Currently the world’s population is nearing 8 billion people and approximately 1 billion of those people are food insecure. There are many reasons for food insecurity but one of the main reasons is the lack of resources. Aquaponics has the ability to produce 10x more than agriculture and 5x more than aquaculture. It also uses 2-10% the amount of water that traditional agriculture requires. These attributes alone make aquaponics a promising solution to the world’s increasing food insecurity. To determine if aquaponics can produce a product that is nutritionally adjacent to traditional agricultural, there were four treatments. Two of the treatments were soil type (topsoil vs Miracle Gro) and the other two were fish feed type in aquaponics (Purina Aquamax Fingerling Starter 300 vs Optimal Fish Food’s Optimal Aquaponic feed). Topsoil and Miracle Gro potting mix allows for comparison of growth and nutrient density from plants grown in normal soil vs fertilized soil. The Optimal Aquaponic feed fortifies potassium, phosphorus, and iron that will enter the water column via fish excrement. These nutrients are often lacking in aquaponics and will elicit optimal plant growth. To determine if this feed is better, it will be compared to a non-aquaponic formulated feed (Purina). The plants grown in the two soil types will also be compared to those grown in the two aquaponic treatments. Basil from all four treatments will be harvested after 48 days of growth. Leaf samples will be sent to A&L Great Lakes Laboratories for nutrient testing. Total harvest wet weight and sample dry weight will be used to evaluate plant growth. It is hypothesized that basil grown in aquaponics with fish fed an aquaponic formulated diet will have better nutrient richness, higher total harvest weight and higher dry weight. Results will be presented at the conference.