US (IL): Hope Center to build aquaponics farm
Hope Center in Macomb, a client choice or grocery store-style pantry that opened four years ago, plans to raise produce and fish year-round inside its Fraser warehouse at 33222 Groesbeck Highway.
It’s pegged the cost of construction of the new farm and first-year operation at $214,000 and already secured tentative commitments of a $25,000 grant and a $25,000 matching grant to help raise the remainder of the project’s cost from United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
perating on a cash budget of just less than $1 million, Hope Center, the largest food pantry in southern Macomb County, feeds 100 families per day. It distributed nearly 1.8 million pounds of food last year, said Karla Gardner, director of community development and donor relations.
The operation will produce a variety of vegetables, herbs and fruits. Hope Center is still developing forecasts for the amount of food it will produce each year through the operation, but it already estimates it will be able to grow more than 200,000 heads of lettuce each year as well as produce 5,000 pounds of whole fish or 1,250 fillets annually in the six, 500-gallon fish tanks planned.
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