A small agricultural business in Lockport was approved for a $25,000 micro-enterprise grant from the Niagara County Development Corp. at its September 13 board of directors meeting.
Bina & Gill, established in December at 4794 Lower Mountain Road, applied for a $25,000 grant to buy and equip a vehicle to haul fish and vegetables grown and bred in an aquaponics greenhouse. According to its application, they are working with the USDA Farm Service Agency to get a 30-year guaranteed farm ownership loan for $600,000.
“The USDA has actually been pretty responsive,” said Gina Pizziconi-Cupples, an Air Force reservist who owns the business with her husband, an Air Force retiree, Bill Rondeau, Jr. “Aquaponics is pretty rare in this country.”
The couple will be growing greens, fruits, and veggies in a greenhouse, which will be augmented with floodlights for a couple of hours each night. Not 24-hour lights, Pizziconi-Cupples said, and there will also be live trout swimming there too. The waste from the fish goes to the plants, which is an idea that seems to be gaining ground — that food grows better around water ecosystems, she said.
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