By: Helena’s Delta Circles | May 12, 2025
Phillips County, Arkansas – An indoor, water-based gardening system will enable farmers in Phillips County, Arkansas, to grow and sell crops regardless of the season. Delta Circles installed a hydroponic system in March of this year, which will help sustain Helena-West Helena’s strong agricultural economy year-round and allow for a steady flow of produce unaffected by weather conditions.
Hydroponics is a way of growing crops using nutrient-rich water instead of soil. The indoor system allows for temperature control, crop safety, and management of growing conditions. It can also be converted to an aquaponics system by replacing the nutrients in the water with fish that can fertilize the plants naturally..
Delta Circles is a community development organization that seeks to increase economic equity and strengthen community collaboration within Helena-West Helena. Operating under the motto, “Ending Poverty, Changing Mindsets,” the organization hosts a variety of programs for their community, including two competition coding teams for middle schoolers, a farmers market that the hydroponics program will support, and a monthly networking event for Black women entrepreneurs.
Patricia Ashanti, Delta Circles’ founder and CEO, sees opportunity in the hydroponic system beyond its crop value. “We’re looking at ways to acknowledge that we are in a rural, agricultural community, and let people know that we’re proud of it,” Patricia noted.
Working with her daughter Noni Ashanti, the organization’s Agi-Innovation Coordinator, Patricia wants to use Delta Circles’ new technology to educate her community about the benefits of hydroponic farming. Among operational benefits, hydroponically grown fruits and vegetables have a significantly lower risk of disease, weeds, and pests, meaning pesticides are unnecessary in the growing process.
“This gives us the ability to empower them with the knowledge that they can grow their own food and do it in different ways,” Patricia said.
Delta Circles was able to install the hydroponic system through a grant from one of their sponsors, the Walton Family Foundation. Agriculture specialist Angela TenBroeck taught Patricia and her team how to install and operate it. With that knowledge and the space that the Delta Circles campus in Helena-West Helena provides, they will be able to expand their system, allowing them to continue meeting the needs of their agricultural community anytime and every time they can.
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