A Federal Jobs Guarantee allows for the development aquaponics – a sustainable farming method that accounts for both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems

Thirty percent of residents within the city of Dayton have incomes that fall below the poverty line, and twenty percent meet the requirements to be considered food insecure. Food insecurity is defined as the limited or uncertain availability of nutritionally adequate food sources, a critical societal problem with detrimental impact on both the mental and physical health of those who are suffering. Through a federal job guarantee, laborers would have the ability to farm food through agricultural projects aimed at feeding those in greatest need of sustenance. The job guarantee could be structured to use abandoned properties for aquaponics, creating an urban food source while also employing laborers in a variety of jobs with a variety of skill sets. To create such a program, it will be essential to have unskilled laborers tasked with caring for plants and animals, cleaning and restoring both residential and commercial real estate, and harvesting the crops. Through a job guarantee, this food will be created without a profit incentive, meaning crops could be sold at the cost it would take to maintain the program, and provided to local food banks free of charge to provide for the community. Aquaponics is a sustainable farming method, a method of indoor farming that raises both vegetables and fish. It requires far less land and water than traditional farming methods, perfectly suited for urban environments and a perfect candidate for a federal jobs guarantee. Through the combination of aquaculture, the raising and breeding of fish for consumption, and hydroponics, the growth of plants in fortified water as opposed to soil, these two agricultural techniques are combined to create a closed-loop agricultural system. Aquaponics creates a system using the waste of fish to supply nutrients to the plants, which purify the water. This system reduces inputs, needing no fertilizers to sustain the nutrient rich soil for the plants, and reduces all inputs to simply food for the fish. Using this system, there is no need for fertilizers and pesticides, the use of which come with a host of environmental problems largely from the run-off polluting local waterways. Aquaponics is an indoor farming method, making it unaffected by the environment, with the farmer in complete control of the environment in which the plants are grown. This allows the growth of a wide variety of plants year-round, regardless of the outdoor climate. Through a federal jobs guarantee, the renovation of vacant properties will provide the opportunity for a variety of projects aimed at improving the living conditions of everyone within the community. Aquaponics are simply one way in which these renovated properties can be utilized for the societal benefit of the city. Using once abandoned properties as agricultural hubs providing food to those who need it, as part of the federal jobs guarantee, represent one way in which this massive renovation project could act as a major positive force in the communities that are currently most affected by abandoned properties.