Aquaponics in Urban Agriculture: Social Acceptance and Urban Food Planning

Abstract

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.

Profitability of multi‐loop aquaponics: Year‐long production data, economic scenarios and a comprehensive model case

“…In times of increasing urbanization, further research is needed to better specify the requirements and benefits of professional aquaponics under urban conditions, in order to contribute to the nutrition of people in cities. A change in territorial strategies, policies and landscape planning instruments would be essential (Lohrberg, Licka, Scazzosi, & Timpe, 2015) as the influence of urban planning and policy is important regarding aquaponics in an urban context (Pollard, Ward, & Koth, 2017).…”

Grand Challenges in Urban Agriculture: Ecological and Social Approaches to Transformative Sustainability

“…UA research challenges extend to analysis of overarching drivers such as neoliberal structural adjustment and globalization policies that propel the powerful food and urbanization trends setting the current stage for UA worldwide (Bosco and Joassart-Marcelli, 2017). These challenges encompass UA analysis needed to focus on influences of government agencies and non-state actors (e.g., NGOs; Olivier and Heinecken, 2017), individual program, projects, and solution-specific analysis (Pollard et al, 2017b;McClintock and Simpson, 2018), and effects related to broader networked urban green infrastructure (Rolf et al, 2020).…”

Factors Influencing the Willingness to Pay for Aquaponic Products in a Developed Food Market: A Structural Equation Modeling Approach

“…Aquaponic products face a major communication challenge because their food production system is unknown, they have a high degree of innovation and require generally high technological effort [24,32]. The low level of awareness among consumers is shown in the study by Miličić et al [21], where 50% of the respondents stated that they had never heard of aquaponics, while only 30% had never heard of hydroponics.…”