Aquaponics USA launches animated teaching channel for STEM lessons

Aquaponics USA has launched a new YouTube channel, @AUSAACRES, built around animated video graphic novels for elementary and middle school students. The company says the project turns its aquaponics curriculum into short science lessons on topics like taxonomy, ecosystems and photosynthesis.

Why it matters: - Aquaponics USA is trying to make science lessons easier to teach and more engaging for elementary and middle school students. - The channel blends storytelling with STEM content, which could give teachers and homeschoolers a new way to cover topics that are often hard to visualize. - The company is also using the channel to support interest in classroom food-growing systems and food education.

What happened: - Aquaponics USA launched a new YouTube channel at Aquaponics USA Acres. - The channel uses animated video graphic novels under the TEACHING TOONS™ brand. - The project is aimed at teachers and elementary and middle school students. - The first two chapters are live now: Chapter 1, “WE BOUGHT A ROBOT,” and Chapter 2, “CLYDE'S MISSION.” - Eight more chapters have been storyboarded and are ready for production.

The details: - Aquaponics USA says it spent two years completing nearly 700 pages of science curriculum for all grade levels under the AGWARTS™ program, described as a STEM school for aquaponics. - The curriculum is given to teachers who buy one of the company’s classroom teaching and food-growing systems. - Grace Sylke, the company’s marketing director and curriculum developer, and Oliver Duffy, Aquaponics USA’s CEO, used AI video tools to animate the curriculum characters. - The company says early AI video models were difficult to use because they could only generate about 15 seconds of video at a time, with short extensions. - Chapter 1 introduces BLUE EYES, a robot character, and explores how humans and machines may interact as robots become more common. - Chapter 2 introduces Clyde, a Clydesdale horse character, and teaches the taxonomic family Equidae. - Future chapters are planned to cover cats, elk and bears, along with science topics including symbiosis, biomes, habitats, ecosystems, the nitrogen cycle, great Earth cycles, keystone species, trophic cascades, photosynthesis, and the difference between heterotrophs and autotrophs.

Between the lines: - The project is part educational content, part brand-building. Aquaponics USA is turning its curriculum into a media channel that can reach families outside the classroom. - The release also ties the channel to the company’s broader ag-tech business, including its Food Forever Farm™ site in Arizona and its school food-growing systems. - The company is positioning the content around a practical message: students should learn how to grow food, not just read about science. - Aquaponics USA says the videos are loosely based on real events and operations at the company’s property in the White Mountains of Arizona. - The company says elk and deer regularly visit the land.

What's next: - Aquaponics USA says it will feature its Food Forever Farm™ in a future chapter. - The company plans to introduce the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Competitive Farm to School Grant, expected to open for 2027 in early September. - Aquaponics USA says its next press release will focus on that grant opportunity. - The company wants Arizona school districts to pursue grants that could fund a 20-foot by 100-foot Food Forever Farm™ to help feed students year-round.

The bottom line: - Aquaponics USA is betting that animated storytelling can make aquaponics and life science more accessible, while also promoting its classroom farming systems.