Posts By Vanessa Caceres
Arizona Urban Farming Startup Embraces Aquaponics to Increase Access to Healthy Food
April 18, 2018 | Vanessa Caceres
(From left to right) Chaz Shelton and Bill Shriver, co-founders of Tucson, AZ-based Merchant’s Garden, an urban farming enterprise utilizing hydroponics and aquaponics to increase access to healthy food in cities. Photo Courtesy of Merchant’s Garden.
Farmers need to be good at a little bit of everything—from growing and marketing to strategic planning. Chaz Shelton of Merchant’s Garden in Tucson, Arizona, approaches farming from a slightly different angle. He earned his MBA at Indiana University-Bloomington and is using that broad business knowledge to manage his hydroponic and aquaponics operation with co-founder Bill Shriver.
Shelton’s interest in farming began more out of an interest in public health. While working with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in Pennsylvania several years ago, he often saw how poor eating led to adverse health outcomes. He solidified his idea that instead of shipping food from faraway farms into urban environments, he could bring farming into the city.
That led three years ago to the formation of Merchant’s Garden, an urban farming enterprise whose mission, according to the company website, is to “make fresh food accessible and affordable to everyone using the science of aquaponics and hydroponics.” The farm was started with the help of investors and the business accelerator organization Startup Tucson. It launched just as Shelton was finishing up his MBA. Read More
Urban Farming Org Transforms 9 Empty Greenhouses to Tackle Food Insecurity and Grow Meaningful Jobs
January 2, 2017 | Vanessa CaceresWhen Lynchburg, Virginia resident Paul Lam’s beloved garden was destroyed inadvertently in 2003, residents rallied around him to find a new space. With the help of community members, Lam, who is disabled, eventually found a seven-acre site with nine empty greenhouses on it that had been the home of a large rose supplier.
The farm site needed a bit of rehab, so a call was put out for volunteers. Hundreds showed up from local area schools and universities to help clean it up. From this community outpouring for Lam, Lynchburg Grows, a nonprofit urban farming organization whose dual mission is to increase access to healthy food in the community and provide meaningful jobs to individuals with disabilities, was born. Read More
The Impact of Citrus Greening in Florida
December 28, 2016 | Vanessa CaceresCitrus greening has wreaked havoc on the citrus business in Florida, a state long associated with its prolific orange production.
Citrus greening—also called Huanglongbing or yellow dragon disease—first hit Florida in 2005, says Lukasz Stelinski, PhD, associate professor of entomology and nematology, University of Florida Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred. However, the disease had previously affected crops in Brazil and Asia.
The Asian citrus psyllid—a bug that can fit on your fingertip—is the vector that spreads the bacteria causing citrus greening, Stelinski says. The sugars in affected trees cannot be transported effectively, and that leads to a decline in the plant’s health. Read More
Arizona Urban Farming Startup Embraces Aquaponics to Increase Access to Healthy Food
December 6, 2016 | Vanessa Caceres(From left to right) Chaz Shelton and Bill Shriver, co-founders of Tucson, AZ-based Merchant’s Garden, an urban farming enterprise utilizing hydroponics and aquaponics to increase access to healthy food in cities. Photo Courtesy of Merchant’s Garden.
Farmers need to be good at a little bit of everything—from growing and marketing to strategic planning. Chaz Shelton of Merchant’s Garden in Tucson, Arizona, approaches farming from a slightly different angle. He earned his MBA at Indiana University-Bloomington and is using that broad business knowledge to manage his hydroponic and aquaponics operation with co-founder Bill Shriver.
Shelton’s interest in farming began more out of an interest in public health. While working with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health in Pennsylvania several years ago, he often saw how poor eating led to adverse health outcomes. He solidified his idea that instead of shipping food from faraway farms into urban environments, he could bring farming into the city.
That led two years ago to the formation of Merchant’s Garden, an urban farming enterprise whose mission, according to the company website, is to “make fresh food accessible and affordable to everyone using the science of aquaponics and hydroponics.” The farm was started with the help of investors and the business accelerator organization Startup Tucson. It launched just as Shelton was finishing up his MBA. Read More
Father-Son Team Launch First Urban Farm in South Carolina to Meet Growing Demand for Local Food
November 22, 2016 | Vanessa Caceres
(From left to right) Father and son team, Robbie and Eric McClam, run City Roots, the first urban farm in South Carolina. Photo credit: City Roots.
After 30 years working in the field of architecture, Robbie McClam yearned to return to his farming roots. His first ever job was working in the tobacco fields of the farm on which his father was raised. He remembers it as the hardest job he ever had, according to son Eric.
In 2008, Robbie learned of the work being done by renowned urban farmer Will Allen and his Growing Power organization in Milwaukee and upon retiring from his career in architecture, decided to enroll in its 5 month Commercial Urban Agriculture Program.
Read More
Visit our sister sites!
