Restoring the Lagoon, Feeding the Community.

Our Community Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) program at Chief Cornerstone is a first-of-its-kind model for sustainable urban farming and estuary restoration.

At Little Growers Inc, we believe that the future of food is not only sustainable—it is regenerative, educational, and community-driven. Our Community IMTA program brings this vision to life by demonstrating how food production can work with nature, not against it.

What is IMTA?

Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA) is an innovative approach to farming aquatic species together in a way that mimics natural ecosystems. Because we are constructing our version in the community, we often refer to it simply as "Community Aquaculture".

In a traditional aquaculture system, waste from one species can become pollution. In an IMTA system, that “waste” becomes a resource:

🐟 Fish produce nutrient-rich waste
🌿 Aquatic plants absorb dissolved nutrients
🦪 Shellfish filter and clean the water

This creates a closed-loop system that reduces environmental impact while increasing overall productivity. This system was innovated by researchers at Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech). In Florida Tech's Aqualab, researchers have been developing this system to determine methods to raise species for stock enhancement in the Indian River Lagoon, our backyard estuary. Our community-implemented version would replicate many of their methods, while also addressing community-specific concerns.

Design

The design of the system will include two 40 ft long shipping containers, each outfitted with windows, a storage room in the back, and tanks with dividers. One container will be for freshwater and the other for saltwater.

Construction Timeline

Preconstruction - June 2026

Prepare the site
lay filter fabric
deliver deliver and spread foundational rock

Construction

Deliver 2 shipping containers - June 2026
Fabricate, cut, and weld windows, doors, and tank separators - July 2026
Plumbing and electrical - August 2026
Fill tanks with water and species - August/September 2026

Operating the Systems

Training staff - September 2026
Monitor water levels, species health, additive needs, etc - September 2026 and beyond

Why it Matters

The Seafood Problem: As the largest traded food commodity in the world, seafood provides sustenance to billions of people worldwide. More than 3 billion people in the world rely on wild-caught and farmed seafood as a significant source of animal protein.

Historically, the seafood industry has significantly impacted the environment. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that 85% of marine fish stocks are either fully exploited or overfished. Similarly, many fisheries throughout the world throw away more fish than they keep. This incidental catch of non-target species—known as bycatch—is harmful to many species. Pollution from poorly managed and unsustainable seafood farms, also known as aquaculture, has caused the deterioration of coastal habitats, lakes, and rivers.

Poor Health of Indian River Lagoon: The IRL watershed spans 40% of Florida’s east coast, including 7 counties, 38 cities, and 1.8 million people. The regional economy of the IRL is valued at $28.3 Billion annually [source]. However, the lagoon needs our help. Decades of manmade impacts have caused increased nutrient pollution, fish kills, and widespread habitat loss. The lagoon has seen a catastrophic loss of over 90-95% of seagrass in parts, which can lead to mass starvation of manatees, sea turtles, and fish. Our community IMTA system will test out various seagrass growing techniques, including growing into coquina rock, for stock enhancement into the IRL. Approximately 10-20% will be used for IRL stock enhancement.

Project Team

Little Growers is working hand in hand with several important partners. These include faculty and students from Florida Tech–who are designing the community system, helping with construction, and developing a workforce development program for the system–and a team from Chief Cornerstone Missionary Baptist–who are providing the land for the project and will be helping manage the system once on site.

Funding

This project is funded by the Indian River Lagoon National Estuary Program (IRLNEP) Priority Communities Grant, managed by the IRL Council and supported through Federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) funds administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This covers the cost to construct 2 systems in the community and for Florida Tech to develop the training and certification program to train community members to run the system.

We are seeking additional funding to expand the system and support the workforce that will be trained to operate and maintain it.