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A Fish Farm Grows in Bed-Stuy

If the Northeast Brooklyn Housing Development Corporation (NEBHDCo) has its wishes, Brooklyn will be growing fish on Throop Avenue. This fall, the nonprofit expects to launch an indoor aquaponics facility it is calling Urban Aqua Farms (UAF).

While the farm will be a model for fish-growing in an urban setting, these kinds of installations have been in Brooklyn for several years. But this is the first in the Bed-Stuy community.

Asian fish farm

Asian fish farm

The NEBHDCo state-of-the-art aquaponics facility will provide year-round, high-quality, affordable fresh-water fish and vegetables to food-insecure individuals and families.

Its harvests will supplement the healthy food supply for NEBHDCo’s Golden Harvest Client Choice Food Pantry which feeds 19,000 people each year. UAF is a natural bridge between, and expansion of, the pantry, and NEBHDCo’s Communities for Healthy Food Bed-Stuy initiative.

But Bed-Stuy’s first fishery needs some community support.   On Thursday, September 29, NEBHDCo will host a wine-tasting fundraiser (“#FundBedStuyAqua” ) at Throop Court, located at 378 Throop Avenue at Lafayette in Brooklyn.

Co-sponsored by Cabbage Hill Farm, Oko Farms and Wine Ring, the fundraiser is part of a larger capital campaign to raise $300,000 to launch NEBHDCo’s Urban Aqua Farms project. NEBHDCo and sponsors expect to raise $20,000 during the September 29 wine-tasting event.

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“We invite the community, and other New York City institutions, to join us in celebration and support of this initiative that will not only expand our successful emergency food program, but will also educate members of the community about urban aquaponics. The #FundBedStuyAqua event is the start of a tradition of giving that features food, festivities and fun,” says Jeffrey Dunston, chief executive officer of NEBHDCo. “We hope our party reverberates across the five boroughs.”

NEBHDCo’s #FundBedStuyAqua wine-tasting fundraiser will open its doors at 6:30pm on September 29. Attendees will dine on produce grown by event sponsors and fish raised on local aquaponic farms. The evening’s menu was designed by Oko Farms and will be complemented by several wines to be served by Wine Ring.

Tickets for the #FundBedStuyAqua wine-tasting fundraiser are $100 per person. All proceeds go toward the UAF capital campaign.

To purchase tickets, visit www.nebhdcofundraiser.eventbrite.com. For more information on NEBHDCo’s Urban Aqua Farms project or to make a donation to the capital campaign, call Susan Beatini at (201) 410-2978 or send an e-mail to: info@nebhdco.org.

 

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