The Massachusetts Avenue Project in Buffalo's West Side is an urban fish farm designed to be a completely self-sustaining ecosystem, with food for the fish grown on the premises.
The farm includes six greenhouses growing a wide variety of herbs, plants and vegetables, as well as tilapia and perch. On top of that, there are five beehives, three houses with hens and ducks, and several outdoor pens with goats, rabbits and turkeys. The farm marks a shift in land use in Buffalo as vacant land is being transformed to serve community needs and create new business opportunities.
Jesse Meeder, owner of the farm, says the reason they opened on the West Side was to be nearer to low-income community members who had little access to healthy food.
"We're definitely here because of those issues," Meeder said of the crime and poverty around him. "It's a great neighborhood - there are 30 different languages spoken here - and we want to invest in it and make it better."
VIDEO at The Buffalo News.
Thanks to Nate Neuman
FULL STORY: Working to change the food system: Project aims to educate, feed a neighborhood in need
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