FreshMinistries, fresh food, fresh opportunities

We are excited about bringing aquaponics farming to Jacksonville's urban core! Our state-of-the-art farm will: 1) build community in the neighborhood we serve;   2) grow fresh affordable produce for and within a core-city "food desert" community; 3) make a healthier nutrition-rich food resource easily accessible to our low-income neighbors; 4) train and assist unemployed individuals and core-city entrepreneurs in starting urban farms and related agribusinesses; 5) increase self-sufficiency and business success of urban farming families through business incubation programs, micro-loans and mentoring of new agribusinesses by aquaponics and agribusiness specialists. 

Aquaponics is a cost-effective, earth-friendly, low-water way to grow healthy fruits, vegetables and fish in an urban environment. The system does not require soil and can be built on a parking lot or small backyard, uses 5% of the water required for traditional farming and yields 10 times the amount of produce per square foot than soil-based farming. It is the perfect urban farm system!

Our goal is to teach core-city residents to own, manage and market their own produce and become self-sufficient urban aquaponics farm entrepreneurs, improve community health, provide healthy foods so children are well-fed and prepared to learn, and fight obesity with our core-city neighbors. 

How soilless aquaponics farms work:

•Seedlings are planted in soilless grow medium and placed into holes on rafts

•Plant roots are exposed to nutrient-rich water created by fish effluent, which acts as a natural fertilizer

•Plant roots naturally filter nutrient-rich water so that it may safely return to fish tanks

FreshMinistries, a 501(c)3 based in Jacksonville, Florida, has a 25-year track record of successful outreach, job training and support for entrepreneurs. This new aquaponics training center, to be built at our Weaver Center for Community Outreach, will be part of the successful LifePoint Career Institute, where we currently provide free job training in the hospitality and health fields to unemployed individuals. Through this new project, we will help families create their own aquaponic gardens, provide healthy produce in what is now a food desert, and raise crops to support FreshMinistries outreach programs in Jacksonville and around the world. 

What We Need 

The start-up cost to create this aquaponics agribusiness is approximately $130,000. We hope crowd-funding donors will contribute at least half. All contributions are tax-deductible. We will be marketing produce raised and expect the enterprise to be self-supporting within the first year. Every donation helps. Won't you be part of bringing this project to a community in need?

Why FreshMinistries?

FreshMinistries has created job training programs and supported small business in Jacksonville for decades. We have also launched on-going education programs around the world. We are dedicated to promoting healthy families and helping individuals and communities realize their full potential. This project will serve as a model for agribusiness initiatives in such impoverished areas of the world as Haiti and Africa.

Other Ways You Can Help

• Tell your friends about this project and share this on social media!
  
• Take a look at our Web site, www.freshministries.org, to explore opportunities to volunteer and support other FreshMinistries initiatives.