---
title: "At UMD’s Aquaponics Lab, the Farmers Have Fins"
date: 2024-02-08T05:30:00-05:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/at-umds-aquaponics-lab-the-farmers-have-fins"
section: Articles
---
# At UMD’s Aquaponics Lab, the Farmers Have Fins

*February 8, 2024* — by [Maggie Haslam](/author/maggie-haslam)


> New Greenhouse Will Triple Research, Education of Sustainable Farming Method

*Aquaponics Lab Jose Luis Izursa 01232024 JC 7494 1920x1080 1 — Jose-Luis Izursa works in his aquaponics lab in UMD's Animal Science Building. The senior lecturer and academic adviser in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology and his students will open a new, larger aquaponics facility later this month near Xfinity Center.*

In a modest, ground-floor lab deep within University of Maryland’s Animal Science Building, a redhead who goes by “Gru” is tending to a new crop of lettuce. Gru is cool, impossible to miss because of his hulking size, and drips indifference; he’ll meet your greeting with a blank stare as he chills in a quiet corner with his buddies.

Gru isn’t first string on the wrestling team or a jacked fraternity brother. He’s a goldfish. And he’s an integral part of the University of Maryland’s aquaponics lab, its first and only research and education venture dedicated to the sustainable farming method. Here, he and around 100 of his finned friends have just one job: to feed the herbs, lettuces and other veggies growing above them with their waste.

“It’s an increasingly popular method for growing food that can be done just about anywhere, and the students love it,” said Jose-Luis Izursa, a senior lecturer and academic adviser in the Department of Environmental Science and Technology. “There’s some hesitation from people because it involves fish waste. But what do they think fertilizer is?”


*closeup of hands holding plant — Izursa examines greens grown in his aquaponics facility, which feeds plants with fish waste.*


*Jose-Luis Izursa poses in greenhouse — Izursa poses at the new aquaponics lab, scheduled to open this month.*




**Topics:** [Research](https://today.umd.edu/tags/research)


**Tags:** [Animal and Avian Sciences](https://today.umd.edu/topic/animal-and-avian-sciences), [Environmental Science and Technology](https://today.umd.edu/topic/environmental-science-and-technology), [Research](https://today.umd.edu/topic/research)


**Units:** [College of Agriculture and Natural Resources](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-agriculture-and-natural-resources)