Powered by the sun, the Making An Impact All-Together (MAIA) Foundation runs one of the cleanest, fully sustainable operations anywhere in the Western Hemisphere.

MAIA founder and CEO, Marvin Campbell, explained that its Salem, St Ann-based greenhouse facility runs on solar energy; is fed by nutrient-rich compost soil and watered by a filtrated aquaponics system.

Nothing is wasted by the MAIA Foundation—even excrement from the fishes is repurposed, converted to nitrates, and used as a base for its automated irrigation method. 

The foundation’s greenhouse, specially designed to control its internal temperature and humidity, can also manage over 48,000 crops in a single rotation, using intricate, asymmetrical platforms.

“Each of the items you see here is designed [to be] self-sustainable—from the trays to the rafts,” Campbell said in a recent interview with Our Today.

“We take our seedlings from the table and flush them with our organic proprietary nutrient formula; to inevitably have seedlings that grow 12-15 inches. Our formula is full of beneficial microbes,” he added.

The massive facility is also home to several open lots, and processes tonnes of biodegradable waste into compost. The MAIA Foundation is also equipped with a sifting centre to remove inorganic matter from the fresh, energy-packed soil. 

Hoping to steer Jamaica towards a carbon-neutral society, the MAIA Foundation gave Our Today an exclusive tour of its facilities in St Ann, as well as a breakdown of its key objectives and initiatives undertaken over the past year.

See highlights in the gallery below: