Aquaponics in Urban Agriculture: Social Acceptance and Urban Food Planning

Georgia Pollard,James Ward,Barbara Koth

doi:10.3390/horticulturae3020039

Abstract

Aquaponics is emerging as a novel technology with particular potential for urban agriculture (UA). The social acceptance of aquaponics and its place in urban food planning has not previously been studied. This study used focus groups, key informant interviews, and scenario analyses to investigate the reactions of Adelaide’s urban food opinion leaders and local government area (LGA) officials to aquaponics. Most of the focus group participants were unfamiliar with aquaponics. The perceived negatives of the technology received greater attention than the perceived benefits. Aquaponics was thought to be most competitive in either niche or wholesale markets, with a need for scaled guidelines from backyard to large-scale commercial production. For aquaponics in urban settings the influence of urban planning and policy is an important, but to date unstudied, consideration. The urban growers’ opinions of the overcomplicated nature of urban food planning corresponded with the mixed policy responses of the LGAs towards UA. This further supports the participants’ desire for a supportive State Government stance on UA to encourage consistency in LGAs.

Highlights

Sustainability and food security are gaining greater concern both globally and in Australia, leading to a revival of interest and engagement in our food’s provenance
This section has been divided into two parts, Part 1 focuses on the perception of aquaponics, while
Two-thirds of the focus group participants were completely unfamiliar with aquaponics, and of those who were familiar, only three participants considered themselves experienced

Summary

Introduction

Sustainability and food security are gaining greater concern both globally and in Australia, leading to a revival of interest and engagement in our food’s provenance. Food production within city boundaries or peripheries, regardless of size, is known as urban agriculture (UA) [1]. UA is regarded as one way to achieve greater urban food security, as well as to help reconnect people with their food systems [2,3,4]. Beyond individual or community use, there is a strong entrepreneurial take-up of UA businesses [5,6]. One such form of emerging UA to be considered for commercial expansion is aquaponics. US and European aquaponics systems dominate research output, global studies show entry into the production sector in all world regions [10]

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion