“Kids get a kick out of it when I say, 'I didn’t know I liked science until I was 46'”

Area consumers will be able to purchase lettuce grown within The Landing, the section of the former Westinghouse complex on Sharpsville Avenue in Sharon, Pa., leased by Valley Shenango Economic Development Corp.

The aquaponics operation is being run by WestWinn Urban Ag., a subsidiary of the Winner Companies, which bought the property in the 1990s. It employs the agricultural science of aquaponics to produce lettuce and herbs, as well as fish.

Aquaponics is a method of producing food that combines raising sea animals such as fish or prawns in tanks with hydroponics or growing plants in water instead of soil. Before harvesting the fish,
the nutrients they produce in the tanks are introduced into the hydroponic bays where the plants are grown.

The operation is led by Rob Studor, director of aquaponics for WestWinn Urban Ag. Studor, a self-described "entrepreneurial hobbyist," has been involved with hydroponics and alternative gardening for 17 years, most recently teaching business entrepreneurship and culinary horticulture at Laurel Technical Institute in Sharon. "Kids get a kick out of it when I say, 'I didn't know I liked science until I was 46,'" Studor says.