With the estimated expansion in population of almost 80 million people per year, farmers worldwide cannot raise the productivity of their land rapidly enough to meet this tremendous increase in global population. Most of the genetic and agronomic advancements available to farmers have already been exhausted, causing productivity for many crops to plateau. With little new land available to plow, and the demands for food rising at a record pace, food producers will have to explore alternative production technology. Aquaculture and hydroponics are two such technologies and Wantagh Middle School is now equipped with two laboratories to begin experimentation on these two most promising sources of food production. These techniques are employed and demonstrated at Walt Disney World's Epcot Pavilion in Florida.
Aquaculture is the rearing of aquatic organisms under controlled or semi-controlled conditions.
During the past three decades, the commercial culture of many aquatic organisms such as clams, oysters, shrimp, catfish, salmon, and trout has increased significantly and has generated substantial employment opportunities and income in the United States. Students who participate in Aquaculture research will raise tilapia. After many years of limited consumption in the United States, tilapia is starting to win over the American public as a poll ution-free, tasty fish. It is starting to appear in the seafood departments of many local supermarkets as well as on the menus of seafood restaurants. Tilapia is now the third largest imported aquaculture product behind shrimp, and Atlantic salmon.