepreneur Conference, Auburn, AL, April 17.
• Type: Other Status: Accepted Year Published: 2019 Citation: Hanson, T.R., J. Chappell, J. Pickens, H. Tran, D.A. Pattillo. Commercial Aquaponics Workshop. Conducted at the Aquaculture 2019 meeting, New Orleans, LA. March 7, 2019 (77 attendees).

Progress 06/15/17 to 06/14/18

Outputs
Target Audience:We are in the recruiting process to bring on four Master of Science and one Ph.D. student to begin classes in the Fall of 2018. We have been recruiting at Major Land Grant Universities and professional association job sites. We have been targetting undergraduate (for the Master of Science program) and graduate (for the Ph.D. program) students with agricultural, aquacultural, ag econ, bio-engineering, horticulture and microbiology/food safety backgrounds and an interest in collaborative, integrated, multi-disciplinary learning. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Nothing Reported How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Nothing Reported What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? As we have only been setting up the program for full-scale commencement in August 2018, our only efforts have been toward recruitment of good students during this reporting period.

Publications