🥬 Farming with – and for – future generations

A look at the latest hydroponics farming in South Florida that couples as an education center.

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Watch our video with Marine Education Initiative to see how its education center and vertical farm teach the next generation about sustainable agriculture.  

How can we greatly accelerate the growth of low-cost housing in Miami-Dade? Hear how at our event led by Miami Homes For All on May 14th at The Beacon Council.

When Nicholas Metropulos was 15, he and his brother went to local fishing tournaments to collect unwanted fish to filet and donate to soup kitchens. 

This was how the nonprofit Marine Education Initiative began in 2021. 

When the pandemic hit and they could no longer go to fishing tournaments, they switched their focus from collecting fish to raising them, while also growing produce at the same time using the science of aquaponics. It works by recycling the waste from the fish as fertilizer for the plants, while the plants in turn clean the water for the fish.

“It’s a completely symbiotic system,” Metropulos said in our latest On Site video from their facility in Delray Beach. “And we are able to donate produce every single week,” about 50 times more food than during their early days at the fishing tournaments. 

“So not only are we able to donate more food, but we are able to produce it sustainably,” he said.

VERTICAL HYDROPONICS 

The Marine Education Initiative educates the next generation on sustainable agriculture while combating food insecurity across South Florida. They bring in students to the aquaponics center for field trips, and adults for volunteer workshops, explaining how the center works and why aquaponics is important for the community and environment. 

The students also plant seeds in the facility, which they can later harvest at their school “to show them that there are more sustainable ways of farming than just getting their food at the grocery store,” Metropulos said. 

The tour for students and volunteers continues into a separate area where a contained system is growing produce – vertically. 

GOING MICROGREEN

As soon as you walk into the hydroponic side of the center, the smell immediately hits you. It’s a fresh, earthy scent that emanates from the variety of microgreens grown in the 30 vertically stacked beds, everything from pea tendrils (their fastest growing crop) to micro-cilantro, micro-beets, and even edible flowers. 

“Microgreens are a much more nutrient-dense product than other crops because we’re able to harvest in the first few weeks of the life of the plant,” explains Metropulos. Microgreens are also extremely nutritious. “It gets to the end consumer faster. And we don’t have the fertilizer pollution associated with traditional farms.” Traditional farming includes runoff from fertilizer put into the water, which can then seep into waterways.  

This is HyperLocal Farms, the for-profit side of MEI, where about 40% of the produce in the 480 trays gets donated and the rest is sold to restaurants and supermarkets mostly in the Miami area.

“Although it may be more expensive, we’re able to cut out the environmental cost completely and still provide the same value of crops in our facility,” Metropulos said of the difference between traditional and sustainable farming. 

EDUCATING THE NEXT GENERATION

With the Marine Education Initiative, they see interest from the next generation in wanting to learn the skill and trade of sustainable farming.

This is an opportunity to develop the future workforce in sustainable farming.

Metropulos said they want to create a workforce development program that would include a cohort of students learning firsthand at the facility in Delray Beach. The students would be trained in controlled environment agriculture (CEA) such as growing operations, plant biology, farm operations, water physics, and food safety. The program would also include a certification course and offer help in finding jobs at top Controlled Environment Agriculture farming companies.

“There’s a huge labor shortage associated with the next generation coming in and learning this type of farming because it’s so new,” Metropulos said. “So we’re looking to lead the forefront and train them in that.”

EXPANDING TO MIAMI

Metropulos is raising capital to expand HyperLocal Farms in Miami where most of their customers are based.

“In terms of distribution, it’s the best location for us,” he said. He hopes the new warehouse will be able to grow about seven times more produce. 

The expansion in Miami would also allow them to expand their educational efforts and donate more produce to local soup kitchens. 

“The mission is to put those farms in large metropolitan areas,” he said, with the first case in South Florida. The long-term goal would be to open up franchise opportunities for people to take ownership in these cities.

“But the end goal,” he noted, “is educating the next generation so they can take the torch and start running with it.” 

ADDRESSING MIAMI’S HOUSING CRISIS

Please join us on May 14th at The Beacon Council for a discussion led by Miami Homes For All on accelerating the growth of low-cost housing in Miami-Dade. You can register here for the event. To learn more about addressing Miami’s housing crisis, read our Thread with Miami Homes For All here.

PITCH US 

If you have a company or entrepreneur to suggest or an idea to share that relates to building Miami’s future, email us at next@opportunity.miami. We invite you to subscribe to our YouTube channel and follow us on our social media channels. If you were forwarded this newsletter, you can subscribe by clicking here. And if you are new to Opportunity Miami, you can learn about our mission and work here. 

Hope to hear from you. 

– Suzette