Cai Diggs

This its a picture of Nick, Bridget, Jewel and I taking shelter under a tent on farmer Chippy’s farm after it suddenly started to rain.

I have worked on a few different projects since starting for extension. At the University of Maryland, Dr. Izursa has assigned me to provide assistance in the aquaponics lab and greenhouse (which will be used for educational demonstrations and research). Firstly, I helped with creating floating rafts. These will be used to support plants in the deep water raft aquaponics system located in the greenhouse. A deep water aquaponics system is a soilless system that involves plants being fertilized by nutrient-rich fish wastewater. The plants uptake nutrients in fish waste, filtering the water, and fish provide nutrients to the plants. Creating these rafts involved measuring, cutting, drilling holes, and painting. I was largely responsible for drilling holes into the floating raft for the plants to be supported as their roots uptake the nutrients in the water, but I helped with other parts of the process as well. I was further involved in transporting fish, plants, and boards to the greenhouse to set up a large aquaponics system.

Another project that I have been working on is a literature review. The focus of this literature review is using black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) as feed for fish. It will touch on topics like BSFL for compost, the nutrition content of BSFL, the cultivation of BSFL, and the formulation of BSFL into fish feed. For this literature review I am using databases such as Web of Science comprising thousands of peer-reviewed articles. Currently, I have 13 sources compiled and I am initiating the presentation and paper-writing process.

This is a picture I took of Hadiya, Masha, and I packing lettuce from the aquaponics lab to donate to the food pantry. All the appropriate food safety practices were used!

I have many past experiences that will help me with my current internship for UMD extension. First and foremost, I was an intern for University of Maryland Extension in 2021. I am extremely familiar with the day-to-day life of an extension agent. I am excited to learn more about this program. I also have taken an aquaponics class which will help me with the aquaponics research and farm demonstrations I will be participating in this summer. Additionally, I was an intern for the International Fresh Produce Association Sustainability and SciTech team where I completed case studies. This will help me with the database research aspect of the internship.

I have set the goals of learning more about aquaponics and extension, becoming a better public speaker, and developing a work/life routine that is beneficial. I am excited to achieve these goals this summer. The agricultural technology I will be learning about this summer is aquaponics systems. There is a specific design to these systems. 

This is a picture I took of lettuce at farmer Chippy’s farm while doing a farm visit with Bridget, Nick, Jewel, and Neith.