87,000-square-foot urban farm will produce
125 metric tons of fish and 200 metric tons of organic produce annually
Pentair, a global leader in sustainable water solutions, and aquaponics farming innovator Urban Organics, are opening a new, 87,000-square-foot indoor aquaponics.
Pentair, a global leader in sustainable water solutions, and aquaponics farming innovator Urban Organics, are opening a new, 87,000-square-foot indoor aquaponics.
Image credit: Martin Cathrae from Flickr |
As one of the largest commercial aquaponics
facilities in the world, the urban farm has the capacity to grow 125 metric
tons of fish and 200 metric tons of organic produce annually.
“The world’s population is growing, and
with it, the demand for fish protein is quickly surpassing sustainable natural
fish production. Pentair’s aquaculture and aquaponics solutions are expanding
farming techniques, including in urban areas, and supporting greater access to
protein worldwide,” said Karl Frykman, President, Pentair Water.
“We joined forces with Urban Organics to
help accelerate the development of large-scale modern aquaponics as we believe
it can provide a real commercial option to help solve this growing food
dilemma.”
With advanced water filtration technology
developed by Pentair, the system is designed to allow Urban Organics to
decouple the fish water from the plant water.
This allows Urban Organics to raise fish
species in cold water with low nutrient levels, alongside plant species in warm
water with high nutrient levels. Waste nutrients from the fish water is
concentrated and delivered to the plant water.
Additionally, the system was designed for
cold-water fish to take advantage of the colder climate in Minnesota, and
therefore operate more energy efficiently. LED lighting is also being used to
further reduce the farm’s energy use.
“Our collaboration with Pentair has helped
us achieve our vision of creating a new model for urban agriculture that ensures
access to healthy foods, while using less than two percent of the water
consumed by traditional agriculture,” said David Haider, Co-founder of Urban
Organics.
“Our local market will get the benefit of
our fish and greens, but there will also be a worldwide benefit as we continue
to learn from this model and apply its lessons to other locations in the
future.”
Fish and produce production at Urban
Organics is underway, and the farm is expected to be at full capacity in early
2018. Fully certified by the USDA as an organic produce farm, Urban Organics is
growing a variety of fresh greens, including green and red kale, arugula, bok
choy, green and red romaine, Swiss chard, and green and red leaf lettuce,
alongside sustainably-raised Atlantic salmon and arctic char.
Urban Organics is distributing its fish and
produce at regional supermarkets, co-ops and restaurants. And, in a
first-of-its-kind partnership in Minnesota, Urban Organics is working with
HealthPartners hospitals and clinics to put its fresh greens in patient meals,
cafeteria salad bars, and retail take-out locations.
Pentair and Urban Organics first started
working together when Urban Organics opened its inaugural aquaponics farm in
2014 in the former Hamm’s brewery building in St. Paul.
Pentair, with its innovative technologies
in water systems and solutions and biological and technical expertise, worked
closely with Urban Organics to design, install and engineer the world-class
system.
To learn more about Pentair’s aquaculture
and aquaponics solutions, visit their website, HERE.
The Aquaculturists
This blog is maintained by The Aquaculturists staff and is supported by the
magazine International Aquafeed which is published by Perendale Publishers Ltd
For additional daily news from aquaculture around the world: aquaculture-news
No comments:
Post a Comment